Lawrence Sullivan Ross: Soldier, Statesman, and University President (1838–1898)

Lawrence Sullivan (Sul) Ross, soldier, statesman, and university president, second son and fourth child of Catherine (Fulkerson) and Shapley Prince Ross, was born at Bentonsport, Iowa Territory, on September 27, 1838. His parents had moved from Missouri to Iowa in 1834; the family immigrated to Texas in 1839 and settled initially in Milam County, where young Sul had his first encounter with hostile American Indians, then for a period at Austin, where the older children attended school, and finally in 1849 at Waco, where Shapley Ross, a slave owner, became a pioneer settler, entrepreneur, and landowner. Although his early ambition was to be a ranger like his father, he recognized the value of a formal education and enrolled at Baylor University in Independence, Texas, and then at the Wesleyan University in Florence, Alabama, where he obtained his A.B. degree in 1859. He apparently trained for no profession but desired instead a military career in state service. His opportunity came the summer of his junior year. While at home on vacation, Ross signed on with the United States Army as leader of a band of American Indian auxiliaries from the Brazos Indian Reservation, which was then located in Young County. During the ensuing campaign against Comanches in Indian Territory in September and October of 1858, Ross won the praise of regular army officers for his skill and courage, but nearly lost his life from a serious wound received in a battle at the Wichita Village near the site of present-day Rush Springs, Oklahoma. He recovered enough to return to college and graduated the next summer. About this same time, he became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.

Back in Texas, Ross joined the Texas Rangers and took part in the unsuccessful campaign of Middleton Tate Johnson against Comanches in the spring and summer of 1860, initially as a first lieutenant and later as captain of the Waco Company. Despite the general public contempt for the results of the Johnson expedition, Ross won the approval and trust of Governor Sam Houston, who empowered him to raise a company of his own for service in the area of Young and surrounding counties. In his policing of the frontier, Ross had the cooperation of regular troops. Local and statewide newspapers reported that Ross’s aggressive techniques in pursuing a Comanche raiding party in December 1860 resulted in an engagement at the Pease River, where one of those captured was Cynthia Ann Parker. Her recapture (even though she had no desire to reintegrate into Anglo society) featured prominently in the various stories about the Rangers’ raid and gained Ross much popularity in Texas. With the coming of the Civil War, Ross resigned from the rangers. He subsequently joined the Masonic order. He married Elizabeth Dorothy Tinsley, daughter of a Waco planter, on May 28, 1861. After serving as state peace commissioner, he enlisted in mid-1861 in the Confederate Army. He was a member of the Waco company raised by his older brother, Peter F. Ross, which was incorporated into the Sixth Texas Cavalry. First as major and then as colonel of his regiment, Ross took part in numerous western campaigns, including those of Pea Ridge, Corinth, and Van Dorn’s Tennessee. He was promoted to brigadier general in December 1863 and commanded the Texas Cavalry Brigade (see ROSS'S BRIGADE, C.S.A.), made up of his former regiment, the Third Texas Cavalry, the Ninth Texas Cavalry, and the Twenty-seventh Texas Cavalry or First Texas Legion, for the remainder of the war. Under his able leadership, his brigade saw action in the Atlanta and Franklin-Nashville campaigns, although Ross was in Texas on furlough when his men surrendered at Jackson, Mississippi, in May 1865.

The wartime period undermined Ross's health, and he spent the eight years of Reconstruction farming near Waco with his wife and growing family. Eventually nine children were born to the Rosses, although only six lived to maturity. In 1873 the citizens of McLennan County elected Ross sheriff based on his reputation as a Ranger and military man. In his two years in office, Ross helped form the Sheriffs’ Association of Texas. He urged bureaucratic reforms and helped write the document that governs Texas today, the Constitution of 1876, which aimed to reverse post-war Reconstruction. Service as a constitutional delegate gave him experience in public office and a reputation for honesty and ability. During the next four years, Ross’s colleagues began talking about their desire for him to hold public office. He became a compromise candidate for the Texas Senate from the Twenty-second District in the election of 1880. As senator, Ross made a record of achievement, but a reapportionment bill reduced his four-year term and he declined to run for reelection. Nevertheless, from the Senate it was an easy step to the governorship; by 1886 Ross's friends and supporters had helped him pursue state-level politics and campaigned for him. He won easily on his first attempt.

In his first term, he steered a moderate course as governor by addressing issues of escalating rates on the railroad and prohibition as local matters rather than advocating statewide solutions. During his second term, (he was reelected in 1888 and served until 1891), the new Capitol was financed by the sale of public lands. During this time, the state pursued industrial, agricultural, and commercial growth, but the Farmers’ Alliance complained that Ross’s “essentially conservative” approach to governance benefitted “railroads, corporations, large ranchers, and wealthy merchants” much more than ordinary farmers who were facing huge losses. Ross was quite popular with many voters, but worsening economic conditions gave way to new styles of Democratic governance and populist movements when James Stephen Hogg took office in 1891.

Ross's time in office was later considered one of good will and harmony within state legislation. When he left the statehouse, and after supporting the foundation of the scientific agriculture of the Texas Agricultural Experimental Station, he stepped into the presidency of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (now Texas A&M University), a position which was understood by his supporters as a well-regarded public service to the state of Texas. Under his presidency the number of students grew, many new buildings were built, and public faith in the institution returned. In 1893 he was elected commander of the Texas Division of the United Confederate Veterans, and two years later he turned down an appointment to the Railroad Commission that would have taken him away from A&M. It was a blow to the university when President Ross died suddenly at his home in College Station on January 3, 1898. He was buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Waco. Sul Ross State University in Alpine is named in his honor. He is an inductee in the Texas Ranger Hall of Fame.