1842-1920
Confederate War Hero, Congressman, Statesman
John Hollis Bankhead, lifelong resident of Alabama, was born in 1842 on his
father's farm near Moscow in that part of Marion County which is now Lamar County.
The modern town of Sulligent was built upon part of the Bankhead farm. He became
a farmer, a legislator, a hero in the Confederacy and a member of both the House
and Senate of the United States.
Reared upon his father's plantation in pioneer country, he supplemented his
meager formal education by avid reading and contact with the issues and the
world. He enlisted in the Confederate Army at age 19. He served from the beginning
to the end of the conflict, participating heroically in many battles. As Captain
he led the 16th Alabama Regiment in a successful charge at Chickamauga, where
he was wounded. In spite of one useless arm, he saved the life of John Custer.
After the close of the war he married Tallulah Brockman of Wetumpka.
Captain Bankhead served in the Alabama legislature in both houses. In 1880 Governor
Rufus Cobb offered him the wardenship of the State penitentiary. Under his regime
as head of the prison system, he initiated many reforms, among which was the
establishment of the Boys Industrial School. This was later developed at Roebuck
Springs, under the leadership of club women.
From 1887 to 1907, Bankhead served in the US Congress and was active in the
establishment of the Library of Congress. He was instrumental in the development
of waterways including the deepening of Mobile Bay. Lake Bankhead was named
for him.
In 1907 he was elected to fill the vacancy in the US Senate left by the death
of Sen. John T. Morgan. He concentrated his efforts on establishing a national
system of highways and despite opposition, was successful. In appreciation,
the grateful public named the transcontinental highway from the "Zero Stone"
in Washington, DC the "Bankhead Highway." Senator Bankhead continued
to work on the highway system at the request of President Roosevelt.
A dramatic moment in the life of Senator Bankhead took place at the 1912 Democratic
Convention in Baltimore. Bankhead's son, William B. Bankhead, then a member
of Congress, stepped to the platform and presented his father's name as Alabama's
nominee for presidency of the United States.
Senator Bankhead died in Washington, DC on March 1, 1920, and is buried in the
family plot in Jasper, Alabama.
John Hollis Bankhead was inducted into the Alabama Men's Hall of Fame in 1990.