Lincoln, Houston, & Texas

[LincolnMan]

Author John Hoyt Williams informs us in his book Sam Houston A Biography of the Father of Texas the following:

"Abraham Lincoln, inaugurated the day Houston proclaimed secession, clearly perceived the importance of Texas with a Unionist governor and a size able, but overestimated, Unionist minority. Lincoln and his advisors determined to defend Houston as "the outstanding exemplar of Unionism in the South." In fact, serious thought was given to sending massive reinforcements to Texas. Certainly Texas was far more important than lonely Fort Sumter or the only other Union holdout in the South, Florida's Fort Pickens. If Texas could be held in the Union with Houston at its helm, the tide of rebellion might yet be turned. Virginia had not yet seceded, and a Confederacy without the twin anchors of Texas and Virginia would drift upon the diplomatic seas." (343).


Certainly Texas was a huge loss for the Union. I think any action like sending Union troops there would have made things worse-and I don't think there were enough Yankee troops to do so at that time. It was also a sad way for Sam Houston to have his career "ended." Your thoughts?

[Wild Bill]

Lincoln's overestimation of Unionist strength in 1861 Texas was a common fault he and his administration and for Unionism in he test of the South. He thought the average Southern white was exactly like he in being against the slave power in the South, which showed how ling he had been out of the South and Southern culture.

Did Houston actually proclaim secession after Texas voted for it? My impression was that he refused, but I could be wrong. Secession brought back the notion of a separate a Republic to older Texans, which Houston might have been able to abide. But when he was told he had to take an oath to the Confederacy, he resigned his office, rather than do that. He was Andrew Jackson's ideological partner to the end.

I do not believe that the US Army had the power to retake Texas after Brig Gen David Twiggs surrendered federal forces in the state. They barely held on to Ft. Pickens and the troops there probably could not have held Galveston (or Brownsville) if they were transferred there. Wonder who would have commanded them?

Since Baylor was already organizing his Great Buffalo Hunt seeking to capture Mesilla, New Mexico, and nearby Tucson in AZ (full of potential Rebels, much to the horror modern Arizonans who still wonder why the Confederate flag, along with Mexico's and Spain's, is raised in all modern parades), it is possible that Texas could not have retaken Galveston either. But eventually Texas would have raised enough troops to overwhelm the Yankees in Galveston and force a US surrender a second time. But it might have changed every one's emphasis on the East Coast and Washington for a while--but not long. It was sideshow because of geopolitical reasons. Washington and the war were a long way away.

Rick Smith and I did a study of Isaac Surratt for the Courier for anyone interested in Texas, “Isaac in Texas--A Theoretical Look at the Other Surratt,” SURRATT COURIER , 33 (November 2008), 3-7, and I have written a couple of books on the US Army's reoccupation of Texas after the war, and the Freedmen's Bureau in the state during Reconstruction--both considered very controversial, of course.

[LincolnMan]

Yes, the "Jackson man" to the end. Did not Jackson say something like "the Union, it must be preserved!" Actually, the story of Jackson and Houston's relationship would make a great book in itself- if not already written. Was Houston at Jackson's deathbed- or had he arrived at the Hermitage too late? By the way- as a side note- three of my ancestors served under Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend. One of them was Col. Stephen Copeland. I believe he was under Coffee's command.

[Wild Bill]

Yes. "Our Federal Union, it must be preserved." The word Federal was inserted afterward by Van Buren, I think, to make it more palatable to the pro-nullification South, Union alone being considered by many even non-Southerners to be too restrictive a concept. It seemed to rule out secession or some other at the time unnamed state action

[Hess1865]

Didn't Junius Brutus Booth drink with Sam Houston on occasion??

[LincolnMan]

Didn't Junius Brutus Booth drink with Sam Houston on occasion??

I think that is true about Booth and Houston. Wild Bill?

[Wild Bill]

It is

[L Verge]

Wasn't there a third person who often joined Booth and Houston in their escapades, Bill?

[Gene C]

There is some mention of Booth & Houston in "My Thoughts Be Bloody" by Nora Titone

[Wild Bill]

I thought the third person was Andrew Jackson himself

[LincolnMan]

And another irony for Sam Houston was that he had a son in the Confederate military, I believe. Wasn't he Sam Houston Jr.?

[L Verge]

I thought the third person was Andrew Jackson himself

That's what I thought, but for a moment had a mental block. I think I was confusing Andrew Johnson and JWB's friendship later on. Booth the Elder's friendship with Jackson made his murder threat against his pal even more ludicrous. But, old Junius had definite thoughts on right and wrong - just as did Johnny.