WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1830
195
his cousin Charles Floyd, Jr., both joined the Lewis and Clark expedition and were both given the rank of sergeant in the party. After his return from the Pacific he entered the United States Army and received an appoint- ment as ensign in the First Infantry on February 27, 1807, but was raised to second lieutenant on the 3d day of May, 1808. On April 1, 1810, re resigned and went to the Dubuque lead mines and traded with the Indians in lead. (See John Bradbury, Travels in the lnterio1· of America in the Year 1809- 1811, 225.) He again joined the army on August 30, 1813, and was com- missioned a first lieutenant in the 55th Infantry, and on October 1, 1814, he became a captain. He received an honorable discharge on June 15, 1815. Then he engaged in trade at the Arkansas post. In 1821 he was among the Osages, living as one of the tribe. That same year he went with Glenn's trapping party to New Mexico; later he had a trading post on the Verdigris River among the Osages, where he was supplied with goods by Abraham Gallatin, a brother of Albert Gallatin, who lived in St. Louis. Pryor died in 1831. His only estate consisted of a small sum of money held for him by Governor Clark, a sum much smaller than his indebtedness to · Gallatin. Pryor was a man of fine character and great ability, but he yielded to the fascination of the free life among the Indians and made no effective use of his talents. A small river in Montana, and a creek and a town in Oklahoma are named in his memory. See Thomas James (Walter B. Douglas, editor), Three Years Anwng the lnclians and ilt/cxicans, 15-17, 249. ~Governor William Clark. See notes under Houston on the Injustice of Indian Agents, September 8, 1830.
1831-1832
POEM TO A LADY 1
[Washington City, 1831]
Oh, where's the step that once was light, The Heart that felt no throb of sorrow, When every morning's rays were bright, And Hope could gild the coming morrow? That Heart has ceased to beat with joy, Has ceased to hope for coming pleasure; It smiles on Glory as a toy And Virtue as the only treasure. Farewell! I wish it were not so, That we must part and part forever, But let the wandering exile go, My heart from thee no change can sever. - Sam Houston.
1 C. W. Raines, Year Book, II, 450.
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