This Week in Texas History
by BARTEE HAILE

Four years after their scandalous separation, Sam Houston filed for divorce from his first wife, Tennessee belle Eliza Allen, in a Nacogdoches court on Nov. 29, 1833. At age 35, Houston was on top of the world in 1829. The popular Tennessee governor had the inside track on a second term, and the presidential prize belonged to his mentor Andrew Jackson. Savvy insiders predicted the pupil would follow in the teacher’s footsteps to the White House.

General Jackson knew raw talent when he saw it and wasted no time in adding the former lieutenant to his stable of thoroughbred proteges. Each man’s exploits in the War of 1812 opened the door to high office, and both were determined to make the most of the opportunity.

Gov. Billy Carroll went along with Jackson’s suggestion in 1823 that Houston fill a vacancy in the Tennessee congressional delegation. The freshman representative met Robert Allen, a home-state congressman, and became a frequent guest at the mansion of his companion’s wealthy brother. From this vantage point, Houston watched little Eliza Allen blossom into womanhood.

State law prohibited Carroll from seeking a fourth consecutive term, so in 1827 he turned to Jackson for someone who could be trusted to keep his chair warm without growing too attached. Again Houston was the choice. In Carroll’s version of the gentlemen’s understanding, Houston agreed to stand aside in two years when the ex-governor regained his eligibility.

The engagement of handsome Houston to a girl half his age stunned Tennesseans. But the public amazement did not match the surprise of 18 year old Eliza, when a childhood friend asked for her hand in marriage.

Although she professed love for another, the naive debutante was swayed by the cynical counsel of her ambitious elders. Accept Houston’s proposal, advised her kin, and she soon might be First Lady. That persuasive argument combined with the governor’s captivating charm carried the day.

The wedding vows were exchanged on Jan. 22, 1829, but from there it was all downhill for the famous couple. Hints of the heartache to come surfaced on the honeymoon.

While Eliza slept late one morning, Houston frolicked in the snow with the two daughters of their hostess. Told jokingly that her outnumbered husband was losing a snowball fight, the bride coldly sneered, “I wish they would kill him.”

Returning to the capitol in Nashville, Houston unveiled his reelection plans. Outraged by what he scorned as a vile double-cross, Billy Carroll announced his candidacy vowing a fight to the bitter finish. The campaign kicked off on Apr. 11 with an oratorical slugfest between the two contenders.

Meanwhile, Houston’s vision of wedded bliss was fading fast. To his deep disappointment, Eliza was not adjusting to married life and, in fact, seemed to be a soul in torment. The perplexed groom resolved to get to the root of the domestic problem.

Patient coaxing finally extracted the terrible truth. Tearfully confessing her feelings for a boy her own age, Eliza explained that her family had pushed her into unwanted wedlock. She left for home the next day, and Sam Houston’s life came crashing down.

Close associates talked themselves blue in the face in a fruitless attempt to keep their inconsolable leader in the reelection race. But Houston had lost all interest in politics and refused even to complete his current term. On Apr. 16, 1829, he resigned as governor of Tennessee.

Throughout the state, shock swiftly gave way to anger. Bound by a self-imposed code of silence, Houston would not divulge the details of the intimate ordeal. Accused of wronging an innocent woman, the erstwhile hero was hanged in effigy by violent mobs.

A week after forsaking his future, Houston booked passage to the West under an assumed name. The morose outcast spent two years in seclusion among his lifelong friends, the Cherokees.

On his way to a confidential conference with President Jackson in 1830, the exile passed through Nashville. Emissaries of the Allens informed him that Eliza had changed her mind and sought a reconciliation. Houston answered the marriage could not be salvaged.

Again in 1836, several months after the Battle of San Jacinto, Eliza sent word to the renowned Texan of her desire to try again. This final overture was also rebuffed.

Here’s a question to ponder: “What if Sam Houston and Eliza Allen had lived happily ever after?”

Chances are Houston not Martin Van Buren would have succeeded Jackson as the eighth president of the United States. And Texas? Denied the leadership of Sam Houston, the Revolution might well have had a very different ending.

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