Sam Recruiting, after the injunction of secrecy had been removed, 1855. Lithograph by Wilhelm C. A. Thielepape. Broadsides Collection, The Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin; CN 00694. In 1854 the American (Know-Nothing) party became active in Texas, and Houston adopted some of its tenets. The reference to secrecy in this cartoon alludes to Sam Houston's connection with the party, which was in many ways a secret society.

Record of slave sale, Creek Nation, October 26, 1851. Rebecca McIntosh Hawkins Hagerty Papers, The Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin; CN 08001. Sarabeth McClish made her mark on this document recording her sale of seventeen slaves, including five women, six boys, and six girls, to Rebecca Hagerty "of Texas" for a total of $800. The oldest person Hagerty bought was Dicy, aged forty, and the youngest was Amanda, five months.