Sam Houston
1856 photo by Frederick of New York City
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Born in Virginia on 02 March 1793, Houston moved with his family in 1807 to Tennessee, where he lived with the Cherokee for most of three years. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1813 and fought under General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend where, in a remarkable show of bravery, he received a wound that never completely healed. He studied and practiced law in Tennessee, was elected to Congress from that state, and helped build the party that supported Jackson for President. In 1827, Houston became governor of Tennessee but—thanks in part to a failed marriage—resigned two years later and traveled west, where he rejoined the Cherokee, ran a trading post, and took an Indian wife. He also drank to excess during this period. Houston made his first trip to Texas in 1832 at the behest of President Jackson—but also as a representative of his Indian tribe. In 1835 he established himself in Nacogdoches just as the so-called Texians began their revolt against the Mexican dictatorship. He became a delegate to the Convention of 1836, signed the Declaration of Independence on 02 March (his 43rd birthday), and was made commander-in-chief of the Texas Army. After learning of the massacres at the Alamo and Goliad, Houston retreated to the east until 21 April, when he ordered a surprise attack on the plains of the San Jacinto River. His men wiped out the Mexican Army with almost no losses themselves, winning independence for Texas. During the battle, Houston was shot through the ankle—his second serious, lasting wound. A photograph of Sam Houston in later years shows a rugged, white-haired man in ostentatious frontier garb, holding a wide-brimmed hat and a walking stick. In the intervening years he had served twice as President of the Republic of Texas and—along with Thomas J. Rusk—was elected one of the state's first U.S. senators. In 1859, after 14 years in the Senate, Houston became governor of Texas. But he stubbornly opposed secession from the Union, a move he predicted would end in war and defeat; and when he refused to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy after the people of his state had voted to secede, he was removed from office. He retired to his farm in Huntsville. Houston married Margaret Moffette Lea in 1840. She cured him of drink, and they had eight children. Houston died on 26 July 1863. His wife and children all survived him. For more information about Sam Houston or any famous Texan, consult The Handbook of Texas Online, sponsored by The Texas State Historical Association.
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