Tuesday will mark the 150th anniversary of Texas seceding from the Union. Governor Sam Houston,who was married to Margaret Lea of Marion & was a cousin of John McKee,Tuscaloosa's first U.S. Representative, refused to swear allegiance to the Confederacy and had to vacate the governor's office. In his last public speech, Houston prophesied disaster,"The die has been cast by your secession leaders, whom you have permitted to sow & broadcast the seeds of secession, and you must ere long reap the fearful harvest of conspiracy and revolution." http://bobcivilwarhistory.blogspot.com/2009/05/reap-fearful-harvest-sam-houston-and.html