The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 15, July 1911 - April, 1912 Page: 160
382 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Texas Historical Association Quarterly
tyrant and his fate and that of Texas sealed. Huston says that
every man that was in the battle shall have 2 leagues of land The
boat is going to start and I must stop. I will write again in a
few days. I remain your affectionate brother,
W. C. Swearingen.
AN EARLY LETTER OF SAM HOUSTON'S
[The letter which follows was presented to the University of
Texas during the past summer by Professor D. C. Lyle of the
McDonogh School for Boys, near Baltimore, Maryland. It was
written to his great-uncle, Alexander Campbell, whose farm ad-
joined the Houston homestead near Lexington, Virginia. Houston
was at the time slowly recovering from the desperate wounds which
he had received the preceding August in the battle of To-ho-pe-ka.
The peace to which he refers was, of course, the treaty of Ghent
with Great Britain. Instead of being "disbanded," Houston was
promoted to a lieutenantcy in the regular army, and remained in
the service until May, 1818, when he resigned. The letter was
written when Houston was just past twenty-two, and is one of the
earliest manuscripts that we have from his pen. In a sketch of
Houston published in the Library of Southern Literature (VI,
2561), Professor Garrison remarked that if Houston was chris-
tened Samuel, he "never called himself by the name or signed it
in that form." The letter indicates, however, that in his youth
Houston sometimes indulged in the full scriptural praenomen.]
DandridgE Apl. 25th 1815
Dear Sir
When I left you I expected to have written to you before now,
but riot knowing whether or not I would long remain stationary
I have omited writing, and I suppose the restoration of peace will
supersede the necesity of doubts on the subject, for it is very prob-
able I will be disbanded, tho. I will not know before the first of
May If I am continued in service it is very likely my destination
will soon be New Orleans, and if discontinued I think it probable
I will reside in Knoxville for it will be proper for me to pursue
some course for a livelihood which will not be laborious as my
wounds are not near well, and I suppose it will be impracticable
for a disbanded officer to marry, for the[y] will be regarded as160
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 15, July 1911 - April, 1912, periodical, 1912; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101056/m1/165/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.