WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1837-1841
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as soon as delivered. You are authorized to forward leather suitable and sufficient for 3000 mocasins presuming that they will cost 20 cents per pair. You will send on the requisite num- ber of all and material for completing the same. So soon as this business can be done, and at all times you will report to the War Dept. or at least monthly. You will repair to the Seat of Govt. by the 10th of Oct. next, and receive orders. Sam Houston [Rubric] "'Houston's Private Executive Record Book," p. 15, courtesy of Mr. Frank- lin Williams. To THOMAS F. McK1NNEY 1 Executive Department, Republic of Texas City of Houston, Sept. 5th, 1837 Mr. T. F. McKinney Dear Sir You would much oblige by transmitting me at as early a date as possible a copy of the communication of the Honorable S. R. Fisher, Secretary of the Navy, to you, appoint- ing you "Prize Agent." The importance of my request calls for a speedy compliance. Sam Houston [Rubric] 1 Mr. Franklin Williams's Collection of Houston Materials. Thomas F. McKinney (November 1, 1801-October 2, 1873), was born in Christian County, Kentucky. When he was fourteen years old his father moved to Howard County, Missouri, and in 1823 to Randolph County in the same state. The boy Thomas received a fair common English education, learning reading, spelling, and writing with reasonable grammatical cor- rectness. He possessed an unique individuality, loved adventure, excitement and change, with never an emotion of fear in any enterprise. These charac- teristics clung to him throughout life. Moreover, he was a man of impulses and deep prejudices, often doing things on the spur of the moment that were contrary to his better judgment. In bis prime, Thomas F. McKinney was five feet and ten inches in height, broad shouldered and of muscular build, weighing around 175 pounds. His eyes were light grey, and they gazed directly into the eyes of both friend and foe. James McKinney, his younger brother, and the public relations man of the McKinney & Williams firm for many years, often said: "By gazing steadfastly into a man's eyes, he can quickly estimate him and know how to manage and influence him better than any person I have ever known." And James McKinneY, went on to say that his brother studied men "from the results of their actions rather than from the acts themselves; thus, he generally was able to read their motives accurately, and then was able to control, or influence them through this knowledge."
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