howeenterprise.com
Monday, July 4, 2016
Texas History Minute: government, he named Grayson as attorney general in May 1836. In 1837, a few months after Sam Houston had won election as President of the Texas Republic, he also appointed Grayson as attorney general. By August, Houston sent him to the US as a special envoy to negotiate for Texas annexation. Dr. Ken Bridges
Presidents of the Republic of Texas could not serve successive In the annals of Texas, Peter W. terms. Houston, though popular, Grayson is an important but could not run again in 1838. forgotten figure. His work behind Texas did not have political the scenes proved crucial for the parties or a formal nominating important steps of developing and process at that time, and the saving Texas in the 1830s. Texas election was open to anyone. leaders trusted him as a diplomat and Houston’s political nemesis, a statesman. Grayson’s life, Vice President Mirabeau B. however, was a mix of success and Lamar, was running and steadily tragedy. gaining support. Houston turned to Grayson, his trusted friend, to Peter Wagener Grayson was born in run for president. Grayson Bardstown, Kentucky, in 1788. reluctantly agreed. Bardstown was only the second community founded in Kentucky Grayson, however, preferred the and only a few years prior to life of a diplomat. Houston was Grayson’s birth. He was born into a anxious to secure annexation to family of respected Virginia the United States in order to politicians, including a US Senator. protect Texas from Mexico and He was the youngest of four its own deteriorating finances. children. Grayson convinced Houston to send him on one more diplomatic Eventually, Grayson became an mission to attempt to convince attorney as well as a poet. He fought the US to annex Texas before in the War of 1812. In 1828, he was diving into the election. Houston elected to the state legislature. A thus named Grayson the Texas deep depression set in, however, Ambassador to the United States. derailing his career. Anxious for a fresh start, Grayson accepted a land However, the annexation treaty grant from Stephen F. Austin and was bogged down by sectional moved to Texas. politics in the US as many were opposed to annexing a large When Stephen F. Austin was slave territory like Texas. US arrested in Mexico City in 1834 for President Martin Van Buren, an presenting petitions seeking to make abolitionist himself, was hesitant Texas its own state within Mexico, to bring Texas into the Union for Grayson rode to meet with Mexican this reason as well as fears of officials to win his friend’s release. provoking war with Mexico. As Mexican officials prepared to Texas Secretary of State Robert challenge residents of Gonzales in Irion told Grayson in a latter that 1835 over the cannon the if annexation was not government had loaned the forthcoming, Texas should community, Grayson helped withdraw its annexation request organize the town’s defense. Later for the time being. that year, he was elected to the But in addition to the Consultation, a convention dedicated professional pressures on him, to presenting a united from for Texas Grayson was tormented by in dealing with Mexico. When the depression. The situation was Texas Revolution erupted, Grayson made worse by alcohol and helped raise volunteers in the US to reverses in his personal life. On fight for Texas. For his efforts, he July 8, Grayson stopped at a was made a colonel in the Texas tavern in Tennessee, fell drunk, Army. As interim president David and wrote a last note. He then G. Burnet put together his
took a pistol and shot himself. He was fifty years old. In 1846, the Texas State Legislature named the new Grayson County in his honor. Today, Grayson County is a growing county of 123,000 residents along the Red River. Dr. Bridges is a Texas native, writer, and history professor. He can be reached at drkenbridges@gmail.com.
Page #10
