Houston, << HYOO stuhn, >> Sam (1793-1863), played a leading part in Texas’s fight for independence from Mexico. He later served as president of the Republic of Texas and, after Texas joined the Union, as United States senator and governor of the state.
Samuel Houston was born on March 2, 1793, in Virginia. His family moved to Tennessee when he was 13. They lived in a frontier settlement, and Houston worked as a clerk in a store. When Houston was about 15, he ran away from home. He lived with the Cherokee Indians in Tennessee and was adopted into the tribe.
After nearly three years with the Indians, Houston returned to the white settlements and opened a country school. He enlisted in Andrew Jackson’s army in the war against the Creek Indians, and he was wounded in battle.
Houston resigned from the U.S. Army in 1818. He then studied law and began to practice in Lebanon, Tennessee. Shortly after beginning his law practice, Houston was elected district attorney for the Nashville district. In 1823, he was elected to Congress. He was well liked there, though he made few speeches. Four years later, Houston became governor of Tennessee.
In 1829, Houston’s wife left him, and he resigned as governor. He moved to Arkansas, where he lived with Cherokee Indians, and later to Nacogdoches, Texas. Texas was then a part of Mexico. But in 1836, the Americans who had settled in Texas sought separation from Mexico. Houston became one of their leaders. In 1836, he organized a Texas army and became its commander in chief. Houston led his troops in battles against forces of the Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna. Houston won his greatest victory in the Battle of San Jacinto in April 1836. He captured Santa Anna, and the Mexican commander recognized the independence of Texas. In September, Houston was elected the first president of the new Republic of Texas. He took office in late October. He served as president until 1838 and served again from 1841 to 1844.
Houston worked to have Texas admitted to the United States. He succeeded in 1845, and from 1846 to 1859 he served as United States senator from Texas. He disagreed with the other Southern statesmen in the disputes leading to the American Civil War (1861-1865). Houston firmly opposed a break in the Union. In 1859, he ran for governor of Texas on an antisecession platform and won. But in 1861, Texas voted to secede. Houston refused to take Texas out of the Union, and Confederates removed him from the governorship. Houston then retired to private life. He died in Huntsville, Texas, on July 26, 1863. A statue of Houston represents Texas in Statuary Hall in Washington, D.C. The city of Houston is named in his honor. A fort in San Antonio also bears his name.
