WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1861
254
the call under which its delegates were elected, the same to be submitted to the vote of the people at the ballot-box, for their ratification or rejection. Not only does this action on the part of the Legislature com- mend the Convention to my consideration, but the high talents and respectability of the delegates composing the same, com- mand my respect. I can assure you, Gentlemen, that whatever will conduce to the welfare of our people will have my warmest and most fervent wishes. And when the voice of the people of Texas has been declared through the ballot-box, no citizen will be more ready to yield obedience to its will, or to risk his all in its defence, than myself. Their fate is my fate, their fortune is my fortune, their destiny is my destiny, be it prosperity or gloom, as of old, I am with my country. For the courtesy paid me by the Convention, and for the kind sentiments expressed by the committee, receive my thanks, and you can assure the Convention of the readiness of the Execu- tive to act in harmony with the Convention in securing an ex- pression of the popular will upon the matter touching our Fed- eral Relations, and that he will cheerfully confer with any com- mittee appointed for that purpose. Sam Houston. 1 A Broadside in the Texas State Library; E. W. Winkler (ed.), Journal of the Texas Secession Convention, 1861, 46-47; The Colorado Citizen, Feb- ruary 16, 1861. 2 John Henniger Reagan (October 8, 1818-March 6, 1905), representa- tive, Senator in the United States Congress, Postmaster General of the Confederacy; Chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission, was born in Sevierville, Sevier County, Tennessee. He was the son of Timothy R. and Elisabeth (Lusk) Reagan. For schooling, he attended the common schools of Sevierville, Nancy Academy, Boyds Creek Academy, and Maryville Acad- emy-all of Tennessee. He joined the army and participated in campaigns against the ·Cherokee Indians; was a deputy surveyor of public lands (1839-1849); studied law, was admitted to the bar, and practiced his profession at Buffalo and Palestine, Texas. He was a member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1847-1849; was judge of a district court from 1852 to 1857, but resigned this position when he was elected to the Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Congresses (March 4, 1857-March 3, 1861). He was elected a delegate to the Secession Convention of Texas, 1861, and was sent as a deputy to the Provisional Congress of the Confederacy. On March 6, 1861, he was appointed Postmaster General of the Confederacy, a position he continued to hold until the close of the Civil War. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of 1875, and as a Democrat,
Powered by FlippingBook