The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 81, July 1977 - April, 1978 Page: 418
521 p. : ill. (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
Extracted Text
The following text was automatically extracted from the image on this page using optical character recognition software:
418
Southwestern Historical Quarterly
dent, Jefferson Davis, and of a number of Confederate generals. He
made similar remarks on several other occasions. The tone of these two
letters is despondent over the declining fortunes of the Confederacy.
During the spring of 1863 the seventy year old Houston's health rapidly
declined, and his death by pneumonia on July 26, 1863, came after a
five week illness.5 While the letters presented here do not change the
established view of Houston, they do reinforce the picture of a Houston
intensely interested in the fortunes of his friends, his opponents, and
his beloved state.
Cedar Point Oct. 7.6
1862
Dear Cave,
All we know here is that Galveston is taken, and that you have
gone to Virginia Point.' We are cut off here from the rest of mankind.
We get no news. I have written Mr. Cushing today to request Reagan9
to give us a mail. Do you help to get us one. I am in a state of painful
1861. He then cast his lot with the Confederacy during the Civil War. Cave afterward
lived in Houston, Texas, was affiliated with the Direct Navigation Company and finally
the Houston and Texas Central Railroad. Injured in a streetcar accident at Houston in
January, 1904, Cave died on March 28 of that year. Williams and Barker (eds.), Writings,
VII, 387-388; Walter Prescott Webb, H. Bailey Carroll, and Eldon Stephen BrancIa (eds.),
The Handbook of Texas (3 vols.; Austin, 1952, 1976), II, 670, III, 929.
5Houston's remarks as quoted by William P. Ballinger appear in Guy M. Bryan to Jef-
ferson Davis, March 9, 1863, in Dunbar Rowland (ed.), Jegerson Davis, Constitutionalist:
His Letters, Papers and Speeches (1o vols.; New York, 1923), V, 442-444. See also Houston
in his March 18, 1863, speech at the city of Houston. Williams and Barker (eds.), Writ-
ings, VIII, 336-337; Friend, The Great Designer, 349-350.
6Cedar Point, located in Chambers County, Texas, near Galveston, was the site of a
home purchased by Sam Houston in 1858. Friend, The Great Designer, 262.
7Galveston, Texas, fell without resistance on October 5, 1862, to a Union naval force and
was then occupied and garrisoned by elements of the Forty-Second Massachusetts Regi-
ment. Virginia Point was located in Galveston County, west of the old Galveston cause-
way, Mark Mayo Boatner, III, The Civil War Dictionary (New York, 1959), 322; Webb,
Carroll, and Branda (eds.), Handbook of Texas, II, 845.
8Edward Hopkins Cushing was editor of the Houston Telegraph during the Civil War.
He established his own mail service between Houston and Confederate army headquarters
in Shreveport, Louisiana, in order to gain first-hand news concerning the war effort. Webb,
Carroll, and Branda (eds.), Handbook of Texas, I, 449.
9John H. Reagan, former United States congressman from Texas, was appointed by Jef-
ferson Davis as Confederate postmaster-general. The Confederate mail service, less than
satisfactory from the first, became worse as the war progressed and Confederate military
fortunes declined. E. Merton Coulter, "The Confederate States of America, 1861-1865,"
A History of the South, eds. Wendell H. Stevenson and E. Merton Coulter (1o vols.; Baton
Rouge, 1947-1967), VII, 124-133.
Upcoming Pages
Here’s what’s next.
Search Inside
This issue can be searched. Note: Results may vary based on the legibility of text within the document.
Tools / Downloads
Get a copy of this page or view the extracted text.
Citing and Sharing
Basic information for referencing this web page. We also provide extended guidance on usage rights, references, copying or embedding.
Reference the current page of this Periodical.
Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 81, July 1977 - April, 1978, periodical, 1977/1978; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101205/m1/474/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.