Ross, Lawrence Sullivan, 1838-1898

Soldier, governor, and university president Lawrence Sullivan (Sul) Ross (1838-1898) was born in the Iowa Territory and immigrated to Texas in 1839. After earning his A.B. from Wesleyan University in Florence, Alabama in 1859, Ross joined the Texas Rangers, initially as a lieutenant and later as a captain. Ross' fame in Texas greatly increased when, during the battle of the Pease River, his company rescued Cynthia Ann Parker. In 1861, he married Elizabeth Dorothy Tinsley, and promptly joined the Confederate Army, serving first as a major, then a colonel, and finally as a brigadier general in 1964, commanding the Texas Cavalry Brigade (or Ross's Brigade). After working as a farmer in Waco during Reconstruction, Ross was elected sheriff of McLennan County in 1873, and helped form the Sheriff's Association of Texas. Ross became a state senator in 1880, followed by governor in 1886, where he presided over completion of the new Capitol, and initiated a period of industrial, agricultural, and commercial growth. In 1891, Ross took over presidency of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (later Texas A & M University). As President, he facilitated the growth of the college and helped restore public faith in the institution.

Source: Benner, Judith Ann. "Ross, Lawrence Sullivan [Sul]," Handbook of Texas Online. Accessed August 22, 2011. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/RR/fro81.html

The Ross family of Waco, Texas, was one of the most influential families in local and state history in the late 1800s. Lawrence Sullivan Ross, writer of many letters within this collection, was a Texas Ranger, Confederate general, President of Texas A&M University, and Governor of Texas. Lawrence "Sul" Ross continues to be one of the most famous figures of Texas history in a state filled with larger than life personalities.

Lawrence Sullivan's father, Shapley Prince Ross, came to Texas with his wife Catherine Fulkerson Ross in 1839 from Kentucky and Missouri. Originally settling in Milam County, Ross became a member of the famous Texas Ranger company commanded by John C. "Jack" Hays in 1842, later rising to command a company himself in Peter H. Bell's Ranger Battalion. The Ross family moved permanently to Waco in 1849 where he became a postmaster, hotel owner, and Indian agent. Shapley Ross died on 1889 September 17 and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Waco, Texas. Several documents pertain to Shapley Ross, including most of the legal series, and many of the biographical manuscripts explore his life as well as that of his most famous son, Lawrence Sullivan Ross.

Lawrence "Sul" Ross, the fourth child born to Shapley and Catherine Ross on 1838 September 27, grew up in Milam County and Waco, Texas. As the son of a well-respected leader of the local community, Lawrence was educated at Baylor University in Independence, Texas, then graduated from Wesleyan University in Alabama in 1859. While in Central Texas on vacations during his years at the university, Ross fought American Indians with the United States army and the Texas Rangers. Immediately upon his graduation from Wesleyan University, he came home and participated in the Battle of the Pease River as a Texas Ranger, where he recovered the long-lost Cynthia Ann Parker, who had been captured as a girl and raised as a Comanche woman. Right before the American Civil War, he resigned from active Ranger service and married Waco girl Elizabeth Dorothy Tinsley in 1861 May 28. Many of the biographical manuscripts in this collection about Lawrence Ross and his father go into great detail on Lawrence's life up to this point.

Ross' Civil War service began as an Indian agent for the State of Texas, but he looked for work elsewhere when the Confederate government sent Albert Pike and Benjamin McCulloch as their agents to the various western Indian tribes. Lawrence enlisted as a private in a cavalry company raised in Waco and commanded by his older brother Peter F. Ross. This company was merged into the 6th Texas Cavalry, and Ross served with them in Indian Territory, Arkansas, Tennessee, and Mississippi, during the Pea Ridge, Corinth, and Van Dorn's Tennessee Campaigns. Lawrence was promoted quickly, reaching colonel by 1862. In December 1863 Ross became a Brigadier General at the age of 25, and commanded a cavalry brigade in the Army of Tennessee for the rest of the war, which included the Atlanta and Hood's 1864 Tennessee Campaigns. Ross was on leave in Texas when his brigade surrendered in 1865 May 4, possibly trying to recruit more men for his depleted brigade. A major part of this collection is Lawrence's letters to his wife Elizabeth back home during the Civil War. This correspondence is legible and understandable, with few misspellings. The letters describe Ross' service throughout the war. This correspondence has been transcribed, with the transcriptions available in book form at The Texas Collection.

After the war, Ross returned to Waco and rebuilt his life. In 1873 he was elected sheriff of McLennan County, and he helped write the Texas Reconstruction Constitution of 1876 as a delegate from Central Texas. He was elected state senator in 1880 and served one term. Despite his inexperience in politics, he was well-educated and respected across Texas, and won two terms as governor in 1887 and 1889. His administrations were unmarked by major events, allowing Ross to push for modest initiatives, including regulation of railroads, better sale and lease of public lands, establishment of elementary educational opportunities for young Texans, and the defeat of a state prohibition amendment. He left the governor's office in 1891.

Ross did not slow down after leaving the governor's office; he immediately accepted the presidency of the troubled Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (present Texas A&M University). Rebuilding the university became his life, and he restored trust in the school, built many new buildings, and multiplied attendance. He turned away an appointment to the powerful Railroad Commission to stay with A&M, but accepted a position as commander of the Texas Division, United Confederate Veterans reunion organization. One of the most effective of Texas A&M presidents, Lawrence Ross died still as A&M president in 1898 January 3, having only been president seven years. He left behind a legacy as one of Texas' most famous heroes in a generation, having impacted military, political, and educational life in Texas for over fifty years as governor, Confederate general, and president of a major state university.