Loren Kent: Union Soldier and Galveston Customs Collector (1839–1867)

Loren Kent was a telegraph operator, dry goods clerk, Union soldier who rose to the rank of brevetted brigadier general, and U.S. collector of customs for the port of Galveston. He was born in Lyman, New Hampshire, on July 12, 1839, to Adrial Kent and Candance (Mason) Kent. He had two siblings, Orson and Richard. Kent never married and had no known children. He spent his youth in New Hampshire until 1856 when he moved to Illinois, where he was a telegraph operator and then a store clerk. He settled in the town of Alton. During the Civil War, Kent was enthusiastic about preserving the Union and joined as a private in the Tenth Illinois Infantry Regiment of the Union Army in April 1861.

He soon became a member of the Twenty-ninth Illinois Infantry Regiment and obtained the rank of colonel in 1863. As a member of this unit, Kent took part in the battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh and was at the siege of Corinth. During the Vicksburg campaign, he was placed on the staff of Gen. Ulysses S. Grant as provost marshal. Kent soon asked to be reassigned and returned to the command of the Twenty-ninth Illinois Regiment. He was at Dauphin Island in 1865, but because of an attack of typhoid fever, he did not participate in the battle of Mobile, Alabama. In the spring of 1865 Kent was promoted to the rank of brevetted brigadier general because of his “gallant and meritorious services.”

In June 1865 Kent brought his brigade to Galveston, Texas, where he was assigned as the post commander of Federal troops on the island. He concurrently served as the provost marshal general of Texas. As commander on Galveston Island, Kent was responsible for developing the terms of civil-military relations between the federal government and local governments during Reconstruction. His skill in conducting this task earned him the respect and admiration of the Galveston City Council and the citizens of the port city. In November 1865 Kent was discharged from the army and left the city.

Kent was nominated for the position of collector of customs for the district of Texas with headquarters at Galveston by President Andrew Johnson. Kent replaced Collector Richard Peebles, who was removed from the position due to ill health, and was confirmed for the position by the U.S. Senate on March 22, 1866. During his first year in office, he made a trip to Washington, D. C., to meet with the president; U.S. secretaries of War, Navy, and Treasury; and military generals Grant, Sheridan, and Logan to champion improvements to the port of Galveston. Back in Galveston, Kent was a member of the Harmony Masonic Lodge No. 6.

Less than eighteen months after his appointment, Loren Kent became a victim of Galveston’s 1867 outbreak of yellow fever. He died at the age of twenty-eight at his home in Galveston on August 28, 1867. He was not the only customs official struck by the disease. The Galveston Daily News reported on November 9, 1867, that the yellow fever epidemic had hit the customhouse especially hard with seven deaths and all but three of the twenty-nine employees sick with the fever.

In December 1867 Kent’s remains were transferred from Galveston to his home in Alton, Illinois. More than 3,000 Galveston mourners escorted his body from the cemetery to a waiting ship in the harbor. In honor of Kent, flags were flown at half-mast at the customhouse, all public and private buildings, and on all ships in the harbor. Kent was buried in the Alton Cemetery located in his hometown of Alton, Illinois.

In his obituary in Flake’s Bulletin dated August 31, 1867, General Kent was eulogized as follows: “No gentleman stood higher, and no officer of the Federal army has so won his way into the hearts of our people. He has ever been prompt to seize every opportunity for the advancement of the city’s interests.”