WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1860
496
of militia, and under his control the state forces were effectively drilled an_d disciplined. He came to Texas in 1848 and located at Marshall, where he became a planter and merchant. He was an ardent State's Right Demo- crat, and became very popular in East Texas. In 1859 he was appointed "Grand Commander" of the secret organization known as the Knights of the Golden Circle, briefly called the K.G.C. He was opposed to the ultra conservative policies in 1860, and advocated a call for a sovereign conven- tion of the people. After war had been declared, he entered ·the Confed- erate army in the Third Texas Cavalry, of which he was commissioned colonel, on the first day of July, 1861. In October, 1862, he was appointed brigadier general, and soon after this he was made chief of the bureau of conscription for the Trans-Mississippi department, a position he held with distinction. General Greer cooperated in every way with General Magruder, who commanded the district of Texas, and assisted that gen- eral in reconciling differences between the conscription laws of the Con- federate States and the laws of the State of Texas. During operations in 1864, General Greer commanded the reserve forces in the Trans-Mississippi department. After the return of peace, he remained for a time in Texas, then removed to Arkansas, where he died at Deval's Bluff, March 25, 1877. See Evans, Confedemte Milita1·y History, XI, 233-234. Sid Smith, Texans Who Wo1·e the Gray, 129-130; Victor M. Rose, Ross' Texas Brigade, 140. !!This letter is somewhat cryptic; it may or may not assist in substan- tiating the opinion of some authorities that Houston, at this time, was entertaining an idea that had not entirely 1·eached the stage of determina- tion, to set up a protectorate over Mexico to prevent Texas from joining the Confederacy, and establish a new 1·epublic in the southwest. If such were his plans, his sound common sense was arguing here that such plans would prove unsuccessful. Other hints along the same, or similar, lines may be found in his letter to Mrs. Houston, Volume VII, p. 225, and to Ben McCulloch, February 13, 1860, p. 473, in this volume.
MARCH, 1860
To EDWARD BURLESON 1 Executive Department, Austin, March 1, 1860.
Captain Edward Burleson Sir, Should your command be in a fitting condition you will detail such a portion of your command as you think proper, leav- ing what you think a sufficient guard under the command of a confidential officer to protect your camps and to render at the same time protection to the frontier, make a requisition on Captain Conner for twenty men with one Lieutenant and their proper number of non-commissioned officers and penetrate the Indian country to the Cedar Mountains and head waters of the
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