232
WRITINGS _OF SAM HOUSTON, 1838
appointment whatsoever under the constitution of the Texas Republic (see the Telegraph and Texas Register, August 26, 1837). In answer to these charges Chambers presented a great display of claims backed up by many affidavits and other documents. He had his reply printed in pamphlet form and distributed broadcast among the citizens of Texas. Subse- quently, Chambers settled in what is now Chambers County. He took an active part in public affairs. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the governor's office several times after the annexation of Texas to the Union. In 1861, Chambers County sent him as its representative to the Secession Convention. In -1863, he again became a candidate for the governor's office, but was defeated by Pendleton Murrah. He then retired to private life in his home at Anahuac, where he was assassinated by some unknown person. He was buried in the Episcopal Cemetery at Galveston. See William N. Chambers, A Sketch of the Life of Gen. T. J. Chambers (1855). The Reply of Major General T. Jeffe1·son Chambe1·s, T. A., to Newspaper Attacks Made Against Hint by David G. Burnet, Late President Ad Interim of the Republic of T6xas (Houston, 1837). The Quarterly, Texas State Historical Association, IX, 235, 240-241. The Southwesteni Historical Qum·tcrly, XVI, 46-47, and XVIII, 58, 90. Telegraph and Texas Register, July 15, 1837, and August 26, 1837. Thrall, A Pictorial Histo1-y of Texas, 525-526. Z. T. Fulmore, The History and Geography of Texas as Told in County Names, 29-30. Llerena B. Friend, Life of Thomas Jeff6rson Chambers (M.A. Thesis, 1928), MS., The University of Texas Library. To THE T°ExAs CoNGREss 1 Executive Department, City of Houston, Texas, 17th May, 1838. To the Honorable _Congress, GENTLEMEN-Constrained by a sense of duty, arising, I trust from a due regard to the public interest, I take the liberty of returning the bill to the honorable senate, the body in which it originated. The executive is never insensible to the application of meritorious and worthy officers and soldiers; but as he entertains most satisfactory intelligence on the subject of captains Costly: and Jewell/ he can never lend his countenance to the satisfaction of their demands. The companies were detailed at a time, when the Indians of the prairies were about to make an attack upon the inhabitants from Trinity to Nacogdoches, they were directed to a point nenr the Trinity, designated as the town of Houston, to where a num- ber of the families had returned after the Mexican invasion. They received instructions from the commander- in chief, who was then in Nacogdoches, of a most particular character, and to keep up the strictest vigilance with constant activity on the frontier.
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