141
WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1860
1 Execu,tive Reco1·ds, 1859-1861, pp. 224-225, Texas State Library. 2 Lawrence Sullivan Ross (September 27, 1838-January 3, 1898) was born at Benton's Post, Iowa, but while he was still an infant (1839) his family moved to the frontier of Texas and settled near Waco. The father, Captain Shapley P. Ross, became a famous Indian fighter, and the son was destined to follow in his father's footsteps. The boy was given the best educational advantages that his parents were able to procure for him. He attended Baylor University at Waco, but was later graduated from the Wesleyan University at Florence, Alabama, in 1859. While at home on the summer vacation of 1858, he raised a company of his friends and citizens of his county-135 strong-and hurried to the support of Major Earl Van Dorn, who was at the time leading the Second United States cavalry against the Comanches. At the battle of Wichita, in Octo- ber, 1858, the Indians were completely routed, but both Major Van Dorn and young Ross w£:re severely wounded. It was in this same battle that Ross rescued a little eight-year-old white girl from the Indians. The child had evidently been with the Indians from infancy. Finding no clew to her parentage or kinsmen, Ross reared the girl as his own daughter. He named her Lizzy Ross. She subsequently married and lived in California. After his graduation from Wesleyan University in June, 1859, Ross hurried back to Texas, and in the early months of 1860 dealt such a severe blow to the Comanches that they were never troublesome again. In this battle of 1860 he reputedly killed Peta Nacona, the last of the famous Comanche chiefs, and restored Cynthia Ann Parker to civilization. This woman had been captured by the Comanches in 1836. In recognition of this service, Governor Houston appointed him an aide-de-camp with the rank of colonel. After the secession question had disrupted harmony in Texas in 1861, Ross tendered his resignation to Houston, and served for a short time under Governor Clark on an Indian Embassy; then, he entered the Confederate Army as a private in the company of his brother, P. F. Ross. But in September, 1861, he was elected Major of the Sixth Texas Cavalry. In May, 1862, he was elected colonel, and was assigned by Major General Jones to command the brigade; this he refused to do, because he thought that there were others who deserved the honor. After the Civil War had ended he returned to Texas and was elected sheriff of McLennan County in 1875. In this same year he served as a member of the Constitutional Convention. From 1881 to 1883 he was a State Senator; then, in 1886 he was elected Governor of Texas, and was reelected in 1888. Retiring from the Governor's office in 1891, he became president of A. & M. College, a position he held until his death, January 3, 1898. He is buried in the City Cemetery at Waco, Texas. See L. E. Daniell, Texas and Its Men, 117; Sidney Smith Johnson, Texans Who Wore the G'ray, 94-95; 0. M. Roberts, "Texas," in Evans's Con{ederate Militm-y History, XI, 254-256; Wentworth Manning, The Histo1·y of Van Zandt County, 77-78; John Henry· Brown, Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas, 317-318; Johnson-Barker, Texas and Texans, II, 1091-1093, also V, 2037- 2039; Norman G. Kittrell, Governors Who Have Been, a11d Other Public Mc1i of Texas, 95-100; J. W. Wilbarger, Indian Depredations ·in Texas, 326-328; Victor M. Rose, Ross's Texas B1-igade, 157-174; Governors' Messages, Texas State Library; Dictiona,-y of Ame1·ican Biography, XVI, 179-180; Houston Post, January 4, 1898; Dallas M01·ning News, J anunry 6, 1898.
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