Sam Houston and the Fights He Wouldn't Fight

Send us Fan Mail   Description Sam Houston was no stranger to a fight. He had been badly wounded in battle, led the Texas Army at San Jacinto, and spent much of his political career battling some of the biggest personalities in Texas. But when men challenged him to settle their differences with pistols, Houston repeatedly refused. In this episode of The Texan Edge, Tweed Scott looks at the dueling culture of the Republic of Texas, some of the men who challenged Houston, and the difference between being afraid of a fight and deciding that a fight simply isn't worth having. Show Notes Dueling was serious business in the Republic of Texas. Serious enough that the Texas Congress outlawed it in 1836. That didn't stop Texans from challenging one another when insults, politics, and personal grudges got out of hand. Sam Houston certainly had his share of enemies—and he wasn't shy about insulting them right back. David G. Burnet, Mirabeau B. Lamar, Commodore Edwin Ward Moore, and Albert Sidney Johnston all challenged Houston at one time or another. Houston refused them. That might seem surprising until you take a closer look at the man. Houston had already demonstrated his courage on battlefields from Horseshoe Bend to San Jacinto. Perhaps by then he understood something that can take a lifetime to learn: There's a difference between being afraid of a fight and deciding a fight isn't worth having. In this episode: Dueling in the Republic of TexasWhy Texas outlawed dueling in 1836The deadly Wells–Redd duelHouston's bitter feud with David G. BurnetThe men who challenged HoustonHouston's battlefield recordWhy Houston repeatedly refused to duelKnowing which fights are worth havingThe Texan Edge — Texas history, Texas stories, and sometimes a little Texas wisdom along the way. This isn't just a podcast, it's a Texas state of mind.