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Like most famous Texans of his time, Thomas Jefferson Rusk came from elsewhere. Rusk was born in South Carolina, practiced law in Georgia, first traveled to Texas in early 1835 in pursuit of business partners who fled there with his money. Texas was then moving toward war with Mexico, and Rusk soon became active in military matters: in the fall of 1835, he organized volunteers and later sought money and troops; the next year, he served as inspector general of the army; and, as a delegate from Nacogdoches, he signed Texas’s Declaration of Independence at the Convention of 1836. He fought at San Jacinto and eventually became Sam Houston’s secretary of war. That didn’t last long, but Rusk remained active in Texas government. He was chief Supreme Court justice for a couple of years and presided over the Convention of 1845, where he supported U.S. annexation. Rusk served with Houston as the new state’s first two U.S. senators. In the Senate, he helped establish the Rio Grande as Texas’s border with Mexico and supported trans-continental railroad construction.
But Rusk was also an Indian fighter—in marked contrast to Houston, a lifelong ally of America’s natives. In 1839, under then-President Mirabeau B. Lamar, Rusk’s troops drove the Cherokee from East Texas, killing or wounding about 100 in the process. Ironically, in 1846, Rusk, Texas, was named county seat of Cherokee County, Texas.
Rusk committed suicide in 1857. Some say he remained despondent over his wife’s death the year before, and an account of his last day suggests he’d argued with his son. Reportedly, he also had some medical troubles. A small but impressive percentage of people killed themselves back then.
For more information about Thomas J. Rusk or any famous Texan, consult The Handbook of Texas Online, sponsored by The Texas State Historical Association.
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