The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959 Page: 41
617 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Sam Houston and the Texas War Fever
from Houston as to the disposition of his rapidly diminishing
army, he discharged the remainder on April 2.38 Thus the only
effective striking force standing between Mexico and the unpro-
tected frontier settlements was disbanded. Only scattered forces
remained throughout the rest of the country. Among these were
the volunteers from the United States who came to Texas un-
prepared, disregarding Houston's earlier message that all emi-
grants would be required to bring their own rifles, ammunition,
and clothing for six months.39 General James Davis was sent in
May to take charge of these disorderly and impoverished vol-
unteers.40
With the discharge of the militia at San Antonio, the pressure
on President Houston began to ease. He was relatively safe from
some headlong action by a contemporary Fannin which would
place the country in jeopardy. The threats that he had to deal
with now were more latent than actual. He continued to make
violently patriotic speeches such as that of "a proclamation to all
Texans" of April 14, 1842, in which he used such flamboyant
terms as "the puny efforts of Mexico will be harmless" and "our
march to greatness cannot be impeded."41 No organized army
was available to be inflamed by his statements, so he could indulge
in these bombastic utterances. To those who wished to organize
individual military forces to raid and pillage Mexico, he directed
a "proclamation concerning self-appointed agents" on April 25.
In this he made clear that the struggle in which Texas was en-
gaged with Mexico was a national one and not to be viewed as
an opportunity for freebooters.42
All of these actions by Houston were assumed by him because
of the extreme danger to the country. He was extremely reluctant
to call Congress into session because he felt the shortsightedness
and extreme fervor of its members might be a liability rather
than an asset. This feeling he expressed to Daingerfield on April
asYoakum, History of Texas, II, 354.
89Houston to P. Edmunds, March 11, 1842, quoted in Niles' Weekly Register,
April 2, 1842.
40oHouston to Davis, May 5, 1842, in Williams and Barker (eds.), Writings of
Houston, III, 45.
41For full text of Houston's Proclamation to Texans, see ibid., 26-32.
42Proclamation of April 25, 1842, ibid., 36.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959, periodical, 1959; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101173/m1/59/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.