The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 94, July 1990 - April, 1991 Page: 20
692 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Hzstorical Quarterly
wrote to Jackson from the "Cherokee Nation, in Arkansas" about his
"abando[n]ment of society, my absolute refusal to gratify the inquiring
world, my entire silence, because it comported with my notions of
honor, and a willingness to sacrifice myself, rather than do violence to
my principles...."'"
When Houston left Nashville on April 23, his destination was west to
Cherokee territory, to the home of his friend Chief Oolooteka, known
as John Jolly. Here, Lester says, Houston "had a home ... far away from
civilized life." He departed by steamboat. Sheriff Willoughby Williams
recounts that the former governor "went in disguise to the steamboat,
accompanied by Dr. Shelby and myself." This was not the first time nor
the last, that Houston was a refugee from his society. "It was no flight of
a criminal," Lester claims, "it was not even a necessary retirement from
turbulence and excitement, for even before he left, the fury of his ene-
mies had abated and his real strength was greater than ever. But it was
a voluntary exile from scenes which only harrowed his feelings while he
stayed...." "I am sorry for him," the Reverend Dr. Hume wrote on
the day following Houston's departure, "and more sorry for the young
lady he has left. I know nothing that can be relied upon as true. Tales in
abundance . . . but which of the two is the blame I know not ... Sac
transit gloria mundi. . . . Oh, what a fall for a major general, a member
of congress and a Governor. .. ." "'
Williams states that "he wrote me afterwards that he was not recog-
nized until he reached Napoleon, at the mouth of the Arkansas River,
where he met a friend, from whom he exacted a promise not to make
him known." In light of this, the story of Houston encountering two of
Eliza's brothers in Clarksville, Tennessee, just upriver from Nashville, is
curious. The incident was recorded by Rufus Burleson, who claims that
Houston himself related it to him. Burleson wrote that the steamboat,
stopping regularly in route to load freights, was overtaken at Clarksville,
Tennessee, by two of Eliza's brothers who had ridden "direct across the
country." They boarded, "greatly excited and heavily armed," and told
Houston that his departure from Nashville had "filled the city with a
thousand wild rumors, among others, that you are goaded to madness
and exile by detecting our sister in crime."' They demanded that he
give them a written denial of the accusations, or return to Nashville and
SLcster, Sam Il/olzton and Ib Republa, 30 (211d an11( d (l quotations), 31 ( st quotation); I Ious-
ton to Andrew Jackson, Sept 19, 1829, Wrtingi, I, 140 (4th quotation), 141 (5th quotation).
1'"James, The Raven, 84, cites Apr II 23 as the (late of Houston's departure from Nashville; this
date hts well in the sequence of events, but 1 have not found any primary source documenta-
tion to verify it as the exact late. Lester, Sanm Houston and lIs Republu, 32 (ist (quotation), 33
(3rd quotation); Guild, Old Times zn Tennessee, 279 (2nd quotation), James, The Raven, 81 and 84
(4th quotation)
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 94, July 1990 - April, 1991, periodical, 1991; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101214/m1/44/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.