Albert Sidney Johnston: Soldier of Three Republics

Scourge of the Red Man

Scourge of the Red Man JOHNSTON and hissupportersbelieved their impatience with the passivity of the Houston Administration to be common to the people of Texas. The Constitution prohibited Houston from succeeding himself in office, and as the Texas presidential election of 1838 approached, the anti-Houston forces resolved to appeal to the popular urge for action. Johnston himself was the choice of some for the Presidency, with General Thomas J. Rusk for the Vice Presidency,! but Johnston did not respond to overtures that he become a candidate. If he felt political aspiration at this time, it quickly vanished when his friends Mirabeau B. Lamar and Peter W. Grayson became rival contenders for the Republic 's top honor. Strangely, two of the candidates for the Presidency, Grayson and Judge James Collinsworth, committed suicide during the campaign. On September 3 Lamar was overwhelmingly elected President of Texas, with David G. Burnet as Vice President. Johnston had favored the election of Lamar. The new President 1 Charles Harrison to Johnston, April 9, 1838; Thurston to Johnston, April 9. 1838, Johnston Papers, Barret Collection. A lbert Sidney Johnston embodied the spirit of Texas nationalism. Gallant soldier in the Texas war for independence, Lamar now opposed annexation to the United States; instead, he dreamed of a Texas empire spreading one day to the Pacific and promised to establish at once the boundary of Texas along the Rio Grande. He would strengthen the economy and currency of Texas through a national bank, he said; he would develop the intellect of Texas through a system of public schools; he would protect the independence of Texas through vigorous diplomacy supported by an efficient regular army and navy. To assist in the fulfillment of this grand design, Lamar appointed Cabinet members who shared his vision: Barnard Bee as Secretary of State; Richard G. Dunlap, Secretary of the Treasury; Memucan Hunt, Secretary of the Navy; and Charles Watrous, Attorney General. To the office of Secretary of War, Lamar named Albert Sidney Johnston.2 Fortune at last seemed to smile upon Johnston. Less than three years before, he had ridden into Texas unheralded and adrift in life. Now he was in the topmost circle of Texas politics and society, surrounded by influential friends and apparently on the path to fame, if not also to fortune. His health was once again sound and his mood buoyant; to a friend he said, "I live for the future-Who can lift the veil?" 3 He charmed French diplomat Admiral Baudin, who, after leaving Texas, sent his compliments with a box of cigars, and expressed the hope of returning soon. An acquaintance, inviting Johnston to the races at Velasco, appealed to what he must have deemed two of Johnston's strongest fancies, saying, "Many fine horses 8c fine ladies are in attendance." 4 From New Orleans a gay Texas agent wrote, "I delivered your message which her ladyship [a Miss Bullette] received most graciously and bid me send you a thousand compliments and congratulations." 5 Johnston had become both warrior and gallant. As long as Houston was President of Texas, Johnston had been reticent in advising friends to join him there. He lacked confidence in Houston's ability to make Texas live. His brother-in-law once wrote: 2 For accounts of the election of Lamar and of his ambitions for Texas, see Asa K. Christian, Mirabeau Buonaparte Lamar, pp. 18-19, 20-25; Louis J. Wortham , A History of Texas: From Wilderness to Commonwealth, IV, 56, 61. 3 Johnston to Edward D. Hobbs, January 12, 1839, Johnston Papers, Barret Collection. 4 Thomas J. Green to Johnston, February 17, 1839, ibid. 5 William H. Daingerfield to Johnston, n.d., ibid. Scourge of the Red Man You never have opened yr lips which seem to have had the seal of Solomon spoken of in the Arabian nights, placed upon them, in regard to yr intentions of permanent residence in Texas, the country, the chances of advancement for me and yrsel£, and all of those topicks which selfishness and friendship render interesting to me.6 Lamar's vigor-Houston and the more conservative among the population thought it Lamar's frenzy-changed Johnston's mind; in the spring he wrote that he had lost all doubt as to the stability of Texan instltutions.7 He now sought a position in the Texas government for his brother-in-law, William Preston, of Kentucky.8 Preston hoped...