Introduction ~ by Sam W. Haynes

Thomas Jefferson Green is not generally regarded as one of the principal figures in the history of Texas. During the years that Texas attempted to establish itself as an independent nation, however, he was anything but inconspicuous. Indeed, only a handful of men played more active roles in the affairs of the Republic, and none displayed such a talent for provoking controversy. Intent on making a name for himself in a sparsely populated land that seemed ripe with opportunity, Green pursued his career with relentless energy and boundless ambition. When he was not engaged in speculative business ventures, he was seeking martial glory, or aspiring to political office. Like many migrants to Texas during this period, however, he did not find in his adopted country the financial rewards he so eagerly sought. Unsatisfied, despite the notoriety that he achieved as second-in-command of the Mier Expedition, Green moved on after nine years in Texas, to continue his restless and aggressive search for the main chance. Ultimately, his was a career marked by disappointment and unfulfilled expectations; a record that, in many ways, seemed to typify the Republic itself.

The scion of a tidewater planting family, Thomas Jefferson Green was born in Warren County, North Carolina, in 1802, the ninth of twelve children. Green studied at the University of North Carolina, and then accepted an appointment at West Point, but resigned after only a few months as a cadet. While his reasons for abandoning his plans for a military education are unclear, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the undisciplined temperament that he displayed in later years had something to do with his decision. Green was nonetheless a skilled writer and orator, talents that, combined with a voluble disposition, drew him naturally to the political arena. He was elected to the North Carolina legislature at the age of twenty-four, and four years later married Sarah Wharton, the daughter of a former Tennessee senator. Green's political interests, however, were always secondary to financial ones, and to that end he devoted most of his energies to land speculation, moving first to Mississippi, then to Florida, in the latter once again serving in the state legislature. His wife died in 1835, four years after the birth of their only son, Wharton.1

Like many Americans in the mid-1830s, Green followed the growing unrest