Lawrence Sullivan Ross

by Koby Westbrook

The life of Sul Ross is not one that can be simplified in just a few pages. From growing up as an ordinary farm boy, just fighting to survive on the frontier, to an elite member of society as a Confederate General, respected lawman, Governor of Texas, and a college president. His life and all of his doings could probably take up a multi-volume series of books, and yet there has only been a small number of publications written on Sul.

Lawrence Sullivan “Sul” Ross was born September 27, 1838 in Iowa Territory, in present day Van Buren County, Iowa to Shapley Prince and Catherine Hanby (Fulkerson) Ross. Shortly after Sul’s birth, Shapley moved the family to Missouri. But rather quickly, upon hearing word of the vast opportunities that the new Republic of Texas held, Shapley moved the family to Texas in early 1839. Although passing through the lands now considered Waco along the Brazos, they ultimately decided to settle down near where the town of Cameron is now. However, due to the violent nature of the local Indian tribes, they decided to move to the Little River where other Anglos had settled.

Shapley quickly gained a reputation as a strong Indian fighter due to the need to defend the settlement against the savage raiders. As Sul grew older and became more cognizant of his surroundings, these early memories are what encouraged him to eventually emulate his father later in life. As a young boy, Sul was taught to continuously be brave, and never show fear, as it would show weakness and leave an opportunity wide open for the Indians to take advantage of him and his family.

Sul’s upbringing as a Texas frontier boy did create a true fire in his eye. As he got older and started interacting with other kids his age, he found himself as a strange cocktail of being just savage enough to hold his own against the Indians, while also being proper enough to uphold the strict morals of mid-nineteenth century society. Recognizing this, and the increasing need of getting a proper education, at the age of seventeen, Sul made a trip to Independence, Texas to enroll in the Preparatory Department at Baylor University. After a strict vetting process by the university president, Reverend Rufus C. Burleson, Sul was invited in. His years in the Preparatory Department were challenging on all fronts, academically, morally, and religiously.

After completing the program at Baylor, instead of remaining there for his actual college studies, Sul decided to attend Wesleyan University in Florence, Alabama. Though he had some trouble meeting the academic requirements to get in, after striking a deal to take tutoring, he was accepted. Apart from his studies, Sul expanded his social circle, making many lifelong friends, some of which he would meet just a few years later in the fight for Southern Independence. Nonetheless, in the summer prior to his senior year, Sul returned to Texas to spend time with family.

Of course, hostilities with many of the local Indian tribes had not subsided, and in many cases had been escalated. When Sul returned home, he discovered his father to be in poor health, and the friendly Indian tribes who wanted to help defend against the hostile Indians declared Sul as their new leader. Though perhaps reluctant at first, Shapley was confident in his son’s ability to lead, and allowed him to take the friendly native forces to cooperate with U.S. troops in their recent frontier campaigns. Sul soon arrived with his force of Indians to the U.S. regular’s commander Major Earl Van Dorn. At nineteen years old, Sul had his first command, and was about to partake in his first official organized assault that has come to be known as the Fight at Wichita Village. In the heat of battle, Sul exemplified himself as a fearless leader and was eventually seriously wounded two or three times. Soon after the battle, he and Major Van Dorn (who was also seriously wounded) returned to Fort Belknap to recover. Eventually, Sul returned to Waco with a hero’s welcome, but no one was prouder of him than his father.

Although Sul received many letters recognizing his great ability as a military leader, and even one from General Winfield Scott offering to mentor him into a professional military career, he decided to return to Wesleyan University to finish his degree. As he was finishing his studies and returning to Texas, Shapley found himself in a tough spot. After becoming heavily influential in the creation of Indian reservations for the friendly tribes, the public opinion was still that all Indians were savage and violent. This undoubtedly led to an unbecoming opinion of the Ross family across the frontier. Sul spent most of his time back in Texas continuing to recover from his wounds sustained at Wichita Village. However, in March 1860, Governor Houston authorized the raising of Texas Rangers to defend against the continuous and increasingly violent raiding.

Sul enlisted in Captain J. M. Smith’s company of Texas Rangers out of Waco and McLennan County. He was initially designated as the First Lieutenant, but after the different companies from across the northern part of the state organized into a regiment, Smith attained the Lieutenant Colonel position and Sul was voted as the Captain of the Waco company. Though his first command as a Ranger was ultimately not as exciting as his previous command, he learned much about the proper procedures on a regimental level of military life and due to his amazing scouting skills, he caught the attention of Governor Houston. Soon after the enlistment period of his first command ended and the troops were sent home, Houston called upon Sul to raise another company of Rangers. It was during his tenure in this command that Sul led his troops at the Battle of Pease River and became famous for recapturing Cynthia Ann Parker, a white woman who had been captured by the Indians nearly twenty-five years prior.

Sul maintained this command into February 1861 as the talks of secession ever increased. Being a friend of Governor Houston, it is unclear whether Sul voted for or against secession, and perhaps it is more likely that he abstained altogether, just to see what would happen. In early February, Sul sent a letter of resignation to Houston requesting his release from his command. Though Houston never officially accepted his resignation, it was soon that Houston was ousted as Governor and Texas seceded and joined the newly created Confederate States of America.

In the early months of 1861, Texas had many big concerns. One of which was to figure out what to do about the Indian problem, knowing that a war with the United States and an ongoing war with the hostile Indians would create huge issues for Texas. Governor Edward Clark commissioned Sul to immediately go to the Indian reservations and reaffirm their friendly commitments to Texas. Knowing this would come with a heavy price and a time of already economic distress, Sul was pessimistic, but went anyway. Fortunately, as Sul arrived, he discovered that the Confederate Government already had the same idea and was beginning to work with the tribes. Though he was still involved in this peace agreement, the burden did not fall on Texas alone.

After returning to Waco, the call to raise companies of cavalry went across the state, including McLennan County. Surprisingly, rather than Sul raising a company, his brother, Peter F. Ross did. Sul enlisted as a private in his brother’s company and they soon left for Dallas answering the call of Colonel B. Warren Stone where they organized into the Sixth Texas Cavalry. After the regiment was organized, voting was commenced, and Sul was voted in as the Major of the regiment. During the first year of the war, Colonel Stone proved himself to be a less than apt regimental officer. There were even many times that Sul found himself commanding the regiment rather than Stone. During this time, the men had to dismount their horses and fight as infantry due to the lack of the necessary supplies to take care of their mounts.

Once the Conscription Act of 1862 was passed, Sul’s regiment had to be reenlisted for the period of the war. This also meant that regimental officers would need to be reelected, which found Sul being elected as the Colonel of the Sixth. Due to Sul’s amazing ability as a leader, his superior officers eventually decided to allow one cavalry regiment to remount, in which they chose Sul’s out of the ten or so cavalry units in the area. Through 1862, Sul exemplified himself as a regimental leader, and at times would even command the entire brigade as the senior Colonel. Before too long, his actions warranted a further promotion to Brigadier General in command of the Texas Brigade in this area. Sul served in this position through the end of the war, despite hard times. All of his accomplishments during the War would fill an entire volume alone to do his military career justice.

After the war, as a war-torn man in a war-torn country, Sul found himself recovering physically and mentally from the defeat of the Confederate forces. Undoubtedly, during the hell known as Reconstruction, Sul lived a low-profile life with his wife and children in Waco. Finally in 1873, as the Unionists began to lose their control over the conquered South, Sul was elected as the Sheriff of McLennan County. In his two-year tenure, he wrangled in over 700 outlaws. In 1875, he resigned his position as Sheriff to pursue higher political offices. That same year he was elected as a delegate to the Texas Constitutional Convention where he served on multiple committees. After this delegation, he returned to Waco and spent a brief hiatus of four years continuing his normal life as a farmer, husband and father. In 1880, after a deadlock between the two major parties in Texas for the position of State Senator, someone suggested for Sul to run for the position as a compromise candidate. Though Sul did not actively seek out this position, he agreed to run and was quickly elected, bringing together the two conflicting parties.

During his time as a State Senator, Sul served on multiple committees and excelled himself as a public figure. His reputation continued to grow in a positive manner and soon his name was found in newspapers across the entire state. Though continuing to be reluctant to run for governor, he found himself as an advocate for farmer’s rights. At a time where the state relied heavily on the production of farmers, it was not uncommon for those farmers to fall victim to the state’s control. Sul quickly gained fame among the farmers and used this, among other issues, as his main concern when he finally announced his candidacy for governor in 1885. Although there were other candidates, and he dealt with his fair share of “dirty politics,” Sul proved to be the best candidate, receiving the largest majority of popular votes at that time.

Like his military career, Sul’s tenure as governor deserves its own volume to fully detail his accomplishments. After his first term expired, he ran for reelection, which again he won by a landslide. After his second term was up, despite the many calls for him to run a third term and become the first governor to serve more than two terms, he declined and returned to Waco. During his last year as governor, the Board of Directors at the Agriculture and Mechanical College of Texas (which later became known as Texas A&M University) decided to offer Sul the position of president after the college had fallen on hard times and dealt with many controversies. Almost immediately after Sul became the president of the college, the popularity increased tenfold as students flung themselves to study under the leadership of the great General Ross. Many of the traditions that Aggies follow today were created under the presidency of Sul.

Ultimately, Sul’s position as the president of Texas A&M became his last, though not necessarily by choice. After serving for nearly eight years as president, Sul unexpectedly passed away possibly due to a heart attack on January 3, 1898 at the age of fifty-nine. His body was transported from College Station to Waco, with the entire student body of A&M closely following. Several thousand people including veterans of the War, political figures, and close friends attended his funeral at Oakwood Cemetery.

Like mentioned previously, the life of Lawrence Sullivan Ross is not one that can be simplified as this article attempts to do. The leading publication on the life of Sul Ross is “Sul Ross: Soldier, Statesman, Educator” by Judith Ann Benner which provides a better view at his life in all the capacities that he held.