“Was the late secretary of war removed in consequence of his attempt fraudulently to give to Gov. Houston the contract for the Indian rations?” an Ohio congressman asked on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on March 24, 1832.

Three years had come and gone since Sam Houston resigned as governor of Tennessee following the scandalous breakup of his marriage to a teenaged debutante. During his self-imposed exile among the Cherokees, he lobbied for a contract to feed several t...