Texas Rising, Part 1, 1887-1903

Born: September 27, 1838 in Iowa

Early Career: Sul Ross became a Texan before his first birthday, when his family settled in Milam County. The family moved to Austin in 1846 and Waco in 1849, where Ross' father was U.S. Indian agent on the Brazos Reservation. Ross attended Baylor University and graduated from Wesleyan University in Florence, Alabama. In 1860 the ranger company which he commanded recaptured Cynthia Ann Parker. During the Civil War, Ross fought in 135 battles or skirmishes, rising to command Ross' Brigade as brigadier general. He farmed near Waco until he was elected sheriff of McLennan County in 1873, achieving a reputation for effectiveness. Ross was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1875 and a state senator in 1881-1882. He easily won the governor's chair in 1886.

Accomplishments: During his terms in office, progress was made in the sale and leasing of public lands, the regulation of railroads, and the establishment of eleemosynary institutions, and a state prohibition amendment was defeated. Ross' second inauguration took place in the new state capitol building.

Later years: In 1891 he became president of Texas A&M College, ending an eight-year vacancy in that post. Ross died near Bryan, Texas on January 3, 1898.

Handbook of Texas article about Governor Lawrence Sullivan Ross
 

Oath of office, 1889

Born: March 4, 1851 near Rusk, Texas (first native Texan to be governor)

Early Career: Orphaned before his teens., Hogg attended school in Alabama before beginning work as a typesetter in Rusk. Later he worked on a paper in Tyler, and edited newspapers in Longview and Quitman (1871-1873). Hogg's political career began when he served as justice of the peace while studying law (1873-1875). He suffered his career's only loss in an 1876 race for the state legislature. After a term as Wood County attorney (1878-1880), Hogg gained a reputation as the most aggressive district attorney in Texas (1880-1884). As attorney general (1886-1890), Hogg continued the crusade against corporate abuses that he had begun as a journalist. He forced the return of some 1.5 million acres of fraudulently-acquired public land, broke up a major railroad price-fixing scheme, and aided in drafting the nation's second state anti-trust law.

Accomplishments: The promise to create a railroad commission was a major plank in the 1890 platform when Hogg was elected to his first term as governor. In addition to the Railroad Commission, the "Hogg Laws" included legislation reducing watered stock, forcing the sale of land corporation holdings, restricting grants to foreign corporations, and placing a ceiling for local governments' bond indebtedness. He encouraged educational institutions at all levels, and appointed C.W. Raines as state librarian in 1892. Railroads, banking, and business opposed Hogg's reelection in 1892, but he was supported by farmers and local newspapers.

Later years: Through investments after retirement, he managed to pay his financial debts and build a sizable estate. He continued to work for populist/progressive reforms, campaigning for William Jennings Bryan in 1896 and 1900. Hogg died in Houston on March 3, 1906.

Handbook of Texas article about Governor James Stephen Hogg

View Photographs of Governor James Stephen Hogg

Letter on mob violence in Longview

Born: June 10, 1855 in Alabama

Early Career: Culberson's family moved to Gilmer, Texas when he was an infant. Culberson's father, David B. Culberson, was a U.S. Congressman (1875-1897). After graduating from the Virginia Military Institute (1874) and the University of Virginia law school (1877), Culberson returned to Jefferson, Texas to practice law with his father, and was elected county attorney for Marion County. In 1887 he moved to Dallas. Culberson was elected attorney general in 1890 and again in 1892. During his tenure he defended Governor Hogg's railroad and anti-trust legislation before the U.S. Supreme Court and was mostly successful. Although Culberson, as attorney general, did recapture a vast area of West Texas from a railroad, Texas lost its claim to Greer County on the Red River to the federal government.

Accomplishments: In 1894, Culberson was elected governor, defeating Thomas Nugent, the Populist candidate. Although he opposed national prohibition (believing the right belonged to the states), he called a special legislative session to outlaw prizefighting. After being reelected in 1896, Governor Culberson supported a uniform system of school textbooks. Towards the end of his term four infantry regiments and one cavalry regiment of volunteers were raised for the Spanish- American War, although only one left the United States.

Later years: Culberson was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1899, where he served four terms. He was active in formulating domestic policy during World War I. In 1922 Culberson was defeated in the primary by the Ku Klux Klan candidate. His health had deteriorated, and he died in 1925 in Washington, D.C.

Handbook of Texas article about Governor Charles A. Culberson
 

Letter on recruiting troops for the Spanish-American War

Born: 1841 in Mississippi

Early career: When he was ten, Sayers' family moved to Bastrop, Texas, where he attended the Bastrop Military Institute until 1860. Sayers advanced from private to major in the Confederate army. At the war's end, he taught school and studied law at night in Bastrop. Sayers became a law partner of George W. "Wash" Jones in 1866. He was elected to the state senate in 1872, to the lieutenant governorship in 1879, and to the U.S. Congress in 1885. As Congressman (1885-1898) Sayers helped to gain federal pensions for Texas Rangers for the Indian Wars. Colonel E.M. House, who had run the campaigns of Governors Hogg and Culberson, selected Sayers to break the pattern of attorneys general succeeding to the governor's chair.

Accomplishments: Sayers was elected governor in 1898, and reelected in 1900. He coped with three major disasters: the Huntsville Penitentiary fire of 1899, the Brazos River flood of 1899, and the Galveston storm of 1900.

Later years: Sayers returned to law practice after his retirement, and was on the University of Texas Board of Regents during its power struggle with Governor James E. Ferguson in 1916. He served on the Industrial Accident Board (1915-1917), the Board of Legal Examiners (1922-1926), and the Board of Pardon Advisors (1927). Sayers died in Austin on May 15, 1929.

Handbook of Texas article about Governor Joseph D. Sayers

View Photographs of Governor Joseph D. Sayers
 

Telegram on Galveston Hurricane, worst natural disaster in United States history