Randolph B. Campbell

Interesting guy. Sam Houston was a Indian fighter (musket bullet in the shoulder and arrow through the leg during the Creek War) who later did his best to see Native Americans fairly treated; governor of two states (Tennessee and Texas, the only person ever to do this) and of the independent Republic of Texas; hero of the Battle of San Jacinto (his strategy was to use the things the Texans had – space and superior reconnaissance – to keep withdrawing until Santa Anna obligingly followed into an untenable position, then turn and smash him); and a staunch Unionist, although a slaveholder himself. His weaknesses were drink (although a contemporary commented that Old Sam Houston drunk in a ditch was still better man than his opponents were cold sober); flashy clothes (he frequently wore Cherokee dress); and younger women (his first wife, Eliza Allen, was 20 to his 35; they quickly separated and neither ever explained why; his second wife, Tiana, was one-quarter Cherokee; they were married while Houston was still legally married to Eliza, which was OK with the Cherokee; they eventually separated, again according to Cherokee custom); his third wife, Margaret Lea, was 24 to his 50 when they married; they had 8 children).

Randolph Campbell’s book is part of a series of short biographies; a quick read and well done. Much of the book is about Houston’s tenure as President of Texas, where he had to contend with numerous hawks who wanted to continue the war with Mexico; one of his characteristic solutions was to get one of the proponents of a filibustering expedition drunk, then furlough the Texas Army while he was sleeping it off. The only problematic history I find was the discussion of the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850; Campbell implies that the Missouri Compromise was unilaterally rescinded and replaced by the Compromise of 1850 by the Democrats in Congress, while in fact it had become unconstitutional after the Supreme Court handed down the Dred Scott decision and the Missouri Compromise was an attempt to replace it. No illustrations other than a cover photograph of Houston; a map of east Texas as it was during the Texas War of Independence. No foot- or endnotes; bibliography and index seem sparse.
Houston, Texas is the largest city in North America named after a person; there could have been worse choices.… (mere)