Descendants of the Fearless Fifty-Nine, Thomas J. Rusk

THOMAS J. RUSK by Beth Rusk Gathings

The following is from Rip Ford’s Memoirs in a book entitled “Rip Ford’s Texas”, edited by John Salmon Ford. This quotation was written in approximately 1840. “Nacogdoches was the home of General Thomas J. Rusk, of Colonel James Reily, General James S. Mayfield, Dr. James H. Starr, Colonel John Forbes, General Hayden Edwards, Colonel Thomas J. Jennings, Colonel Adolphus Sterne, Colonel J. S. Roberts, the Henry Raguet family, and many others of celebrity and note. These gentlemen exercised great influence in the Republic.General Rusk stood first among them. He was an acknowledged power in the land-a ruler in Israel. The lawyer, the statesman, the general, the patriotic citizen, the steadfast friend had the heart-felt esteem of all who knew him. He was the only man in Texas who could show the shadow of a claim as the peer of General Houston in the esteem, admiration and love of the people. He was simple in his manners, republican in his tastes, candid and outspoken in the expression of his sentiments, fair and honest in everything. He had a giant intellect, mastered questions as if by intuition, and was great without ambition and pride. He and General Houston were personal friends.”