During his campaigns for governor of Texas in 1857 and 1859, Sam Houston rallied support across the breadth of the state in a two-horse drawn buggy, wearing a coarse linen duster that reached from his neck to his ankles. In 1859, eyewitnesses recount watching him deliver speeches while shirtless on particularly warm summer days. The same year, the 66-year-old succeeded in winning the office of governor.

Image courtesy of Texas State Library and Archives Commission.