WRITINGS OF 5AM HOUSTON, 1836
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515
Commissions will issue to none until they have received the sanction of the Constitutional advisers; nor will I add to the ac- cummulated expenses of the Government by appointing persons, who can render no corresponding advantages. Sam Houston 1 E. W. Winkler (ed.), Secret .Jounuds of the Senate of the Republic of Tc:rns, 1836-1845, p. 35. 2 These nominations were rejected on December 20, 1836, the same clay they were presented, but on December 21, the nomination of Felix Huston was reconsidered and was confirmed (Secret Journals, p. 40) ; and on December 22, the nomination of Green was reconsidered, but was again 1·ejected. 3 Thomas Jefferson Green (1801-December 13, 1863) was born and died in \Varren County, North Carolina. He went to Texas in 1836 and remaineq a citizen of that Republic until 1845. He served in the Texas Revolution with the rank of brigadier. general. In 1843, along with other officers and men, he refused to obey the orders of General Alexander Somervell, whose loyalty he doubted,and with a small body of Texan troops left the main army and made an expedition against the Mexican town of Mier. The e:xpedition was disastrous for the Texans; 193 men and officers were taken prisoners and were started on a march to Mexico City. An attempt was made to escape, but the men were recaptured, and, according to Santa Anna's order, every tenth man was shot. This is what is known as the decimation of the Salado. Those fortunate enough to have drawn white beans in the lottery for life, were marched on to Mexico City, thence to the famous prison of Perote, where they suffered many hardships for about two years. Green himself was held a prisoner until September 16, 1844, when he, with 103 others was released. Several years later he went to California, se1·ved there in the Senate of the State Legislature, and there he was made a major general of militia. At the outbreak of the Civil War he entered the Confederate Army and participated in many of the early campaigns in Virginia. He was the author of several books and pamphlets: (1) The Mier Expedition (New York, 1845) is the author's journal which is said to have been kept during his imprisonment at Perote and during the whole expedition with additional notes -and comments. He published this book to defend his conduct in making the Mier Expedition. He also made a detailed reply to Houston's speech made in the United States Sen- ate, August 1, 1854. For further details of the man's life and character, see Thomas Jefferson Green, The Mier Expedition: Houston's Speerh in the U. S. Senate, August 1, 1854; also, G1·een's Reply; Yoakum, History of Texas, II, 171; Thrall, 547; Biographical Encyclopedia of Texas (New York, 1880), 276. ~Felix Huston (also spelled Houston) was a native of K('ntucky, who was practicing law at Natchez, Mississippi, when the Texas Revolution Lroke out in 1835. He became interested in that struggle ns early as July, 1835, and on the 14th of that month presided over a meeting h('lu at Natchez, for the purpose of discussing the Texas situation. From that time on we find him an advocate for Texas independence. lt fCl'lllS that Felix Huston was a typical military adventurer, ambitious, aggressive,
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