[dropcap]T[/dropcap]wo years after fellow Texans spurned him in the only ballot-box loss of his career, Sam Houston gave his first and last speech in a comeback campaign for governor on July 9, 1859.
As one of just two southern senators that opposed repeal of the Missouri Compromise and extension of slavery to the western territories, Houston paid dearly for his 1854 vote against the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. That lonely stand ultimately cost Old Sam his seat in the United States Senate as well as the 1857 gubernatorial election.
In May 1857, eight days after the Democrats nominated Hardin Runnels for governor, Houston declared his own controversial candidacy. Against a lackluster opponent young enough to be his son, the former President of the Texas Republic should have been a shoo-in. But times had changed, and he was the underdog risking humiliation.
Houston badly underestimated the grass-roots dissatisfaction with his unpopular pro-Union position and the confusion created by his brief flirtation with the Know-Nothings. He also failed to take in account the post-Revolution generation of young voters to whom Sam Houston was an unfamiliar relic from the distant past.
“So now the whip cracks, and the longest pole will bring down the persimmon,” he proclaimed at the Huntsville rally that kicked off his campaign. “The people want excitement, and I had as well give it as anyone.”
Later that day, Houston hitched a ride to his namesake city with a plow salesman named Ed Sharp. In exchange for the customers the famous figure was bound to attract, Sharp agreed to cart him around Texas in his crimson buggy.
The odd couple spent 67 days on the road that summer and covered 1,500 bone-jarring miles in the sweltering heat. Campaigning like there was no tomorrow, the 64 year old politician made 47 stops and always spoke for a minimum of two hours.
Sharp recalled the poignant encounter of Texas’ two senators. At the insistence of worried Democrats, Thomas Rusk had consented to speak out against his old friend. But when the two met, “They embraced and sobbed like women. Rusk took Houston by the hand, led him to his carriage and to his home. Neither was seen again that day.”
Houston ended his whirlwind campaign at San Antonio on Jul. 28, and Rusk ended his life the next day. Despondent over the death of his wife, he committed suicide with a shotgun.
The early returns dashed Houston’s hopes of pulling off an upset. Runnels won by 3,800 ballots out of a total turnout of 61,000. For the first time in his long career, Houston tasted defeat.
The General took the loss surprisingly well. Returning to Washington to serve out his senate term, he acknowledged the embarrassing comeuppance with good humor. “I made the state of Texas,” he joked, “but I did not make the people.”
Ignoring calls for his resignation, Houston calmly went about his business in the nation’s capital. During regular trips to Texas in 1858, he repeatedly stressed the certainty of catastrophe for the South if the sectional stand-off came to war. This chilling prediction had a sobering effect on many constituents and melted much of the animosity toward their wounded leader.
Three months after leaving Washington for good in the spring of 1859, Houston filed for a rematch with Runnels. His health ruled out another grueling statewide marathon, so he staked his chances on a single address at Nacogdoches.
“Two years ago, you gave me the worst skinning that mortal man ever got. It was a regular drubbing,” Houston candidly confessed. Blaming the 1857 loss on his Kansas-Nebraska vote, he added, “If I was wrong, I own it and take it all back, and if you were wrong, I forgive you. So we will start even again. It is past.”
Houston denounced Runnels and the regular Democrats for advocating the reopening of the African slave trade. Defending his own party credentials, he maintained that he violated the principles of Jefferson and Jackson less often than anyone in public life.
Closing with a plea for the Union and the Constitution, he advised the audience, “Confide in one another in the hour of danger. Rely upon yourselves when demagogues would mislead you.”
Confident he had made his case, Houston stuck by his decision not to wage an all-out campaign despite the second thoughts of his supporters. He was convinced the political wind had shifted in Texas and was now blowing in his favor.
The outcome proved Houston was absolutely correct, as he beat Runnels by 2,000 more votes than he had lost in 1857. On the eve of the Civil War, a southern state chose a Unionist governor.
But what had Houston gotten himself into? Did he really believe he could singlehandedly stop Texas from seceding? Of course he did. To Sam Houston anything was possible.
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