Although opposing secession, he firmly advocates the defense of the South against invasion by the Federal troops, and says that he is willing to enter the Texas ranks. In his San Jacinto suit he reviews, at Galveston, the Texas regiment in which his son, Sam Houston, Jr., has enlisted, and is cheered.
Lives at Cedar Point, Texas; becomes very feeble, from his old wounds and other disabilities, and walks with the aid of a crutch and a cane.
January, 1863, congratulates Texas for having driven the Northern forces from her soil.
March 18, 1863, makes his last public speech, at Houston, Texas, and bids Texas keep up its courage and its hopes of success of the Southern cause.
July 26, 1863, Sam Houston dies in his bed at the family home, in Huntsville, Texas, aged 70 years. His last words are: “Texas! Texas!” and “Margaret,” the name of his wife. He died beloved and respected by state and country. To his eldest son, Lieutenant Sam Houston, Jr., he bequeathed the “sword of San Jacinto.”
WITH SAM HOUSTON IN TEXAS
I
“I AM SAM HOUSTON”
The toiling little steamboat “Arkansas” was stuck harder than ever, as seemed, on a mud-bar far up the shallow Arkansas River, in the old “Indian Country,” which is present Oklahoma.