Mode of Program Participation
Academic Scholarship
Participation Type
Paper
Presentation #1 Title
TEX-treme Appalachia: Sam Houston and the Manifest Destiny of Early Outmigrators
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Many of the rugged individualists who expanded our country westward during the 19th century were Appalachian natives. Kentucky and Tennessee, frontiers in their own right at the time, produced some of the West’s most sturdy 49ers, settlers, and traders. While figures like Davy Crockett color our region’s history, and while western states maintain detailed records on their founders, there has been little study of the overlap between the Appalachian upbringings of these frontiersmen and their later successes in the West. The proposed paper will utilize Sam Houston, the “George Washington of Texas,” as a case study to examine how frontiersmen’s Appalachian roots shaped their settlement of the West. Houston was mountain born and a member of the Cherokee. His early life impacted his illustrious Texas career, as evidenced by his opposition to the Trail of Tears and rejection of the Confederacy. Using the archives of the Texas State History Museum, I will compare Houston’s early Appalachian politics and culture to the values that signified his Western exploits. I may also examine similar Tennessee figures, like Tyler Heiskell (an early California legislator) and famed explorer Joseph Walker (the first person of European descent to discover Yosemite). Rooting Houston in the Appalachian diaspora may provide a key to the origins of ongoing outmigration from the region. Further, by connecting Houston’s Western accomplishments to his Tennessee home, we can perhaps reclaim him and other significant Western figures. “Repatriating” these men may illuminate the lasting and far-reaching power of Appalachian history and culture.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Leah Hampton is a Michener fellow in fiction at the University of Texas-Austin. She lives and works in Haywood County, North Carolina.
TEX-treme Appalachia: Sam Houston and the Manifest Destiny of Early Outmigrators
Many of the rugged individualists who expanded our country westward during the 19th century were Appalachian natives. Kentucky and Tennessee, frontiers in their own right at the time, produced some of the West’s most sturdy 49ers, settlers, and traders. While figures like Davy Crockett color our region’s history, and while western states maintain detailed records on their founders, there has been little study of the overlap between the Appalachian upbringings of these frontiersmen and their later successes in the West. The proposed paper will utilize Sam Houston, the “George Washington of Texas,” as a case study to examine how frontiersmen’s Appalachian roots shaped their settlement of the West. Houston was mountain born and a member of the Cherokee. His early life impacted his illustrious Texas career, as evidenced by his opposition to the Trail of Tears and rejection of the Confederacy. Using the archives of the Texas State History Museum, I will compare Houston’s early Appalachian politics and culture to the values that signified his Western exploits. I may also examine similar Tennessee figures, like Tyler Heiskell (an early California legislator) and famed explorer Joseph Walker (the first person of European descent to discover Yosemite). Rooting Houston in the Appalachian diaspora may provide a key to the origins of ongoing outmigration from the region. Further, by connecting Houston’s Western accomplishments to his Tennessee home, we can perhaps reclaim him and other significant Western figures. “Repatriating” these men may illuminate the lasting and far-reaching power of Appalachian history and culture.
