Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/884685
career by admitting our country into the great family of nations." 12 Still, what many Texans desired was not just recogni- tion by but annexation to the United States. Sam Houston believed it was essential if Texas were to survive. In a private letter to Andrew Jackson, Houston had written: "It is policy [here] to hold out the idea … that we are very able to sustain ourselves against any power…yet I am free to say to you that we cannot do it….My great desire is that our country Texas shall be annexed to the United States …. I look to you as the friend and patron of my youth and the benefactor of mankind to interpose on our behalf and save us." 13 With recognition achieved but annexation beyond reach, Wharton was eager to return home. Leaving Hunt in Washington to represent Texas, Wharton made his way to New Orleans, where he caught the Texas schooner Independence. As the vessel neared the Texas coast, it was intercepted by the Mexican fleet. A running battle ensued as the Independence made for the shore, but within sight of the Brazos River, as people on shore watched, the captain was forced to strike his colors and surrender. The Independence was seized and Wharton and the other passengers and crew were imprisoned in Matamoros, Mexico. That summer he managed to escape, disguised—according to some accounts—in Fig. 6. The east front of the Capitol, photographed by John Plumbe c. 1846 41 THE CAPITOL DOME