203
WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1842
If surprise should be permitted at any time, or horses or other property fall into the hands of the enemy, indelible disgrace will attach to the officer by whose neglect or permission it has been done. Report has reached here that you had sent Col. Hugh McLeod:? to take command of the artillery. No official notice has arrived, and I set it down as one of a thousand rumors. The number of men, the organization of Regiments and the names of the field officers, with muster rolls, are items of great importance to the Department of War. The troops could as well be organized in two days as in two months. Companies must be composed of their full numbers-battalions complete and regi- ments full. A greater number of officers than what the law allows, in proportion to the number of men, will, under no cir- cumstances, be permitted. It produces confusion in an army - perplexity to the commanding officer, and can be attended with no possible advantage. Saluate Col. Hemphill,3 and my acquaintances. Sam Houston 1 Executive Record Book, No. 40, pp. 158-159, Texas State Library. See Houston to Alexander Somervell, March 10, 1842. :?Hugh McLeod (August 1, 1814-January 2, 1862). For biographical material see Dictionary of American Biography, XII, 132-133. G. W. K~n- dall, Narrative of the Texa,s Santa Fe Expeditio1i (2 vols.). Garrison (ed.), Divlomatic Correspondence of the Republic of Texas, II, III, passim. W. C. Binkley, The Exvcinsionist Movement in Texas, passim. F. R. Lubbock, Six Decades in Texas, 185, 189, 233-234. 3 John Hemphill. See Houston to the House of Representatives, January 22, 1842.
DECEMBER, 1842
TO THE TEXAS CONGRESS, ANNUAL MESSAGE 1
Executive Depatrment, Washington, December 1, 1842. Gentlemen of the Senate and of the House of Representatives: Circumstances, involving the general interests and condition of the country, have induced an earlier call of the Honorable Con- gress than was anticipated. During our existence as a people, no deliberative body has ever been convened under more interesting and important circumstance; nor do I believe it will ever again
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