In the American Grain Chapter Summary & Analysis - Descent Summary

Descent Summary

The author begins with biographical information on how Samuel Houston ran away from his brothers, his guardians, when he was fifteen, to live with the Cherokee Indians in Tennessee. Three years later, Williams says, Houston returned to the settlements to finish school. He became Governor of Tennessee and later, in 1829, married a woman who left him three months later. The author notes that no one knows why, for both husband and wife "remained silent." Williams says, this is worth speculating on, given the brief duration of the marriage, the violence and permanence of the separation, the prominence of Houston, and the lack of all information forthcoming concerning the incident, all of which, he writes, "give it an arresting character." Therefore, Williams "surmises" that Houston accused his wife of an affair, or she accused him "of worse," or they shared irreconcilable differences, he being animalistic and she being overcome or...
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