Captain James W. Magoffin, Major Simeon Hart

Simeon Hart spent years winning back what the war cost him. Under authority of the federal district court at Mesilla, a U.S. marshal seized and sold the property of El Pasoans known for Southern sympathies, and despite Hart's presidential pardon his mill, houses, corrals, ranches, machinery and stables went for $3,000. Owners appealed, the New Mexico Supreme Court ruled that the Mesilla court had no jurisdiction, and in 1868 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld it in United States vs. S. Hart. His fight with W. W. Mills ended only in May 1873, when the Mills brothers accepted ten dollars.

What the plaque says

Captain James W. Magoffin, Major Simeon Hart Capt. James W. Magoffin Born Kentucky. Trader in Mexico, special U.S. Army agent in Mexican War 1846 - 47. Established trading post at Magoffinsville about 1850. Named state agent with Simeon Hart to receive U.S. property surrendered at Ft. Bliss Mar. 1861 prior to outbreak Civil War. This and other military stores obtained thru his long standing contacts in Mexico supplied the Confederate forces in the Arizona - New Mexico campaign 1861 - 62; made State Brig. Gen., 1861. Left here with Confederate evacuation, 1862, as Capt., C.S.A., business ability utilized to obtain military supplies in Texas, Mexico. State senator, 1863 - 65; buried in San Antonio. Maj. Simeon Hart Born New York. Moved to El Paso 1851. Founded Hart's Mill that ground out 100 barrels of flour per day and sold to buyers from Arizona to San Antonio. When Civil War came, he was the main source for securing military supplies for the Arizona - New Mexico campaign. In 1862 Hart joined the C.S.A. Army and was made general purchasing agent for the War Department West of the Mississippi. His extensive contacts in Mexico and Europe and his knowledge of markets made him able to render great service to the Confederacy which could only exist by trading valuable cotton for war goods through foreign countries. Through his arrangements for supplies, a Union plot to invade Texas across the Rio Grande was thwarted early in 1863; buried in Evergreen Cemetery. Erected by the State of Texas 1963

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Magoffin Home State Historic Site — 1.9 mi
  A U-shaped adobe of the 1870s in central El Paso that joins Mexican building to an Anglo plan, closed for restoration through 2027 while its visitor center stays open.
• Chamizal National Memorial — 3.2 mi
  A park on land the Rio Grande once put in dispute, where a century-old border quarrel between the United States and Mexico was settled by treaty and a new concrete channel.
• Ysleta Mission (Corpus Christi de la Ysleta del Sur) — 12 mi
  The Tigua mission church at Ysleta, rebuilt in 1908 around the walls, bell and Santo Entierro that came through fire, its interior painted with rain clouds and corn.
• Franklin Mountains State Park — 12 mi
  Almost 27,000 acres of desert mountains inside El Paso, with the oldest rocks in Texas, more than 100 miles of trail and campsites in the Tom Mays Unit.

More markers nearby

• El Paso del Rio del Norte — steps away
• Sunset Heights — 0.5 mi
• The University of Texas at El Paso — 0.7 mi
• Olga Kohlberg — 0.9 mi