Page 13 - Fulton Mansion

In the fall of 1849,
Henry Smith and two
of his sons would
leave Texas and
travel to California in
search of gold. As
James Smith wrote to
his sister, Harriet, in
August, “I have but a
little time to write you
in for perhaps the
last time as we will leave here tomorrow for California, that hateful place so much talked of. Father, brother-John, myself and Stewart are this far on our way to the diggings”
(Fulton [George W. and James] Papers, 1836–1916).
Henry Smith died in California and was laid to rest in an unmarked grave. The memory of larger-than-life contemporaries, like Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston, would largely overshadow Smith’s legacy as a leader of an independent Texas. George Fulton considered Henry Smith to be one of the fiercest and most forgotten champions of Texian liberty. As George remarked in the 1880s, “No one could be more forgiving of personal injury—no one less so for a real or imagined wrong to Texas”
(Brown 1887, 385).
The Republic of
Texas issued this $50 promissory note in 1838. At that time, Henry Smith was
the secretary of the treasury. His signature appears at the bottom left. (Courtesy of Library of Congress)
Rockport-Fulton, Texas
Henry Smith would re-enter the political arena during Sam Houston’s first presidential administration in the fall of 1836. As the Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Smith was weighted with the task of balancing the budget for the new Republic of Texas. In its first year as an independent country, Henry reported that congressional spending amounted to $1,007,000. Though Congress would adopt Henry Smith’s recommendation to consolidate the public debt in the Republic, they would ignore his opposition to the printing of more promissory notes, interest-bearing notes redeemable after one year. With every new issue of promissory notes and paper currency, the Republic sunk deeper into debt. By the time Henry served as a congressional representative in 1841, he wrote, “At all events I will have to remain a few days as I have received no money yet for my services. I have my account and yours now audited, but the Treasury is entirely drained and the money has to be signed and many have to wait. . . .” (Fulton [George W. and James] Papers, 1836–1916)
George Fulton strongly encouraged and perhaps commissioned a biography of Henry Smith. John Henry Brown, published Texas historian and newspaper editor, possibly wrote at least part of The Life and Times of Henry Smith at the Fulton Mansion. Harriet seems to have had the majority of her father’s papers, so presumably Brown traveled to Fulton, did research, and conversed with the Fultons about the late Henry Smith.
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