Description:

Houston Sam

Two ALS from early 1854 requesting Sam Houston’s intercession with his former mentor Andrew Jackson. The supplicant Thomas Barry supports Houston for President in 1856, but becomes annoyed when Houston does not respond immediately to his pleas. Congress was embroiled in debates concerning Stephen A. Douglas’ Kansas-Nebraska Act around the time these letters were written. Houston’s nearly lone opposition to that bill’s repeal of the Missouri Compromise made him an unpopular candidate for President in 1856.

4pp ALS signed by Thomas Barry and addressed to Sam Houston, January 5, 1854, Gallatin, Tennessee. 7.75" x 9.875". Some fire damage to right margin affecting a few words. Overall dark toning, some discoloration due to water damage, and expected paper folds.

Please see below for a full transcript:

"Gallatin Tenn Jan 5th 1854

Dear Gen

I was very sorry I did not see you at Nashville  I should certainly have gone down but for a sick family  What are you going to do at Independence  Is it a healthy place  Is much Law business done at that point. Is the surrounding country fine for cattle and horse raising. I am still strongly inclined to go to Texas  Nothing prevents me but the idea of sickness among my children and the want of navigation in the north stock raising part of the State  I should like to reside I think 75 or 80 miles west of Clarkesville among the mesquite grass. Is there any law business in that region  What will be done in 56 for Presidential candidates  I still have a very strong presentment that God intends you to be Pres of the United States  Can I in any way aid to bring about this happy result  I could conduct a paper better than the Washington Union is conducted and would go to any point to promote your and my countrys interest provided I could in the mean time support and educate my Children  The Law is at lower ebb than it has ever been in Tennessee  Is Pierce going in for the succ[ession]

He has treated Tennessee with great injustice  not a foreign office worth $2000 per annum except Trousdale’s mission[1]  This is a world of injustice  Balie Peyton[2] and myself set out red hot Jackson men in public life  he bolted and went with the Whigs and has made a fortune of $50,000 by government  I have remained true to the faith and am not able to pay my debts never having received one dollar out of the federal treasury. If Pierce was the right sort of a man he would not permit this  If Gen Jackson were in office I would just as certainly get an office as that the Sun will set tonight  But these fire eaters have no great fancy for an old fashioned Jackson Republican. I would accept an office from him worth 3 or 4 thousand dollars a year provided it was not expected of me to fight for him for the succession  I will swear before my Maker I will vote for no man North of Masons & Dixon’s line for President in 56  The North has had the nominee for 16 out of 20 years  I was delighted the other day in the Supreme Court Room to hear some 5 or 6 men whigs and Democrats all speak of you as there first choice in 56. I send you a letter from Anderson who knows me well to back [missing word]  if you think proper to call on Pierce

for any thing for me I suppose Jones and every other man from Tennessee who has any soul would back you  But I lost a friend as true as a brother in the death of Brookins Campbell[3]  I am afeared almost to become very strongly attached to anyone  it seems to me they all die  I have a strong notion of visiting Washington and N York  If I was backed by a capitalist with 50 000$ I could make 25 or 30,000$ in 3 years by buying rich lands near Gallatin near the Nashville and Louisville Rail Road  it runs to Gallatin and will be completed in less than two years  I never bought land in my life that I did not make money  I made 4500$ by one trade  If I get any office I want it connected with my profession or the Indian department  I know I would treat the Choctaws or Cherokees with as much justice and humanity as any man who could be sent among them  I dont want to go north of this and as I would carry my family wherever I went I would want the location to be healthy  I have a fancy for California  you are not in any way to [word missing]  ize my independence to have me made Consul at Liverpool  Honesty is the best policy and I am for you for President over the world  ask Ready if I did not preach this over 5 counties last Summer  let me hear from you

Yrs Truly

T. Barry

Gen Sam Houston".

1p ALS signed by Thomas Barry and addressed to Sam Houston, February 2, 1854, Gallatin, Tennessee. 7.75" x 9.875". Some fire damage to right margin affecting a few words. Overall dark toning, some discoloration due to water damage, and expected paper folds.

Please see below for a full transcript:

"Gallatin Feb 2nd 54

Dear Houston

I have written you two long confidential letters. I have received no answer to either[.] This is not following after our model man Gen Jackson  he always answered letters  I shall never trouble you again unless I am answered. I am disposed to attribute this failure to the irreggularity of our mails.

Your Friend

T. Barry

Gen Sam Houston".

In 1845, Sam Houston’s Tennessee friends hosted a barbecue in his honor in Nashville. When Houston was introduced, “Col. Thomas Barry, of Sumner County” called for three cheers for “the hero of San Jacinto.” The report of the event declared that Houston as Ex-President of Texas was “spoken of a as a candidate for the next presidency of the United States.” Nearly a decade later, Barry still hoped for a Houston Presidency.

Thomas Barry (1807-1891) was born in Sumner County, Tennessee to Redmond D. Barry, an Irish physician who had been a surgeon in the British navy. After immigrating to America, Redmond Barry studied law with John C. Breckinridge and became one of the leading attorneys in Tennessee. Barry became a personal friend of Andrew Jackson. He married Sarah Peyton in 1830. In the 1850s, he was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Congress. When the Civil War erupted, his sympathies were with the Union, but he took no active role in the war. In 1865, Governor William Brownlow appointed Barry chancellor of his division, a position he held until 1869. In 1880, he was a widower who lived with four of his adult children.

Samuel Houston (1793-1863) was born in Virginia and left home at age 16 and lived with the Cherokee. He enlisted to fight the British in the War of 1812 and came under the tutelage of Andrew Jackson. After the war, he settled in Tennessee and began to practice law. In 1822, he was elected to Congress and served from 1823 to 1827. He was a strong supporter of Andrew Jackson during his term in Congress. In 1827, he became governor of Tennessee but resigned in 1829 before his term ended after his wife left him amid rumors of alcoholism and infidelity. In the early 1830s, Houston was in Washington to expose the frauds committed by government agents against the Cherokee. When a Congressman accused him of impropriety, he beat the Congressman with a cane on Pennsylvania Avenue. He was arrested and found guilty but given a light fine, and he left for Mexico. By 1835, he was a major general in the Texas Army, and he signed the Texas Declaration of Independence in March 1836. In the Battle of San Jacinto in April 1836, Houston surprised Mexican general Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and won a decisive victory that secured Texas independence. Houston served as President of the Republic of Texas from October 1836 to December 1838, and again from 1841 to 1844. After the annexation of Texas to the United States, Houston served as U.S. senator from 1846 to 1859. In 1859, Houston became governor of Texas but resigned less than two years later because he refused to take the Confederate loyalty oath. He retired from public life and died at his home.

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