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WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1841
389
date, you cannot render your aid to a more able, or wo1·thy mem- ber. I hope to see you early in December at Austin-Salute my friends Hon. W. D. Miller Sam Houston [Addressed] : Hon. W. D. Miller (of Gonzales) City of Austin Texas Col K. L. Anderson [Endorsed] : President Houston to W. D. Miller, Oct. 12th, 1841. 1 From Mr. Al Dealey's Collection of Houston Letters, Dallas, Texas. 2 Washington D. Miller was born, December 4, 1814, at Charleston, South Carolina. In the fall of 1835 he was at the University of Alabama, and graduated there, January 16, 1836, a major in engineering. While at the University of Alabama he was a member of the Philomatica Society, and had an ambition to become a professoi· of mathematics in a college. His first employment, however, was as a member of a corps of engineers under Captain Bingham, at work on the Wetumpka and Coosa Railroad. Several influential friends worked diligently to help locate him in a good position where his training and naturally brilliant mind would have freedom and opportunity for development. Throughout his life, however, his unsteady habits were a drag on his career. He came to Texas in the fall of 1837, and almost immediately found employment in various clerical positions in the government of the Texas Republic. In 1841, he became the private secretary to President Houston; in 1842 (March) he participated in repell- ing the Vasquez invasion; he was secretary to the Senate in the Seventh Congress, and copied the Senate Journals of that Congress in a large volume (now in the Texas State Library). He left Austin, for two years, went to Washington, Texas, where, with William H. Cushney, he edited and published the National Register. He returned to Austin in 1845, as Secre- tary of State to Governor Wood; from 1848 to 1849, he again entered into a partnership with William H. Cushney, and at Austin, they edited and published the Texas D<;,ntocrat. In 1852 he served as Secretary to the Senate during the Fourth Legislature. After this time he remained at Austin, engaged in various clerical positions until the Civil War. In 1861, he removed to Galveston, where he died September 19, 1866-age 51 years, 9 months. Washington D. Miller was never married. Miller Family Bible, owned by Mrs. K. C. Miller; W. D. Mille1· Papers, Texas State Library; Frank Brown, Annals of Travis County, MSS. XIV, 39. 3 Kenneth L. Anderson. See Houston to Anson Jones, August 3, 1843.
To A COMMITTEE OF SUPPORTERS AT CROCKETT 1
Crockett, 30th Oct. 1841. Gentlemen:- I feel complimented by the resolutions express- ing the sentiments of the citizens of this town and its vicinity, and will take pleasure in addressing them at half past three
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