The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 52, July 1948 - April, 1949 Page: 183
512 p. : ill., maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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John A. Quitman in the Texas Revolution
men, defending their homes and their rights, made a more effec-
tive fighting force than was generally admitted. Sam Houston
and others, including many of Quitman's friends in the Texas
forces, had urged him to lend his personal support to the Texas
cause. Quitman was anxious to see Texas throw off the corrupt,
incompetent, and despotic Mexican yoke and establish a gov-
ernment similar to that of the United States or, better still, annex
itself to the United States. Only Quitman's compassion for free-
men "fighting for their violated rights," however, can complete
the explanation of his decision to give up his pleasant family life,
political prestige, and comforts which came from a lucrative pro-
fession to embark for strange lands and expose himself to the
hardships and dangers of armed conflict.
Quitman never lost interest in the Lone Star Republic. In
1842, he was anxious to see the Texans assume the offensive, in
their continuing difficulties with the Mexicans, and carry the
war to the heart of Mexico.70 At the same time, Quitman was
active in a Natchez organization that aided in securing arms and
money for "Texian emigrants."7' He instigated the call for a
Texas annexation meeting, on May o, 1844, in Jackson, Mis-
sissippi. That gathering adopted Quitman's eleven resolutions
that provided for the organization of a permanent non-partisan
Texas Annexation Association for Mississippi that was to pro-
mote, "by all quiet, legal, and constitutional means immediate
reannexation" of Texas.72
Quitman's second and last "visit" to Texas, to fight the Mexi-
cans again, was in August, 1846, when, as a brigadier general in
the United States Army, he was on his way to join Zachary Tay-
lor's forces at Camargo.73
70Quitman to a friend in Galveston, Texas, March 19, 1842, Claiborne, Quitman,
I. 192-193.
71Mississippi Fi ee Trader, April 4, 7, 1842-
72Ibid., May 18, 1844, May 20, 1848; Fort Smith (Arkansas) Times, August 18,
1858; Claiborne, Quitman, I, 225; James E. Winston, "Annexation of Texas and
the Mississippi Democrats," Southwestern Historical Quarterly, XXV (1921), 13.
73Mississippi Free Trader, August 18, 1849; Claiborne, Quitman, I, 239-241.183
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 52, July 1948 - April, 1949, periodical, 1949; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101121/m1/191/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.