Monday, July 20, 2009

General Sam Houston

This is Texas Week here at Old Picture of the Day, so we feature this portrait of General Sam Houston. The picture was made in about 1861 by Mathew Brady. Sam Houston was the President of the Republic of Texas, and was responsible for the Texas victory at the Battle of San Jacinto, at which the Texas Army defeated Santa Anna and the Mexican army. General Houston's strategy after the defeat at the Alamo, and against a vastly superior Mexican army was brilliant. He was a unique individual, who preferred the company of Indians over the white man.

There is a quote by Sam Houston, which I love, and which extremely effectively captures the mood in Texas today:

"Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression, come from what source it may"
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11 comments:

  1. Has anyone ever come close to matching Mathew Brady's skill with the camera, even after more than 150 years. This portrait is another masterpiece. It made my day.

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  2. Great picture. I agree with Anon about Brady. His pictures saved the memory of Texas as it was forever.

    Houston also was the "manager" of the Republic when the men and families were establishing a homestead in east and South Texas.

    Two great men with ever lasting legacies.

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  3. Sam Houston is one of Hank Hill's great heroes on "King of the Hill".

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  5. Actually, most of Brady's Civil War photos were taken by associates and not by Brady himself.

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  6. PJM:

    Every time I try to vote in or look at your online poll results, I get a "page cannot be displayed" message and the website crashes.

    Is it you or me?

    PS - love this photo

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  7. Wonderful reading if you can find it concerns the lifelong feud between Houston and Lamar. Single volume? try "The Raven".

    Favorite story: When Houston was packing up the Texas White House to make room for Lamar, he also removed the wooden floor.

    And we think folks today are litigious. HAH!

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  8. Hi SmartGirl,

    Sorry, but I think it's something in your browser or its configuration, or maybe your computer.

    I generally use Firefox, and in it the poll doesn't show right, but in IE it does, and works fine. Plus, there are always many votes, so either it does work or PJM is mucking with the numbers, and I'm guessing the peacocks don't leave time for that (plus, he wouldn't).

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  9. Smartgirl,
    Not sure why you are having trouble with the poll. It has worked on the different versions of explorer that I have tried it on. Sorry for the difficulty.
    PJM

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  10. PJM:

    It always worked before - this is recent.

    I need a new operating system anyway, but I'm too lazy to change it.

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  11. This is my all-time favorite picture of Sam Houston. What steely determination and individualism is expressed in it! Do you know where I can find a high-res scan of this picture that I can blow up to poster size and print out? I can't seem to find out where the original is housed so that I could ask the source.
    Thank you from another Texas chauvinist!

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