The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 16, July 1912 - April, 1913 Page: 135
464 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Recollections of General Sam Houston
through a confidential messenger about the 28th of March, 1861,
in which he was told that Lincoln was willing to send 50,000 troops
to aid in keeping Texas in the Union. Undoubtedly the effort
already made by Governor Houston to induce General Twiggs to
surrender to him instead of to the Convention the government
arms and stores in San Antonio was known in Washington and
induced Lincoln's letter. When that letter was received, Houston
requested his personal friends David Culberson, James Throck-
morton, Ben Epperson and his cousin, Colonel Rogers (who was
afterwards killed at Corinth), to meet him in the Executive Man-
sion. He there in confidence showed them Lincoln's letter and
asked them to express frankly their opinions: Though all were
at that time opposed to secession, they each advised against re-
sistance to the Convention. Then Houston stepped to the fire and
burned the letter, saying: "Gentlemen, I had resolved to act in
this matter on your advice, but if I was ten years younger I would
not."x
If he ever contemplated resistance to the Secession Convention,
the idea was abandoned for he wrote to Colonel Waite at San
Antonio, saying: "I have received intelligence that you have, or
will soon receive orders to concentrate United States troops under
your command at Indianola, in this State, to sustain me in the
exercise of my official functions. Allow me most respectfully to
decline any such assistance . . . and to most earnestly protest
against the concentration of troops . .. in Texas and to
request that you remove all such troops out of this State."
No Relic in the Texas Capitol.-Texas has no relic as a personal
memento of her most illustrious soldier and statesman; neither
vesture, hat, sword, gun, nor even his walking staff.2 A long gold-
xThe above account of what transpired I had in great confidence from
one of the gentlemen consulted. Senator Culberson has referred to it in
an article published some years ago (Scribner's Magazine, May, 1906, p.
556), and he learned it, presumably, from his father. A letter printed
in the War of the Rebellion (Series I, Vol. 1, pp. 551-552) gives an insight
into a confidential mission of one F. W. Lander, sent by Mr. Lincoln. It
may be that he bore the letter referred to, but my information was that
the bearer of the letter from Mr. Lincoln was George Giddings.
2While the articles enumerated by Judge Terrell have not been placed
in the Capitol, the reader may find there a marble bust, a marble statue,
four oil portraits, and the official records of General Houston's admin-
istrati-ons as President and as Governor of Texas.--THE EDITons.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 16, July 1912 - April, 1913, periodical, 1913; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101058/m1/143/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.