Confederate Biography : Everett E. LOTT, Smith county, TX

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Submitted by Susie McFarland Lemin slemin46@yahoo.com
20 November 2001
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TEXANS WHO WORE THE GRAY by Sid S. Johnson, p. 167

Everett E. Lott, of Tyler, was born in Mississippi, Feb. 24, 1820.  
After receiving a good education he in 1840 removed to the Republic 
of Texas and settled in Harrison county.  Two years later he was 
elected to the congress of the young republic and served therin by 
re-election until Texas became a state in the American union.  When 
first elected he had but a few days before reached the constitutional 
age requied of members.  He entered the Texan congress at a stormy
and gloomy period of affairs, but the conditions only seemed to nerve 
him to greater efforts in his country's behalf and he at once took an 
active part in the deliberations of that assembly of bold, able men.  
In 1844, during the heated debates on the celebrated "Cherokke Land 
Bill, he attainded state-wide fame by his able advocacy of the measure 
and succeeded in passing it.  This permitted the opening up and 
settlement of a large territory that had been reserved for the Indians, 
of which what is now Smith county was the very center of the most fertile 
part.  In 1845 he removed to this Indian reservation; was on the 
commission that in 1846 laid out the county lines and that also located 
the city of Tyler.  He warmly championed the annexation resolutions, 
and later when the members of the state legislature were chosen he was 
called to a seat in the House, but was soon promoted to the Senate and 
served therein continuously until he resigned in 1861 to accept the post 
of lieutenat-colonel of the 22nd Texas Infantry.  It is said that had he
continued in his civil office of legisture he could have been chosen in 
the summer of 1861 the governor of Texas.  But he refused to permit his 
friends throughout the state to bring his name forward for governor, 
saying his place now was with the army in the field, and accordingly he 
donned the uniform of gray and marched off to fight for his country's 
cause.  Col. Lott was not a lawyer.  He was a planter, and gloried in 
this "most repectable of all the professions, sir!"  And he was an
orator, and electrified the early pioneers by his eloquence and logic.  
He was magnetic and forceful and along with Chilton, Hubbard, Herndon, 
Gary, Douglas, Bonner and Selman, he helped to make Smith county a 
dominationg force in Texan affairs.  It was men like these that secured 
the location of the supreme court in Tyler, and later the court of 
criminal appeals, and whose efforts in educational affairs were always 
made for the upbuilding of the "Athens of Texas."  Col. Lott was 
married twice:  first, to Miss Mary E. Lott, who died in 1852; and 
second to Miss Anna Cook.  He had five children-William M., Mary E., 
Arthur L., Elisha E., and John A. Lott.  The latter has for the past 
twelve years been the efficient county clerk of Smith county.  Col. 
Lott died Jan. 17, 1864, and his remains were interred with Masonic 
honors.