WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1853
452
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Salute Dr. Haynie,7 & Lady as well as all friends-Shaw 8 - Raymond0 &c &c. Houston 1 Mille1· Pcive1·s, Texas State Library. ~Washington D. Miller. See Houston to Colonel Thomas William Ward, April 4, 1842. 3 Peter W. Gray (April 10, 1819-October 3, 1874) was born at Fredericks- burg, Virginia. He came to Texas in 1837 with his father, William Fairfax Gray's family, and was reared and educated chiefly at Houston, Texas. As a youth of eighteen (in 1837) he served as clerk of the House of Representa- tives of the First Congress of the Republic. In 1841 he was elected District Attorney; in 1846 he was a member cf the First Legislature of the State of Texas; and later he served for many years as District Judge of the South Texas District. During the Civil War he represented the Houston District in the Confederate Congress, and was a staunch supporter of every measure for strengthening the arms and promoting the interests of the Confederacy. When the war was over, he returned to Houston and resumed his law prac- tice, and did much by his counsel and example to reestablish order and ameliorate the condition of his people. In a few years he had built up one of the largest law practices in the South. In 1874 he was appointed to the Supreme Bench, but on account of ill health resigned in a few months. He died at his home in Houston, October 3, 1874. He was a scholar, a highly cultured gentleman, and a patron of letters. It was largely due to his assistance--financial and otherwise-that Henderson Yoakum was enabled to complete his history of Texas. See Fulmore, The Geogravhy and History of Texas as Told in County Names, 198; James D. Lynch, Bench and Ba.r of Texas, 114-115; J. H. Davenport, The History of the Supreme Court of Texas, 111. •General Robert Blair Campbell, a brother of John Campbell, was a Representative from South Carolina. On March 16, 1853, he was appointed a commissioner for the United States to aid in the settlement of the disputed boundary between Texas and Mexico. For a biographical sketch of Campbell, see Biographical Dfrecto1iJ of the American Congress (1928), p. 783. 5 Robert Mercer Taliaferro Hunter (April 21, 1809-July 18, 1887), served in the 25th, 26th, 27th, and 29th United States Congresses as a Representa- tive from Virginia, and from March 4, 1847, to March 28, 1861, as a Senator. He was the author of the tariff of 1857. He declined the office of Secretary of State in the cabinets of both Pierce and Buchanan. For biographical sketches see Biogra11hical Dfrectory of the Ame1·ican Congress (1928), p. 1132; Dictiona1iJ of Ame1-ican Biogra,phy, IX, 403-405. oJames Gadsden. See Houston to James Gadsden, September 25, 1849, in this volume. 1see Houston to W. D. Miller, June 10, 1853, in this volume, for some account of Dr. Samuel G. Haynie. ssee Houston to James B. Shaw, November 6, 1842, in Volume III, 197. oJt is not clear whether Houston refers to Charles H., or to James H. Raymond. They we1·e cousins and both were warm personal friends of Houston.
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