Houston Pulls The Run Out From Under Huston

By the end of May 1837, the demobilized majority of the Texas Army was either headed for home or looking for work in the Lone Star Republic, much to the dismay of a reckless general who wanted to fight another round with Mexico.

The quick victory at San Jacinto robbed hundreds of American volunteers of their share of the glory. Having not come all the way to Texas to toast other heroes, they stubbornly stuck around in the hope of getting in a few licks of their own.

In the fervent belief that an army was a terrible thing to waste, Felix Huston lobbied loud and long for taking the war to the Mexicans. Since his bellicose rhetoric was music to the ears of the disappointed latecomers, the ambitious adventurer became their unofficial spokesman.

Huston was, in truth, an early convert to the Lone Star cause. In July 1835, three months before the Revolution started at Gonzales, he was actively soliciting support in New Orleans for the imminent uprising. While the colonists were driving the government forces from the province that December, he was working on their behalf in his native state of Mississippi.

Despite genuine enthusiasm for the insurrection, few Mississippians actually joined the struggle. Huston himself waited until Mar. 1, 1836 to announce that he would lead a 500-man expedition to Texas, but the Magnolia State contingent did not arrive until July, two and a half months too late for the fighting.

Huston was on hand, however, to play a key part in the humiliation of Mirabeau Lamar, whose selection as military chief was overruled by a lopsided vote of the rank and file. Angrily blaming Thomas Jefferson Green and Huston for the rejection, Lamar begged David G. Burnet to court-martial his two nemeses.

But the lame-duck president dared not lift a finger against Huston, whose popularity made him the de facto commander of the mutinous soldiers. Although the temporary government never acknowledged his authority, Huston remained in charge until the following February.

Exercising his powerful mandate won at the polls, President Sam Houston sent Albert Sidney Johnston to replace the pretender. In classic southern fashion, Huston challenged his successor to a duel.

The chivalrous affair degenerated into a tragic comedy of errors. Though both parties survived the first exchange unscathed, each man graciously complimented his opponent.

Toying with a twig snapped by Johnston