Both men were unusual as Unionists in Texas during the American Civil War.

[1] Morgan Calvin Hamilton was born in Madison County, Alabama near Huntsville.

He moved to Texas when it was still part of Mexico and worked there as a merchant.

One of the few Texan abolitionists, Hamilton fought for Union forces during the American Civil War.

During Reconstruction, he was elected by the Texas Legislature to the United States Senate as a Radical Republican.