Like his great friend, Sam Houston, Henderson King Yoakum epitomized the principles of the US Declaration of Independence underpinning early westward expansion.
Yoakum’s grand legacy centers on his two volume history of Texas from 1685 to statehood in 1846, depicting the impact of those principles in the Texas drive for independence.
On Nov. 30 at 10 a.m., the Henderson Yoakum Chapter Sons of the Republic of Texas, will again celebrate Yoakum’s life at Huntsville’s Oakwood Cemetery. This writer is president of that chapter while our treasurer, Mac Woodward, former Huntsville mayor, is a direct descendent of Yoakum.
Though born and raised in Tennessee, Yoakum understood the explicitly expressed link to the US “Generation of 1776” permeating the atmosphere of Texas in 1836, the year it gained its independence at San Jacinto.
In that year, Henderson, a West Point graduate, stood ready to captain a Tennessee Militia Unit named the Murfreesboro Sentinels set to head to Texas. While the battle of San Jacinto rendered that occasion mute, he yet engaged a short tour under General Pendleton Gaines, reconnoitering the area of the Sabine.
Thus, did Yoakum identify with Sam Houston’s assessment of his experiences in that historic battle for Texas Independence in 1836 when later recording that assessment in his Two Volume historical masterpiece. Meanwhile, upon returning to Tennessee in 1837 Yoakum became for a short time the mayor of the city of Murfreesboro.
From 1839-1845 Yoakum served in the Tennessee Senate. Here he sought to utilize his Texas-related experience to rally for Texas annexation to the United States. By the next year he had settled in Huntsville, Texas where he immediately played a key role in Huntsville becoming the county seat of the new county of Walker, until then part of original Montgomery County.
Nor was Henderson King Yoakum ready at this juncture to retire from actions of liberation. In the very year of Walker County’s birth,1846, he joined US forces in efforts to finally secure Texas’s Independence from Mexico while gaining most of the southwest quadrant of the present United States. In this US-Mexican War he served as a lieutenant under Captain James Gillespie, later to be head of the Texas State Penitentiary System headquartered in Huntsville. Yoakum would at a later point serve on the board of that facility.
Further highlights of the life of Henderson King Yoakum include his efforts leading to the formation of Austin College in Huntsville. Later, he further honed his skills in supporting the development of Andrew Female College.
This year’s celebration will feature a special presentation by Huntsville’s Forrest Masonic Lodge no. 19. This lodge’s history includes Henderson Yoakum as its “Worshipful Master.” The Music Department of Sam Houston State University will address that venue while various sectors of the State Son’s of the Republic of Texas will “present the colors” and cannon fire.
Robin Montgomery is a native of Montgomery County, a historian, retired professor, author and columnist for The Courier.
