When Sam Houston Came to Town

In 1857 Sam Houston, then a U.S. senator, ran for governor of Texas as an independent.

Sam Houston

During the campaign Houston came to Birdville to debate Lewis T. Wigfall, a representative of Houston’s opponent, Democrat Hardin Runnels.

 

E. M. Daggett

The debate was attended by Captain Ephraim M. Daggett (1810-1883). Canada-born Daggett moved to Fort Worth in 1854—almost as soon as the doors opened. He was instrumental in getting the county seat moved to Fort Worth from Birdville, helped bring the first railroad to town. In fact, during the next two decades he would do so much for Fort Worth that when the city incorporated in 1873, the city council voted to have Daggett’s likeness placed on the city seal.

As Fort Worth pioneer J. C. Terrell recalled years later, after the debate Daggett offered Houston lodging for the night (photo of Daggett from Terrell’s 1906 memoirs).

Daggett’s home was located in the block bounded by Tenth and Eleventh streets and Main and the street named for Houston—about where the convention center dome is today.

Terrell recalled that the leg wound that Houston had received at the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836 had never healed and bothered Houston that night. Daggett washed and dressed Houston’s wound. Fittingly, Daggett used the silver wash basin that he had confiscated from Houston’s old foe, Santa Anna, at the Battle of Buena Vista during the Mexican-American War in 1847.

Daggett had great admiration for the hero of the Texas Revolution, but Daggett and Houston disagreed politically (Daggett was pro-slavery). When election time came, Daggett voted for Houston’s opponent. Houston lost the election—his only electoral defeat.

This entry was posted in Downtown, Life in the Past Lane. Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to When Sam Houston Came to Town

  1. Linda says:

    Sam Houston also visited his friend, Isaac Parker, who was a Texas Legislator, and former war buddy. Both served under Andrew Jackson. Parker was the uncle of Cynthia Ann Parker, Comanche captive and mother of Quanah Parker. Parker’s house is one of the oldest in Tarrant County, maybe THE oldest, and is now located in Log Cabin Village Living History Museum, across from the zoo. Among the artifacts donated to the museum is a rope chair that Parker descendants claim that Sam Houston actually sat in when he came to visit. The chair can currently be seen in the Foster cabin parlor.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *