The American Miracle by Michael Medved

Author:Michael Medved [Medved, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Crown Publishing Group
Published: 2016-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

“WHAT THE DEVIL IS THE MATTER WITH THE GALS”

That appeal to the fairer sex resulted over the years in a half dozen halting approaches to potential brides, but the fearless commander had not yet succeeded in storming the battlements of love. In a letter after one of these blighted romances, Houston wrote to a friend: “I have as usual had a ‘small blow up.’ What the devil is the matter with the gals I can’t say.”

Jackson himself, awaiting his elevation to the presidency, took a lively interest in this matrimonial quest and gruffly urged Houston to find a wife. Fortunately, the ideal candidate seemed ready to hand: the lovely blond Eliza Allen, the eighteen-year-old daughter of a prominent, politically connected plantation-owning family in the Cumberland River Valley north of Nashville. Her uncle Robert had served with Houston in the House of Representatives, and the Raven had been a frequent guest at Allen family gatherings, first meeting Eliza and capturing her childish fascination when she was only thirteen. Five years later, her beauty, breeding, and dark blue eyes attracted widespread admiration and several serious suitors. One of them, a local lawyer of poetic temperament and notoriously frail health, had apparently inspired reciprocal feelings from Eliza, but when it came to potential sons-in-law her parents naturally preferred the ferocious force of nature who had just taken over as governor. Perhaps the teenage girl’s initial indifference helped to fire Sam Houston’s ardor, leading to frequent interruptions in affairs of state as he rode at top speed the thirty miles from the capital to the Allen home to spend even a few fleeting moments with the object of his adoration.

Like many others who encountered him on military or political battlefields, Eliza soon understood that resistance to Houston would prove futile. Under heavy pressure from her parents, she agreed to become his bride in an elegant candlelit ceremony at the family’s Allenwood plantation, witnessed by many if not most of the leading citizens of the state.

The obviously infatuated Houston galloped to the occasion in giddy high spirits, but recalled years later that he experienced a momentary chill when a raven suddenly plunged from the winter sky and fell dead on the road in front of him. Despite this grim omen, which alarmed his Cherokee sensibilities, and despite the talk at Allenwood that Eliza wept openly when her attendants cinched her into her wedding gown, the solemn Presbyterian ceremony went off without incident and the guests happily toasted the state’s new first couple.

The next afternoon they planned to ride together on horseback toward Nashville, but an unexpected snowstorm interrupted their honeymoon journey just as the sun began to set. The newlyweds sought shelter at gracious Locust Grove, home of their mutual friends Robert and Martha Martin, who felt honored to receive them. In the morning, the governor arose early and went outside with the family’s two young daughters to frolic in the fresh snow. He had engaged the girls in a fierce snowball fight when Eliza came down the stairs and glanced out the window at her boyish husband.

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