Jeffrey Stuart Kerr - Seat of Empire: The Embattled Birth of Austin, Texas

Introduction

W ant of political unity is the one consistent theme threading its way through the fabric of early Anglo-Texan history. Seemingly no action occurred without bitter squabbling beforehand and angry finger-pointing after the fact. That an independent Texas emerged from those hectic days, given the divided goals and loyalties afflicting the leaders of the Texas Revolution, is nothing short of remarkable.

A split command at the Alamo certainly added little to the effectiveness of its garrison as a fighting unit. Then, after the Alamo disaster, General Sam Houston drew charges of cowardice as he led his army on a tactical retreat toward the east. Realizing that two of his officers had no intention of obeying orders to retreat beyond the Brazos River town of San Felipe, he instead ordered them to stay at the Brazos to delay the enemy advance. Bickering continued right through the decisive Battle of San Jacinto. Many officers and men in Houstons army believed strongly that Houston had turned toward Santa Annas army instead of retreating into Louisiana only because they had forced him to do so at a critical road junction. Mirabeau Lamar, who figures prominently in this book, claimed that the successful charge against the Mexican camp had been launched over Houstons objections. For years after the battle men exchanged heated words over whether Sam Houstons actions had constituted cowardice or heroism. The fact that few minds were changed by these arguments planted the seeds for the growth of two political camps in the na-scent republic.

Victory in the revolution did little to quell strife. Santa Annas life would have ended in front of a Texian firing squad if many, Mirabeau Lamar included, had had their way. When President David Burnet named Lamar Commander-in-Chief of the army, enough soldiers balked that Lamar quickly resigned. Burnet himself resigned not long thereafter due to plausible threats of a military overthrow. One of Sam Houstons initial actions as the first elected President of the Republic, therefore, was to begin furloughing as many soldiers as possible.

The 1836 election that installed Sam Houston as President of the Republic also ushered Mirabeau Lamar onto the national stage as Houstons vice president. A more unfortunate pairing can hardly be imagined. Tall and athletic, outgoing, and at the time still prone to drunkenness, Houston struck Lamar as an overrated demagogue. Short and squat, taciturn, and sober, Lamar impressed Houston as a bumbling fool. Although they may have encountered each other along the march to San Jacinto, the two men first came into more direct contact on the battlefield itself. When Lamars bold action during a skirmish the day before the battle saved two lives, General Houston offered him command of the artillery. Lamar declined. Later, though, when several cavalrymen and officers insisted that Lamar lead the cavalry in the upcoming battle, he agreed to do so. Houston later expressed puzzlement rather than annoyance at all this, but it was an inauspicious start to the pairs relationship.