To Sam Houston request for Texas Post for 1853

[SAM HOUSTON]. M. V. Irwin, Autograph Letter Signed, to Sam Houston, February 3, 185[4], [Magnolia, Texas?] 1 p., 7.375" x 9.5" Fire damage to right side with minimal effect on text, upper left corner missing.

In this interesting letter, a constituent from Texas writes to U.S. Senator Sam Houston to obtain a copy of the Patent Office report for 1853. From the 1840s to the 1880s, Magnolia was a town along the Trinity River in Anderson County in eastern Texas.

Complete Transcript:

[Magnolia?] Feby 3rd 185[4?]

Hon Sam Houston / Washington City

Dr Sir

I hope you will pardon this intrusion as much as I am exceedingly anxious to see and know what is going on at the metropolis

Will you be so Kind as to send me the Pattent Office Report for 1853. There has not been a single Congressional [favr?] reached [Magnolia?] as yet (printed)

Allow me the honor to subscribe my self

your Obdt Svt and friend

M V Irwin

Samuel Houston (1793-1863) was born in Virginia and left home at age 16 and lived with the Cherokee. He enlisted to fight the British in the War of 1812 and came under the tutelage of Andrew Jackson. After the war, he settled in Tennessee and began to practice law. In 1822, he was elected to Congress and served from 1823 to 1827. He was a strong supporter of Andrew Jackson during his term in Congress. In 1827, he became governor of Tennessee but resigned in 1829 before his term ended after his wife left him amid rumors of alcoholism and infidelity. In the early 1830s, Houston was in Washington to expose the frauds committed by government agents against the Cherokee. When a Congressman accused him of impropriety, he beat the Congressman with a cane on Pennsylvania Avenue. He was arrested and found guilty but given a light fine, and he left for Mexico. By 1835, he was a major general in the Texas Army, and he signed the Texas Declaration of Independence in March 1836. In the Battle of San Jacinto in April 1836, Houston surprised Mexican general Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and won a decisive victory that secured Texas independence. Houston served as President of the Republic of Texas from October 1836 to December 1838, and again from 1841 to 1844. After the annexation of Texas to the United States, Houston served as U.S. senator from 1846 to 1859. In 1859, Houston became governor of Texas but resigned less than two years later because he refused to take the Confederate loyalty oath. He retired from public life and died at his home.

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