Journal Article

Sam Houston Returns? Two Letters from Texas Secessionists in 1863

Gerleman, David J.

2014

Overview

Although removed from the governor's chair in March 1861 for refusing to take a loyalty oath to the new Confederate States of America, Sam Houston nevertheless remained a force to be reckoned with in Texas politics. After two years of fighting and mounting odds against an ultimate Confederate victory, Texas secessionist leaders were apprehensive that Unionism was reviving as war-weary citizens were becoming increasingly nervous about American Indian threats on the frontier. Suspicions grew that a reconstruction movement was underway that would coalesce around the former governor if he decided to raise his banner and reenter the political arena. Should Houston regain the governorship, his opponents feared, he would mobilize the state's latent Unionism to effect an immediate break with the Confederacy and throw Texas open to Federal occupation forces. Houston therefore had to be marginalized, and in the spring of 1863 several Confederate leaders privately floated ideas how to undermine his enduring public esteem. Here, Gerleman examines two letters from Texas secessionists that provide insight as to how a possible Houston return to the governorship might be undercut.

• Publisher: THE TEXAS STATE HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION,Texas State Historical Association
• Subject: American Civil War / Confederation / Governors / Houston, Samuel (1793-1863) / Letters / National archives / Notes and Documents / Political candidates / Politicians / Secession / Secessionism