An evaluation of Sam Houston's oratory - Page 97 |
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84
stress take its toll, but the wounds of Horseshoe Bend and
San Jacinto continued to trouble him.
A vast melancholy possessed him as North and South
locked in still more deadly grapple. The initial successes
of the Confederacy did not change his views as to the war’s
outcome, for he knew the Unionist superiority in man-power
and money. Yet as the tide of battle began to turn against
the South, his spirit flamed to the old high blaze; and
when defeatist rumors began to spread, it was none other
than Sam Houston who cried a message of courage when he
said:
Whether the convention was right or wrong, it is not now the question. Whether I was treated justly or unjustly is not now to be considered. I put all that under my feet, and there it shall stay. Let those who stood by me do the same, and let us. all show, at a time when perils environ our beloved land, we know how to be patriots and Texans . . . it is not time to turn back now; the people have put their hands to the plow; they must go forward; to recede would be worse than ignominy. Better meet war in its deadliest shape than cringe before an enemy whose wrath we have invoked.
I make no pretensions as to myself. I have yielded up office, and sought retirement to preserve peace among our people. My services are perhaps not important enough to be desired. Others are perhaps competent to lead the people through the revolution. I have been with them through the fiery ordeal once, and I know that
with prudence and discipline their courage will surmount
all obstacles. Should the tocsin of war calling the people to resist the invader, reach the retirement to which I shall go, I will heed neither the denunciations of my enemies nor the clamor of my friends, but will
join the ranks of my countrymen again.96 to defend Texas once
96 Ibid., p. 336.
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| Title | An evaluation of Sam Houston's oratory - Page 97 |
| Repository email | cisadmin@lib.usc.edu |
| Full text | 84 stress take its toll, but the wounds of Horseshoe Bend and San Jacinto continued to trouble him. A vast melancholy possessed him as North and South locked in still more deadly grapple. The initial successes of the Confederacy did not change his views as to the war’s outcome, for he knew the Unionist superiority in man-power and money. Yet as the tide of battle began to turn against the South, his spirit flamed to the old high blaze; and when defeatist rumors began to spread, it was none other than Sam Houston who cried a message of courage when he said: Whether the convention was right or wrong, it is not now the question. Whether I was treated justly or unjustly is not now to be considered. I put all that under my feet, and there it shall stay. Let those who stood by me do the same, and let us. all show, at a time when perils environ our beloved land, we know how to be patriots and Texans . . . it is not time to turn back now; the people have put their hands to the plow; they must go forward; to recede would be worse than ignominy. Better meet war in its deadliest shape than cringe before an enemy whose wrath we have invoked. I make no pretensions as to myself. I have yielded up office, and sought retirement to preserve peace among our people. My services are perhaps not important enough to be desired. Others are perhaps competent to lead the people through the revolution. I have been with them through the fiery ordeal once, and I know that with prudence and discipline their courage will surmount all obstacles. Should the tocsin of war calling the people to resist the invader, reach the retirement to which I shall go, I will heed neither the denunciations of my enemies nor the clamor of my friends, but will join the ranks of my countrymen again.96 to defend Texas once 96 Ibid., p. 336. |
