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 1864, 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/fro81.
From the guide to the Ross, Lawrence Sullivan, Letters, 1846-1894, (Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin)
