Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas Page: 200 of 894
762 p., [172] leaves of plates : ill., ports. ; 30 cm.View a full description of this book.
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180
INDIAN WARS AND PIONEERS OF TEXAS.
R. W. LOUGHERY,
MARSHALL.In this brief memoir it is the intention of the
author to present an outline of the main incidents
in the career of a man who, for many years, figured
prominently upon the scene of action in this State,
and whose memory, though his form has been consigned
to earth, which at last must receive us all,
is still revered by many of the older people of this
State, who either knew him personally or by
reputation.
His was a truly noble character. He was so
slow to think evil of others and unselfish, he failed
to ask for, and often refused to accept, the rewards
that his services had richly earned, and that, at the
time, would have been freely accorded him, but
which later, when he greatly needed substantial
recognition by his party, was denied him under a
system of politics that leads those in power to bestow
their favors not as rewards of merit, but with
an eye-single to personal aggrandizement
to prefer
an obscure cross-roads politician, who can command
one vote in the State convention, to an old
veteran, who has grown gray in the service of his
country. He saved the frail barques of many politicians
from disaster and built up the political fortunes
of several men who have since held high positions in
the councils of the nation, but sought no honors
for himself, when (for instance, within a few years
after the overthrow of the Military Commission at
Jefferson) he could have secured any office within
the gift of the people of Texas.
These traits were a part of his mental and
spiritual make-up and bore fruit that, while it did
not embitter (f6r nothing could embitter) saddened
the later years of his life, until at last he sank into
the welcome grave.
He was ambitious, not to secure political preferment,
social position, influence or other reward,
or to gratify personal vanity by parading the fact
that he was patriotic, true, honorable, pious,
kindly, generous and charitable; but, ambitious
alone to possess, cultivate and practice those virtues.
The pathetic appealed to him as it does to
few men. He wept with those who mourned and
rejoiced with those who rejoiced. He was above all
petty jealousy. He not only saw but applauded
the merits of others, and cheered them on in efforts
that led to distinction. He never permitted a case
of suffering to go unrelieved, that it was in his
power to relieve, and he never turned a tramp orother beggar from his door. When the world cried,
"Crucify! " he was ever found on the side of
mercy. He never deserted his friends, but was
quick to fly to their defense when they appealed to
him, or when he saw that they needed his aid, and
as a result, there are thousands who remember him
and sincerely mourn his loss. He never failed to
inspire the respect even of his political enemies.
He had the rare faculty of doing the right thing at
the right time, and was a consummate master of the
higher tactics of political warfare. He was an indomitable
and trusted defender of right, and never
failed to be the first to throw himself squarely into
the breach in time of public danger. He wasphysically
and morally intrepid. He was quick to
espouse every worthy cause, and advocate it with
might and main. He was not only kind and benevolent
to men and women, both great and small,
rich and poor, black and white; but, to God's
creatures, the lower animals, not one of whom he
ever injured, or permitted to be injured in his
presence, without reproof. He turned, instinctively,
to the defense of the weak and defenseless. He
never did an intentional wrong, and never committed
a wrong unintentionally through error arising
from mistake of judgment or misrepresentation
of facts that he did not sorely repent, and imme-diately
seek to atone for. He never sacrificed
principle to expediency.
It may be said truthfully of him that he was the
"Father of Texas Democracy." When he established
his newspaper at Marshall in 1849 (three
years after Texas was admitted to the Union) the
two great parties in the United States (Whigs and
Democrats) had no representative local organizations
in Texas. Seeing the confusion that prevailed
and deprecating the practice of conducting campaigns
merely on personal and local issues, he, for
six years, zealously taught, through the columns of
his paper, the tenets of Democratic faith, as to
which there were many misconceptions (men running
for office who claimed to be Democrats, and
who did not understand or believe in the first
principles of Democracy) and sought to bring
about party alignments, which he at last succeeded
in doing, as the State convention of 1855a
was the result of his labors and the labor of those
who aided him in the work. While he believed in
that concerted action in political matters, which cat
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Brown, John Henry. Indian Wars and Pioneers of Texas, book, 1880~; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth6725/m1/200/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.