stephen hardin. dr. hardin is a professor of history at mcmurray university in abilene. he's the author of "the texas rangers," the award-winning "texian iliad," "the military history of the texas revolution." "the alamo 1836: santa ana's texas campaign." and "texian macabrar:p the melancholy tale of a hanging in early houston." additionally he's the editor of the book "lone star: the republic of texas 1836 to 1846." and is the author of more than a dozen scholarly articles enjoyed by readers on both sides of the atlantic. recently "texan iliad" earned the distinction of being a basic texas book by mike cox, who updates that list now. when not teaching in the classroom dr. hardin can be seen on a&e network, the history channel, nbc's "today" show. he's known for his readable style of history. he's an inductee of the texas institute of letters, an admiral in the texas navy, a member of the western writers of america, a fellow of the texas state historical association, and was a historical adviser for the 2004 john lee hancock film "the alamo." the chronicles of higher edu

stephen hardin. >> thank you, bobby. when governor perry was kind enough to name me an admiral in the texas navy, i informed my wife, debra, that henceforth i expected her to call me admiral. i won't tell you what she called me. but it wasn't admiral. there we go. when sam houston first booted his horse across the red river on december 2nd, 1832, he had but one object in mind, and that was to west texas from the mexican republic and append it to the united states. notwithstanding pledges of allegiance to mexico, houston remained an american expansionist, a protege of andrew jackson, and a political operative. while many will find this a remarkably bold assertion, there is abundant documentary evidence to support it. and once one comprehends that houston's predominant aspiration was to add texas to the federal union, such knowledge does much to decode his behavior during the san jacinto campaign four years later. okay. let's look at the evidence. this is a letter, an 1832 letter, from john wharton. and he is writing houst