Texas hero owes it all to poem by Burns

Published on Sunday 6 August 2006 00:13

HE WAS one of the greatest military and political heroes in United States history, the founding father of modern-day Texas after whom the fourth largest city in America is named.

On March 2 every year, Texans celebrate Sam Houston's birthday and Texas independence day in memory of the man whose vision and outlook shaped their state. But evidence recently come to light reveals that the greatest influence in Houston's life came not from his fellow Americans but from his Scottish ancestry and the works of Robert Burns.

He drew inspiration from one particular Burns poem, 'Epistle To A Young Friend', which he memorised as a child and referred to throughout his life for guidance.

In a letter to his teenage son, Sam jnr, Houston called the poem "one of the most salutary and safest guides I have met with in life" and "a beautiful emanation of heart and intellect".

Now, after years of gathering dust in the vaults of the Sam Houston Memorial Museum in Huntsville, Texas, the Burns poetry book which belonged to Houston's mother and which he read avidly, has been put on public display along with details of his Scottish heritage.

"That poem by Burns was really his lost polestar that guided him through life," said Texas-based author James L Haley, who wrote a book on the life and career of Houston.

"There is one line in the poem about being lost in the tempest of life and he never lost sight of that image during his lifetime. He even signed an autographed book for a young cousin using that image. He was a wild man, a world-class drunk and suffered a short and unhappy first marriage with a girl from Tennessee. He married again when he was 48."

Houston, whose great grandfather had left the family home in Renfrewshire and settled in the New World via Ireland, went on to have eight children by this marriage.

In a letter to his son, Sam jr, Houston wrote: "I would commend to your particular attention a poem of Burns. It is his advice to a young friend Andrew. In my course of life I have found it one of the most salutary as well as one of the safest guides I have met with in life."

Burns wrote the poem in 1786 and sent it to Andrew Hunter Aiken, the son of a family friend, who he refers to as "Dear Andrew". The youngster went on to become a wealthy merchant and served as British Consul in Riga.

Dick Rice, historical interpreter at the Sam Houston Museum, said there has been no room to display the Burns book until the building was recently extended.