Texas Governor Sam Houston Grants More than 200 Acres of Land Along the Colorado River to Hero of Texan Independence and Signer of the State’s Declaration of Independence, Samuel Maverick

Maverick is the inspiration for the term political "maverick"; he was known for his independent streak

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A beautiful and rare document connecting two leading early Texas figures; Houston was only Governor for 15 months

Texas officially became the 28th U.S. state on December 29, 1845. Sam Houston, hero of Texan independence, who had been president of the Republic of Texas prior to statehood, became a U.S. Senator from...

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Texas Governor Sam Houston Grants More than 200 Acres of Land Along the Colorado River to Hero of Texan Independence and Signer of the State’s Declaration of Independence, Samuel Maverick

Maverick is the inspiration for the term political "maverick"; he was known for his independent streak

A beautiful and rare document connecting two leading early Texas figures; Houston was only Governor for 15 months

Texas officially became the 28th U.S. state on December 29, 1845. Sam Houston, hero of Texan independence, who had been president of the Republic of Texas prior to statehood, became a U.S. Senator from that now-state. In 1859, Houston ran for Governor of Texas and took office in December of that year. He was a voice against secession, and was governor for less than two years as a result.

A Texas political convention voted to secede from the United States on February 1, 1861, and Houston proclaimed that Texas was once again an independent republic, but he refused to recognize that same convention’s authority to join Texas to the Confederacy. After Houston refused to swear an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy, the legislature declared the governorship vacant. Houston did not recognize the validity of his removal, but he did not attempt to use force to remain in office, and he refused aid from the federal government to prevent his removal. His successor, Edward Clark, was sworn in on March 18.

Samuel Augustus Maverick was a Texas lawyer, politician, land baron and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. His name is the source of the term “maverick,” first cited in 1867, which means “independently minded.” Various accounts of the origins of the term held that Maverick came to be considered independently minded by his fellow ranchers because he refused to brand his cattle.

Maverick was present at the Siege of the Alamo and remained there until March 2, the same day the other delegates were signing the Texas Declaration of Independence. By this time the Alamo was surrounded by Mexican troops; when Maverick left, William Travis (the commander of the Texan forces at the Alamo) urged him to convince the convention to send reinforcements. Maverick arrived at the convention on March 5, along with a friend carrying one of Travis’s final missives. The convention was in recess for the weekend, but a special session was called for the following day. By the time the special session concluded, the Battle of the Alamo had concluded, and the Alamo defenders were all dead. Maverick signed the Texas Declaration of Independence the following day, and remained at the convention to help draft the new Texas constitution.

In the 1850s and 1860s he was one of the two biggest investors in West Texas acreage, and Maverick County was named in his honor.

Document signed, Austin, TX, January 26, 1860, being a grant of land to S. A. Maverick of 240 acres in the Bexar Territory, along the banks of the Colorado River.

The document is countersigned by Francis M. White, a lieutenant in the Texan army during the Revolution and present for the Siege of Bexar; he served as commissioner of the General Land Office from 1857 to 1862.

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