Richard A. Sneed

Richard Alexander Sneed was born on August 28, 1845, in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi.{{cite news|title=Rites Are Held In Lawton For Gen. R. A. Sneed. Paralytic Stroke Fatal to 'Grand Old Man of the Democratic Party'. Dies At Age 90. Former Commander of Confederate Veterans, He Also Served His State.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/5760290/?terms=%22Richard%2BA.%2BSneed%22|accessdate=April 29, 2018|work=Miami Daily News-Record|location=Miami, Oklahoma|date=March 16, 1936|pages=1–2|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }} His father was Albert Sneed and his mother, Maria; they were from South Carolina.

Sneed joined the Army of Northern Virginia of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War of 1861-1865. He served under General Jubal Early during the Second Battle of Fredericksburg, where he was wounded.{{cite news|title=Sneed Dies; Headed Southern Veterans|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/105398695/?terms=%22Richard%2BA.%2BSneed%22|accessdate=April 29, 2018|work=The Indianapolis Star|date=March 16, 1936|page=2|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }} He served under General Robert E. Lee during the Battle of Cold Harbor. He was jailed by the Union Army for two months at the Point Lookout Prison in Maryland from April 14 to June 30 of 1865. After the war, Sneed was a co-founder of the Ku Klux Klan chapter of Madison County, Tennessee.{{cite news|title=Local Historical Society To Hear Atty. R. R. Sneed|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/282270556/?terms=%22ernest%2BL.%2BBullock%22%2Btennessee|accessdate=May 1, 2018|work=The Jackson Sun|location=Jackson, Tennessee|date=March 12, 1944|page=1|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration |quote=Mr Sneed's father, Col. R. A. Sneed, served as commander of the United Confederate Veterans and was one of the organizers of the Ku Klux Klan in Madison County in the Reconstruction Era when lawlessness was so rampant as to demand the super-government.}} He served as the commander-in-chief of the trans-Mississippi division of the United Confederate Veterans in 1927, and the commander-in-chief of the UCV in 1928.

Sneed was an active member of the Democratic Party. He worked a clerk of the circuit court of Madison County for eight years and deputy clerk of the Tennessee Supreme Court. He ran to become the Tennessee Secretary of State, but he was not elected.{{cite news|title=Col. Sneed Surprised. Son Captures Office Father Sought In Vain Thirty Years Ago.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/71249825/?terms=%22R.%2BR.%2BSneed%22|work=The Daily Ardmoreite|date=February 3, 1913|location=Ardmore, Oklahoma|page=8|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }} He moved to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in 1895 and worked as a merchant. In 1907, he became recorder of deeds for Comanche County. He was the superintendent of the Chickasaw National Recreation Area from 1914 to 1919. He served as the Oklahoma Secretary of State from 1923 to 1927, the Oklahoma State Treasurer from 1927 to 1931, and the Secretary of State again from 1931 to 1935.{{cite web|title=Secretaries of State since statehood|url=https://www.sos.ok.gov/home/former_secretaries.aspx|website=Oklahoma Secretary of State|accessdate=May 1, 2018}} He became known as the "grand old man of the Democratic Party" in Oklahoma.{{cite news|title=Confederate Veteran Dies|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/103852724/?terms=%22Richard%2BA.%2BSneed%22|accessdate=April 29, 2018|work=The Wilkes-Barre Record|location=Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania|date=March 17, 1936|page=12|via=Newspapers.com|url-access=registration }}

Sneed married Annie R. Bullock, a native of Jackson, Tennessee, in 1861. They had three sons and three daughters. One of his sons, R. R. Sneed, served as the Tennessee Secretary of State from 1913 to 1917. Sneed was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and a Mason.

Sneed died on March 16, 1936, in Lawton, Oklahoma. His funeral was held at the Centenary Methodist Church in Lawton.

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite book |last1=Thoburn |first1=Joseph |title=A Standard History of Oklahoma |url=https://archive.org/details/standardhistoryo02thob |date=1916 |publisher=American Historical Society |location=Oklahoma |page=1014}}

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{{s-bef|before=Joe S. Morris}}

{{s-ttl|title=Democratic nominee for Oklahoma Secretary of State|years=1922}}

{{s-aft|after=John Graves Leeper}}

{{s-bef|before=A. S. J. Shaw}}

{{s-ttl|title=Democratic nominee for Oklahoma State Treasurer|years=1926}}

{{s-aft|after=Ray Weems}}

{{s-bef|before=John Graves Leeper}}

{{s-ttl|title=Democratic nominee for Oklahoma Secretary of State|years=1930}}

{{s-aft|after=Frank C. Carter}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sneed, Richard A.}}

Category:1845 births

Category:1936 deaths

Category:American Freemasons

Category:Confederate States Army officers

Category:American Ku Klux Klan members

Category:Oklahoma Democrats

Category:People from Tallahatchie County, Mississippi

Category:People from Lawton, Oklahoma

Category:Secretaries of state of Oklahoma

Category:State treasurers of Oklahoma

Category:Prisoners and detainees of the United States military

Category:Members of the United Confederate Veterans