Dripping Life A long-forgotten Texas heroine
Quickly! Tell me the name of the woman who saved Sam Houston’s life and career!
By 1827, Sam Houston was elected governor of Tennessee. Ironically, he had been a frequent visitor to the home of Tennessee plantation owner John Allen since 1824, and as time passed, fell in love with Allen’s daughter, Eliza.
As historians record, “One day he looked into the eyes of one who had just grown into womanhood, but he had a rival.
“Young Eliza was bewildered by the attentions of Gov. Houston because her heart belonged to young Dr. Douglass, but she was flattered by the attentions of Gov. Houston, too.
“Eventually, Col. and Mrs. John Allen of Gallatin, Tennessee announced the engagement of their daughter Eliza,19, to 36-year-old Gen. Sam Houston.
Due to her family’s urging, Eliza truly believed she loved this older man, so the two took their marriage vows before the Rev. William Hume, pastor to the Presbyterian aristocracy of Nashville, January 22, 1829.
As the story goes, the day after the wedding, Eliza confessed her love for the doctor and could never love Houston but offered to be a dutiful wife. Houston refused her offer.
Eleven weeks later, he resigned as governor of Tennessee, and thus, Houston’s blighted romance and a unique notion of honor did more to change the map of the United States than any other thing – except, perhaps, the purchase of Louisiana.
On April 15, Dan Carter, clerk at the Nashville Inn, made the news public, ‘General Houston and his wife have separated and she has gone to her father's home.’
One of Houston’s friends rushed to the general's room ‘You must explain this sad occurrence to us.’
"’I will make no explanation,’ Houston replied "I exonerate this lady freely and I will exile myself.
He could not stop an investigation into his private affairs, but he could strive to confuse it by concealing the truth of what really happened throughout his life, no matter what the cost.
Rather than believe nothing, Tennessee believed the worst.
“Tales of the honeymoon were bandied about and Houston sought the consolation of religion, but the Rev. Dr. Hume refused find it in his heart to offer the solace of Christian baptism to the jilted statesman.
‘Loyal friends insisted Houston should explain but got this reply: “It is a painful but a private affair. I do not recognize the right of the public to interfere in it and shall treat the public just as if it had never happened. Remember that, whatever may be said by the lady or her friends, it is no part of a gallant or a generous man to take up arms against a woman. If my character cannot stand the shock, let me lose it," Houston wrote.
“Just after Dr. Hume refused to baptize him, Houston said, "I do love Eliza That she is the only earthly object dear to me God will bear witness."
“On April 23, friends accompanied Houston to the landing where the Raven boarded a mail boat for Arkansas.
That river trip began Houston's sudden flight from Nashville and into the arms of his dear Indian friend, Chief John Jolly of the western Cherokees.
Spending more than a year in the lodge of Chief Jolly, Houston later built his own lodge and married Tiana Rogers, 31, daughter of Chief John "Hellfire" Rogers, in a Cherokee ceremony.
This was Tiana's second marriage; she was widowed with two children from her previous marriage.
The two built a large log cabin and named it "The Wigwam Neosho" where Houston set up his trading post on Arkansas’s Neosho River.
Houston and Tiana lived together for several years although Tennessee society disapproved of their marriage because, under civil law, Houston was still legally married to Eliza Allen Houston; and, when Tiana refused to accompany Houston to Texas in 1832, their relationship ended. (Will Rogers of was Tiana’s nephew, three generations removed.)
If Houston had remained governor of Tennessee, he probably would have been President of the United States and because of the more certain fact that thus began the career that was to result in the winning of Texas.
Last among Gen. Houston’s wives was Margaret Lea Houston, a forgotten-but-true heroine of Texas, the third and last wife of General Sam Houston.
It was at the battle of San Jacinto that Houston was shot in the ankle and had to go to New Orleans for several month’s treatment. While thousands of people visited the hero of San Jacinto there, one country school teacher from Alabama caught his eye.
She was a fair-faced, blueeyed girl, thoughtful and shy. In a few years of their meeting in New Orleans, the beautiful school teacher married the wounded hero she had visited with her students.
The daughter of a Baptist minister, Margaret’s parents objected to the marriage. Margaret was only 20 and Sam Houston was 46 years of age, an objectionable age difference.
Other objections were that General Houston had lived a life undeserving of such a girl. However, the two married despite her family’s worries.
Houston had hoped to see Margaret when her mother and sister visited Texas, but when he went to the boat, expecting to meet Margaret, her mother set out her ground rules, saying, “Anyone wishing to marry my daughter will have to come to my home in Alabama to get her."
The wedding took place May 9, 1840, in Marlon, Alabama.
Upon the arrival of General Houston and bis bride in Galveston Bay, a salute was fired as their boat entered the harbor and an elaborate dinner at the Tremont Hotel was given in their honor.
General Houston's duties required that he move several times and the eight children Margaret birthed were each delivered in a different home. Their son Temple Lea Houston was born in the governor’s mansion while his father was president of the Republic.
Margaret proved a wonderful wife and helpmate to the general, an equally wonderful mother and flawlessly managed their home, to give some idea of her strength and courage…and when her husband had to travel to the nation’s congress in Washington, D.C., she never included anything in her letters that would disturb his work.
When General Houston retired, they lived at Huntsville, where Houston died in 1863.