Background
ROSS, Lawrence Sullivan was born on September 27, 1838 in Benton’s Post, Iowa, United States, United States. Son of Captain Shapley P. and Catherine (Fulkerson) Ross.
educator General governor army officer
ROSS, Lawrence Sullivan was born on September 27, 1838 in Benton’s Post, Iowa, United States, United States. Son of Captain Shapley P. and Catherine (Fulkerson) Ross.
Graduate Wesleyan University, Florence, Alabama, 1859.
He graduated from Alabama’s Florence Wesleyan University with distinction in 1859. Ross was a Methodist and a Democrat. He had six children by his marriage to Elizabeth Tinsley in 1859.
He was an Indian fighter with Earl Van Dorn at the battle of Wichita, Kansas, in 1858, and in 1860, he was captain of a group of sixty rangers who protected the frontier from Commanche attacks. When the Civil War began, Ross enlisted in the Confederate Army as a private, was later a colonel of the 6th Texas Regiment, and participated in a total of 135 battles during the war. He helped to make allies for the Confederacy among some of the Indian tribes, fought under Ben McCulloch as a raider in the Texas Cavalry at the battle of Elkhom, Arkansas, in March 1862, and led a regiment in the heroic defense of Hatchie Bridge at the battle of Corinth, Mississippi, the following October.
During the Holly Springs raid in December 1862, he delayed Grant’s advance upon Richmond, and he was promoted to brigadier general on the field of battle of Yazoo City, although his promotion was not confirmed until December 21, 1863. Ross subsequently served under Generals Joseph E. Johnston and John B. Hood (g.v.) during the Atlanta campaign. He was said to be the eyes of Hood, whose army he saved from annihilation, because of his ability to scout the whereabouts of the enemy.
There is no record of his surrender. He returned to the Brazos River area of Texas when the war ended. He was penniless, but he later made a small fortune in planting.
In 1873, he was sheriff of McLennan County, Texas, and two years later, he was a delegate to the state constitutional convention. Ross also served in the Texas Senate from 1881 to 1885 and was governor from 1887 to 1891. He was president of Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College from 1891 until his death on January 3, 1898, at College Station, Texas.
"Peculiar institution" of slavery was not only expedient but also ordained by God and upheld in Holy Scripture.
Stands for preserving slavery, states' rights, and political liberty for whites. Every individual state is sovereign, even to the point of secession.
Member Texas Constitutional Convention of 1875. Member Texas Senate, 1881-1885.
Married Elizabeth Finsley, 1859, 6 children.