Charles Allen Culberson served as governor of Texas from January 15, 1895 through January 17, 1899. Culberson was born in Alabama on June 10, 1855. The next year his family moved to Gilmer, Texas. Culberson's father, David B. Culberson, was a U.S. Congressman (1875-1897). After graduating from the Virginia Military Institute (1874) and the University of Virginia law school (1877), Culberson returned to Jefferson, Texas to practice law with his father, and was elected county attorney for Marion County. In 1887 he moved to Dallas. Culberson was elected attorney general in 1890 and again in 1892. During his tenure he defended Governor Hogg's railroad and anti-trust legislation before the U.S. Supreme Court and was mostly successful. Although Culberson, as Attorney General, did recapture a vast area of West Texas from a railroad, Texas lost its claim to Greer County on the Red River to the federal government.
In 1894, Culberson was elected governor, defeating Thomas Nugent, the Populist candidate. Although he opposed national prohibition (believing the right belonged to the states), he called a special legislative session to outlaw prizefighting. After being re-elected in 1896, Governor Culberson supported a uniform system of school textbooks. Towards the end of his term four infantry regiments and one cavalry regiment of volunteers were raised for the Spanish-American War, although only one left the United States. Culberson was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1899, where he served four terms. He was active in formulating domestic policy during World War I. In 1922 Culberson was defeated in the primary by the Ku Klux Klan candidate. His health had deteriorated, and he died in 1925 in Washington, D.C.
From the guide to the Records, 1891-1899, (Texas State Archives)
