WR1T1Ncs oF SAM HousToN, rn,is
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not give the date of its appearance in The Civilicm, nor has it been ascertained. "Hamilton Stuart (September 4, 1813-November 15, 1894), was born in Jefferson County, Kentucky, on a farm nine miles from Louisville; but he was reared and educated, and grew to manhood at Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky. There he was trained in the printer's trade, and it was there that he at the age of twenty-two, published the Kentucky Sentinel. There, too, on November 28, 1837, he was married to Miss Belinda Stuart Chambers, a daughter of Colonel B. S. Chambers, a man who during the War of 1812 had served as quarter1naster in Colonel Richard M. Johnson's regiment of Kentucky Infantry. Stuart's grandfather had established the Kentucky Gazette at Lexington, the first newspaper to be printed west of the Alleghany mountains. Shortly after his marriage the young man had to face the fact that his lungs were affected, and his physician ordered him to a milder climate than that of Kentucky. He left Georgetown for New Orleans in 1837. After staying there a short time he decided to go on to Texas, and procured passage on a steamboat to Galveston, arriving there in January, 1838. At that time the town consisted of three or four small houses and a number of tents and sod houses. It was not incorporated, and the entire island was embraced within the limits of Harrisburg County (now Harris County). He stayed a short time at Galveston until he could obtain passage on a boat bound for Houston, the capital of the Republic. The trip from Galveston to Houston required almost a week to accomplish, because the vessel grounded on "Red Forks," and on "Clopper's Bars," and because of other impediments in the bayou, such as overhanging branches along the banks, and snags and sunken logs in the channel. Having reached - Houston, which itself was merely a collection of a few houses and tents, and during rainy weather a sea of mud, he decided to establish his home there. Soon after his arrival he was introduced to General Houston. According to Stuart's own account, the meeting was under embarrassing circumstances, for a few hours prior to his arrival, a steamer had brought from New Orleans, the first artificial ice ever seen in Houston. The hogshead had been opened, and when Hamilton was introduced to the President, the latter was in the act of sampling the ice in a glass of champagne. The moment was critical, for S'tuart had heard of the rough and ready reputation of Texans; then, too, he had reasons to wish to make a good impression on General Houston. As he expected, Houston invited him to drink with him, and as he had before-hand determined, he declined, saying: "President Houston, I do not wish to seem ungrateful, or unfriendly by refusing your graciously proffered hospitality, but it is a rule of my life never to drink wine or other alcoholic liquors." Looking intently into the young man's eyes, and placing his hand gently upon his shoulder, Houston replied: "Young man, I never insist upon anyone's drinking with me. I think sometimes that I drink too much myself. Probably it would have been better for me if I had never acquired the habit." This was the beginning of a friendship between the two men that remained unbroken until the death of Houston in 1863, more than twenty-_five years later. For a short period Stuart was editor of the Na,tional Bannm·, but this connection was soon broken, because the proprietors sent articles to press
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