I have to correct myself. At least one historian contends Lincoln offered to send Sam Houston 50,000 Union troops to invade Texas. That might be considered by some to be an Act of War. It would not have been popular in Texas anyway.

On the day that Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated as the 16th President of the United States in 1861, the state of Texas seceded from the Union. It was March 4th.

Abraham Lincoln then made Sam Houston an offer-he would make him a major general and commander of all the United States troops in Texas. Lincoln promised Houston fifty thousand troops to try and save the state for the Union. Houston considered the matter over. He felt he was too old for such a task. Lamenting that he wished he were ten years younger, he burned Lincoln’s letter in the fire with great sadness (bull crap). Abraham Lincoln would have to deal with the conflict without the aid of Houston.