Editorial: Sham Houston; GENERAL TELEGRAPHIC NEWS From Washington; GENERAL CITY NEWS (8/15/1860)

Gen. HOUSTON has retired to private life. In making this announcement, we are fully sensible of the responsibility involved. Gen. HOUSTON has on several iterated occasions announced his final and irrevocable withdrawal from the distraction and arduous labors of public service. In a speech before the Senate two years ago, in which with a dignity, and solemnity not wholly unworthy of WASHINGTON, he announced his resolve never again to appear as a candidate for popular favor, he was resolute as to the point of privacy. He was a spirituous veteran lagging on the stage. His farewell words uttered, there was nothing for the orator but vacuous old age and posterity. He accordingly sought solitude in governing Texas; and became a hermit to prepare himself for the Presidency in 1860. And yet once more with the positiveness and finality of a disgusted Timon, the General with an abundant appreciation of the consequences, now announces his determination to stand as a candidate for the Chief Magistracy of the Union, assured that if no others support him, the people of Texas may at least be relied upon to sustain his most authentic pretensions. It is needless to say this act is the becoming close of a career, which has been distinguished by fortuitous but undeserved honors, and has been clothed with historical attributes wholly the property of other meritorious claimants.

I cannot conceive of a contemporary newspaper or even a magazine article that would cite 'Timon' (Timon of Athens)! What that says about our society of today I will leave to those who bother to read this!

Frankly, I had forgotten that Sam Houston was ever in the 1860 race for US President (Constitutional Union Party). I do remember that he remained anti-succession for his entire life (d.1863). When the initial formation of the Confederate States of America (CSA) happened after Lincoln's 1860 victory (February 1861), Texas held a convention that voted succession from the United States of America, also February 1861. Governor Houston went with the popular movement as far as declaring Texas as an independent Republic. When he refused to authorize the joining of the CSA and refused the CSA loyalty oath, the Texas Legislature declared his office vacant and Houston, just turning 68, chose not to fight and retired instead.

A month later, 19 April of 1861, 10 days after Fort Sumter, he gave the following public address;
"Let me tell you what is coming. After the sacrifice of countless millions of treasure and hundreds of thousands of lives, you may win Southern independence if God be not against you, but I doubt it. I tell you that, while I believe with you in the doctrine of states rights, the North is determined to preserve this Union. They are not a fiery, impulsive people as you are, for they live in colder climates. But when they begin to move in a given direction, they move with the steady momentum and perseverance of a mighty avalanche; and what I fear is, they will overwhelm the South."

4 years later, 9 April 1865, General Lee surrendered his CSA Army of Northern Virginia to General Grant at Appomattox, Virginia! The final battle of the US Civil War was fought in Texas, just east of Brownsville, 12-13 May 1865 and was a Union Defeat. Of Sam Houston's prediction? Of all white males (18-40) in the CSA, 30% died, CSA military casualties were 290k+ dead and a total of 864k total casualties out of a population of 9.1 million (3.5 million slaves).

The New York Times article entitled “Sham Houston” above (column 2) says [my bold text where it appears below]:

Houston was sent to the Banks of the Colorado to oppose the advance of Santa Anna. The Texas force, numbering 1,450 men, well armed and aided by two pieces of artillery in competent hands, excelled that of the Mexican leader, and numbered in its ranks some of the most chivalrous fighters of the War of Independence. It was expected that with such odds in his favor, Houston would at once put to rout the hero of the cockpit, and returning, give Texans welcome assurance of their independence.

Let’s check some facts. From “Texas, A Historical Atlas” by A. Ray Stephens:

Santa Anna followed closely on Houston’s trail from Gonzales, continues eastward to the Atascosito Crossing of the Colorado River, marched to San Felipe on the Brazos River, and then turned downstream to the Fort Settlement (present day Richmond) area because the Texan rear guard prevented his crossing at San Felipe. . . . With his main army of approximately 3,400 officers and enlisted men remaining on the Brazos until summoned, Santa Anna crossed the Brazos at Thompson’s Ferry, two miles above Fort Settlement, and led a unit of approximately 900 choice combatants to Harrisburg on the Buffalo Bayou and New Washington on Galveston Bay as he unsuccessfully pursued Texas government officials.
The Mexican president/commanding general turned back towards Lynch’s Ferry when he learned that Houston had begun a march in his direction. Both opposing commanders knew of the other’s movements through spies. General Martin Perfecto de Cos with 540 men from Fort Settlement arrived at Santa Anna’s camp the morning of April 21, which reinforced Santa Anna’s forces. The opposing armies met for battle near the confluence of Buffalo Bayou and the San Jacinto River, where on the afternoon of April 21, 1836, the Texan army attacked the Mexican camp with remarkable results.

If Houston had tried to fight Santa Anna’s army at the Colorado River, he would have faced 3,400 + 900 = 4,300 men of the Mexican army. Houston would have been outnumbered, and his army was not all that well trained. He was wise to retreat until he faced better odds. The Mexican army also had at least one canon, which Santa Anna took with him across the Brazos. Santa Anna may have left more canons with his main army at the Brazos River.

From Houston’s report about the Battle of San Jacinto, in which the Texas army defeated the Mexicans and captured Santa Anna [Source: “Documents of Texas History” by Wallace, Vigness, and Ward]:

About 9 o’clock on the morning of the 21st, the enemy were reinforced by 500 choice troops, under command of General Cos, increasing their effective force to upward of 1500 men, while our aggregate force for the field numbered 783. At half past three o’clock in the evening, I ordered the officers of the Texas army to parade their respective commands, having in the meantime ordered the bridge on the only road communicating with the Brazos, thus cutting off all avenue of escape [rustbucket: or to block or delay additional Mexican troops arriving from the Brazos River].

From “Sam Houston, The Great Designer,” by Llerena B. Friend:

When Houston reached Gonzales, he found some 374 men ready to fight – psychologically ready, but with few arms, inadequate provisions, and little ammunition. At Gonzales he learned that the Alamo had fallen and that the Mexican Army was moving eastward. Decided to retreat, he reached the Colorado River with 600 men by March 17; on March 28 he was at the Brazos. [rustbucket: 600 men? But, but, the New York Times article above had said that Houston had had 1,450 men, fully armed, at the Colorado River, excelling what Santa Anna had.].
To the charge that insubordination of Houston’s men forced the Battle of San Jacinto, there is a possible answer in Houston’s letter from Harrisburg to Henry Raguet, just two days before the battle: “We go to conquer. It is wisdom growing out of necessity to meet the enemy now, every consideration enforces it. No previous occasion would justify it. The troops are in fine spirits, and now is the time for action.”

The New York Times has not changed from back then. There had been talk of running Houston for President in 1860. The New York Times apparently was going to stop that by disparaging Houston.

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