Lawrence Sullivan Ross
|
|
Lawrence Sullivan Ross ("Sul" Ross) (September 27, 1838–January 3, 1898) was governor of the state of Texas from January 18, 1887 to January 20, 1891.
Ross was born in Bentonsport, Iowa Territory on September 27, 1838 to Catherine and Shapley Prince Ross. In 1859, he would earn praise as a member of the U.S. Army's Indian auxiliaries for his efforts in fighting the Comanche tribe in the Indian Territory.
He would later join the Texas Rangers, and lead the Waco Company against hostile native American tribes. In 1860, his pursuit of a Comanche raiding party would result in the recapture of Cynthia Ann Parker. In 1861, he joined the Confederate Army, and by 1864 had been promoted to brigadier general and commander of the Texas Cavalry Brigade (aka Ross's Brigade).
After the surrender of the Confederacy, Ross retired to farming in Texas with his wife, Elizabeth Dorothy Tinsley. In 1873, he was elected sheriff of McLennan County, and he would later serve as a constitutional delegate in the writing of the Constitution of 1876.
In 1880, Ross was elected to the Texas State Senate, and in 1886, he ran for the position of governor, and was elected. After his second term as governor ended in 1891, he took over the presidency of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (now Texas A&M University). Ross would return public confidence in the troubled school, and served as its president until his death on January 3, 1898.
Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas was named in his honor.
External link
- Handbook of Texas biography of Lawrence Sullivan "Sul" Ross (http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/RR/fro81.html)
| Preceded by: John Ireland | Governor of Texas 1887-1891 | Succeeded by: James Stephen Hogg |