Sam Houston and slavery

Early life Sam Houston was born into a slaveholding family in Virginia. His father, Samuel Davidson Houston, an American Revolutionary War veteran, died in 1806 when Houston was eleven. When he was thirteen, his mother Elizabeth Blair Paxton (1757–1831) moved the family of nine children to the wilderness of Blount County, Tennessee. He had little formal education, but read the classics like ''Caesar's Commentaries (Commentarii de Bello Gallico and Commentarii de Bello Civili), the Iliad'', and other books that he could find. farm in Tennessee. By the mid-18th century, Cherokee bands that Houston was associated with had adopted an agrarian lifestyle. Jolly's house was like the houses built by successful Southern planters and other European Americans. Indian agent Return J. Meigs described Jolly's house as "one of the largest... finest homes in the South." Photograph by Brian Stansberry, Creative Commons 3.0 license Houston's elder brother placed him in a job at a trading post. He later decided to follow his adventuresome spirit and ran away to a Cherokee village led by Chief John Jolly (Cherokee: Oolooteeskee) on Hiwassee Island. He was welcomed into a community of Native Americans who lived in log cabins. They were farmers and slaveholders, who had a written language. Houston, who wore the clothing of the Cherokees, lived in the village until he was about 18 years of age. After teaching and completing his education at Porter Academy, Houston fought in the Creek War. He was badly injured but developed what would be a life-long friendship with Andrew Jackson, who was also his political mentor. President of the Republic of Texas (1836–1838; 1841–1844) In 1837, a law was passed while Houston was president of the Republic of Texas that outlawed the illegal importation of slaves into the republic and he prohibited slave ships from doing business in Texas. He also refused to allow bounty hunters to receive payments for capturing enslaved people who were on the run U.S. Senator (1846–1859) , United States Capitol, Washington, D.C., 1810 to 1859 Prior to the 1913 Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, United States senators were chosen by their state legislatures, rather than by popular election. Houston served the United States Senate for 13 years, during which he voted against the westward expansion of slavery. He believed that slave labor would not be practical for the types of crops that would be grown in the Western states. He opposed John C. Calhoun's Address of the Southern Delegates in Congress, to Their Constituents of 1849. Opposing fellow Southerners, Houston voted against the Kansas–Nebraska Act (1854), which would have spread slavery into western territories and states. Houston said of his stance: "The glory of my life was that I had the moral manhood on that occasion to stand up against the influences which surrounded me, and to be honest in the worst of times." Houston lost the 1857 Texas gubernatorial election against Hardin Richard Runnels, but defeated Runnels in the 1859 election, becoming the 7th Governor of Texas. He expressed his opinion about a possible future for slaves in the Colony of Liberia: Governor of Texas (1859–1861) , Painting of Sam Houston, 1886, The Lyda Hill Texas Collection of Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith's America Project, Library of Congress Houston was elected governor when there was growing support for the secession of Texas from the Union. In addition, its white citizens became particularly upset after John Brown raided Harpers Ferry (October 16–18, 1859). He narrowly escaped an assassination attempt in Waco, being chased through the streets by an angry mob in late 1860. Throngs of enraged malcontents surrounded the Texas Governor's Mansion in Austin. Around December 1860, Margaret closed the mansion doors to all but those with an invitation from the Houstons. Houston was the only Southern governor to oppose secession from the Union before the Civil War. On February 1, 1861, a state convention overwhelmingly voted (168 to 8) to secede from the Union. The vote was taken over Houston's opposition. The Confederate States of America was established on February 8, 1861, and by March 2, Texas seceded from the Union. On March 16, 1861, Houston refused to swear an oath to the Confederacy. In response, the Texas legislature removed him from office. The pro-Confederacy lieutenant governor Edward Clark assumed his position. Civil War (1861–1865) About the civil war, Houston stated that he loved Texas too much to support what he was sure would come to it: the death of its citizens and civil strife. During August 1861, Sam Houston, Jr., enlisted in the Confederate States Army 2nd Texas Infantry Regiment, Company C Bayland Guards, sending Margaret into melancholia. Margaret dreaded that her first-born child would never be home again. Before Sam Jr. left, his mother gave him a pocket-sized Bible and his father gave him a Confederate uniform. Houston himself tried to help out by assuming care of their other children in between his extended visits to Galveston. Margaret's fears seemed well-founded when her son was critically wounded and left for dead at the April 1862 Battle of Shiloh. A second bullet was stopped by his Bible, bearing an inside inscription from her. He was found languishing in a field by a Union Army clergyman who picked up the Bible and also found a letter from Margaret in his pocket. Taken prisoner and sent to Camp Douglas in Illinois, he was later released in a prisoner exchange and received a medical discharge in October. ==Houston's slaves==

Houston owned 12 enslaved people Marriage to Margaret Lea , 1839, Huntsville, Walker County Photographs Collection, Sam Houston State University Before Sam married Margaret, he was the slaveholder of two men named Tom Blue and Esau (also Esaw). Houston, known for having a drinking problem, and he was baptized at the Baptist Church in Independence, Texas, in 1854. Of their many households, the Houstons generally spent the summers in Cedar Point on Trinity Bay. The family lived there in a house built of logs that were weather-boarded. Separate buildings accommodated their servants. In the fall, they resided in Huntsville (at Woodland) or in a house near Baylor College in Independence. Other residences were the Texas Governor's Mansion and Raven Hill. and sent Margaret back to her relatives in Alabama. Upon her later return, they temporarily lived with the Lockhart family at Washington-on-the-Brazos until they were able to acquire a small home there. The couple's first child Sam Houston, Jr. was born in the new house on May 25, 1843. Upon learning of her son Martin's death in a duel, Nancy Lea moved in with the Houstons, helping Margaret with the new baby, and over Houston's objections, pitching in with some financial assistance for food and household necessities. Nancy received an inheritance from the Moffettes, which she invested in a cotton plantation with 50 slaves. The earnings supported the family while Temple Lea was away from home preaching the Baptist faith. Houston was concerned for his family's safety during the Civil War. Their former house in Huntsville had been sold, but they were able to rent Steamboat House beginning in 1862. The Houston's lived there with their younger children until Houston died in 1863. Slave labor Margaret Lea's parents, Temple and Nancy, had enslaved people who worked their cotton, sugar cane, and vegetable fields from sunrise to sunset. Unlike many slaveholders of the time, the Leas did not believe in corporal punishment, like whipping. Their diet probably consisted of bread, cornmeal, pieces of meat, and greens. When women were too old to work in the fields, they took care of children in the nursery. Black children spent their first couple of years in the nursery. At the age of five, children took on chores like tending to animals, maintaining the yard, and gathering water, cow's milk, and firewood. At the age of ten, children were laborers in the fields or apprenticed into trades. At harvest, laborers worked 18-hour-days in the fields. Boiling down sugar cane could occur seven days a week, 24-hours a day. The Leas observed the Sabbath. Sunday was not a work-day, except for the most necessary chores. Nancy Lea often invited slaves to Bible readings. Temple was a Baptist lay minister. In their little leisure time, they engaged in story-telling, their domestic chores, fishing, hunting, and trapping. On plantations, the more skills that a slave possessed, the more valuable he was to his slaveholders, and consequently he received the best treatment. Among African Americans, they looked up to black people who attained skills or were domestic workers; black preachers, who generally provided services in the woods; and those who successfully escaped to Canada, Mexico, or Native American villages. In November 1848, slaves at Houstons' household were assigned a plot of land to raise crops for themselves. Their children were educated with the Houston's children. Joshua traveled with Houston on multiple-day trips across Texas. Both men carried rifles for protection and hunting games. Joshua was responsible for ensuring that the horses were cared for if injured or ill and that any equipment was in working order, requiring him to take tools with him. They traveled through dense forests on unimproved trails, roads, and river beds. They visited people that Houston knew across the state, which allowed Joshua to meet and exchange information with other enslaved people. When Margaret traveled with them in the early years of their marriage, they took a tent and a doctor to care for Margaret's health. In 1848, when Eliza was bed-ridden with scrofula and Margaret was trying to manage household affairs, several field hands were unable to keep up with the expected workload on the farm. In a letter, Houston asked Margaret to warn the field hands that he would be returning to the estate any day and that they should rely on their sense of pride to do a good job. He said to Margaret, "I will make them more careful and industrious." While Thomas Gott was the farm's new overseer, Margaret became concerned about his lax management style. She was concerned with how much meat that they received, that they received visitors and went into town in the evenings. She was also concerned about gambling and drinking. Once he tried to whip Joshua, who fought off receiving the punishment. Houston did not whip his slaves generally, but he whipped Jeff one time when Houston's horse "Old Pete" had reared up and Houston's daughter Nannie was thrown into the baptismal pond in Huntsville. Jeff, who was supposed to be watching out for Nannie, rescued her from the water. Nannie had earlier told Jeff to hit the vicious horse with a switch, which he did not do. Hired out At times, Houston hired workers out for income for the family. He was one of the rare slaveholders that allowed the men and women to keep a portion of the wages for themselves. In 1851, Prince and a woman named Mary were hired out for one year to Daniel B. Guerrant and John McAdams. During that time Mary's children were cared for and Prince, Mary, and Mary's children received clothing. In 1854, Bingley was hired out and learned the carpentry trade, Jeff was hired out as a house boy, and Prince was hired out for $175 () and clothing. Joshua was hired out as a blacksmith and received a portion of the earnings, much of which he saved. Therefore, the Houstons could not legally manumit their slaves. Joshua stated that he would stay with the family, and others followed suit. Due to the war and animus against blacks, they were safer together with the Houstons. When Houston died, his will specifically directed his debts to be paid without selling any of the slaves. Author James L. Haley speculated that listing his slaves as part of his estate, was a way of protecting them from abuse by the Confederacy, should emancipation come to fruition in Texas. The provision in his will also refutes popular lore that he intended to free his slaves. He was cash poor, but land rich, including owning twelve enslaved people. Houston's slaves were officially freed on Juneteenth in 1865. ==Biographies of slaves owned by Sam and Margaret==

Albert Albert was a servant for the Houstons. In June 1848, Margaret wrote to Houston that Albert "was so cunning that he was very near getting into the church but fortunately his hypocrisy was discovered and I fear he is planning some great act of villainy." There was no work for him at their house until fodder time. Doctor Kittrell hired Albert at $20 (~$ in ) per month in June 1852. Joshua Houston and Albert maintained contact with each other until the turn of the 20th century. Albert and Prince led the parade at Juneteenth celebrations, dressed "in their best frocks and top hats". Bingley Bingley was an enslaved man owned by Temple Lea. Upon the death of Temple Lea, Bingley was inherited by Temple's widow Nancy. He went with her to Galveston, Texas, along with Polly, Jet, and Dinan. Being African Americans, they would have had to register at the Mayor's office. Galveston was a major slave market and it was common for blacks to be picked up off the street and sold at an auction. Nancy moved to Texas around the time that Margaret and Houston were married in Marion, Alabama, on May 9, 1840. Bingley was later a servant to Margaret. He worked as a field hand with Joshua, Albert, and Prince. In 1854, he was hired out and learned the carpentry trade. Following Houston's death, Bingley decided to stay with Margaret, as did Eliza. He was with her when she died of yellow fever in Independence. He buried her promptly in the middle of the night next to her mother Nancy. Charles According to the book Baylor at Independence by Lois Smith Murray, Charles, a fourteen-year-old owned by Sam Houston, was sold to George Washington Baines on February 12, 1862, during the Civil War and while Baines was the president of Baylor University in Independence. Baines promised to pay Houston on Christmas Day in 1862. Charles would have been born around 1848. Baines, who was the pastor and personal minister of Sam Houston, and the maternal great-grandfather of U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson, She managed five domestic servants and she was the main cook. Jeff Hamilton Jeff Hamilton was born a slave on April 16, 1840, on the Singleton Gibson Plantation in the Jones community of Shelby County, Kentucky. Mary Brown Gibson moved to Fort Bend, Texas, with her husband, who was killed. She married a drinker and gambler named James McKell. In his memoir My Master – The Inside Story of Sam Houston and His Times, Hamilton said that he could not have imagined that Houston would "make him the trusted servant of a great leader, one who believed in the just and humane treatment of my people." Tom Blue was of West Indian and European descent. He was said to have had a good education and went with Houston to Washington, D.C. When he was in Texas, he drove Margaret in Houston's big yellow coach. Tom and Esau Houston was Tom's and Esau's slaveholder before he married Margaret. Esau was known for his ability to mix drinks for Houston, something he did often until Houston's 1840 marriage to Margaret Lea. With Joshua, the men turned Houston's bachelor cabin in Cedar Point to a home befitting the newlyweds, Sam and Margaret Houston. According to William Seale, Esau was at work on the farm at Cedar Point in the summer of 1840 with Margaret. Houston decided to hire out some of the men as the result of infighting. Tom and Esau went missing during that time and ended up in Mexico. In September 1840, Sam wrote to Margaret that Tom and Esau had been found in the town of Houston. Esau was with Sam and Margaret in 1842. Noah Smithwick states that Tom was a light "Quadroon boy" who worked in Houston's office. Tom was described as literate with a sophisticated vocabulary. Smithwick states that there was another black man-servant named Shadwick (perhaps Esau Shadwick). He stated that Tom ran away with Shadwick, taking two of Houston's horses and money from his office till. Tom portrayed himself as Mr. Thomas Houston, Houston's son, and Shadwick's master. On January 8, 1843, General Ampudia marched into Guadaloupe, a town about from Matamoros. There he met with people from Matamoros, including Esau and Tom, who were identified as former slaves of Sam Houston. When Esau met General Ampudia, they embraced like good friends. Esau, suited to be a field hand, was generally introverted. Tom was more comfortable engaging with the Texans. In May 1844, a newspaper item stated that two of Sam Houston's slaves, Tom and Esau, ran away and were both were working in Matamoros as barbers. The men were said to previously have been sources of information about the workings of the Texan government when they worked for Houston. Esau is said to have become a hotelier in Matamoros. In the fall of 1862, Blue ran away from Houston's Huntsville residence with a young black boy named Walter Hume. They headed for Mexico and Blue sold Walter for $800. When he had spent all the money, he returned to Texas. At the end of his life, he was reportedly a beggar on the streets of Houston. ==See also==