Sam Houston
Samuel Houston was an American general and statesman who played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two individuals to represent Texas in the United States Senate. He also served as the sixth governor of Tennessee and the seventh governor of Texas. Houston is the only individual to be elected governor of two different US states.
Born in Rockbridge County, Virginia, Houston and his family relocated to Maryville, Tennessee, while he was a teenager. Houston later ran away from home, spending about three years living with the Cherokee, becoming known as "Raven". He served under General Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812; afterwards, he was appointed as a sub-agent to oversee the removal of the Cherokee from Tennessee into Arkansas Territory in 1818. With the support of Jackson, among others, Houston won election to the United States House of Representatives in 1823. He strongly supported Jackson's presidential candidacies and, in 1827, Houston was elected as the governor of Tennessee. In 1829, after divorcing his first wife, Houston resigned from office, and moved to the Arkansas Territory to live with the Cherokee once more.
Houston settled in Texas in 1832. After the Battle of Gonzales, he helped organize Texas's provisional government and was selected as the top-ranking official in the Texian Army. He led the Texian Army to victory at the Battle of San Jacinto, the decisive battle in Texas's war for independence against Mexico. After the war, Houston won the 1836 Texan presidential election. He left office due to term limits in 1838, but won another term in the 1841 Texas presidential election. Houston played a key role in the annexation of Texas by the United States in 1845 and, in 1846, was elected to represent Texas in the United States Senate. He joined the Democratic Party and supported President James K. Polk's prosecution of the Mexican–American War.
His Senate record was marked by his unionism and opposition to radicals from both the North and South. He voted for the Compromise of 1850, which settled many of the residual territorial issues from the Mexican–American War and the annexation of Texas. Houston owned slaves throughout his life. He voted against the Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854, as he believed it would lead to increased sectional tensions over slavery, and his opposition to that act led him to later leave the Democratic Party. He was an unsuccessful candidate for the presidential nomination of the American Party in the 1856 presidential election, as well as for the Constitutional Union Party in the 1860 presidential election. In 1859, Houston won the election for governor of Texas. In this role, he opposed secession, and unsuccessfully sought to keep Texas out of the Confederate States of America. He was forced out of office in 1861, and died two years later in 1863. Houston's name has been honored in numerous ways, and he is the eponym of the city of Houston, the fourth-most-populous city in the United States.
Early life
Samuel Houston was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia on March 2, 1793, to Samuel Houston and Elizabeth Paxton. Both of Houston's parents were descended from Scottish and Irish colonists who had settled in Colonial America in the 1730s, including his great-grandfather John Houston. Houston's father was descended from Ulster Scots people and the Houston baronets, the founders of Clan Houston in Scotland. Samuel inherited the Timber Ridge plantation and mansion in Rockbridge County, Virginia, which was worked by enslaved African Americans. During the American Revolutionary War, Captain Houston served in Morgan's Rifle Brigade as a paymaster. He served in the Virginian militia, which required him to pay his own expenses and to be away from his family for long periods of time. Thus, the plantation and his family's finances suffered.He had five brothers and three sisters: Paxton, Robert, James, John, William, Isabella, Mary, and Eliza.
His father, Samuel Sr., planned to sell Timber Ridge and move west to Tennessee, where land was less expensive, but he died in 1806. Elizabeth, his mother, followed through on those plans, settling the family near Maryville, Tennessee, the seat of Blount County. At that time, Tennessee was on the American frontier, and even larger towns like Nashville were vigilant against Native American raids. He had dozens of cousins who lived in the surrounding area of east-central Tennessee. When they arrived, Elizabeth cleared the land, built a house, and planted crops. Her oldest children, Paxton, Isabella, and Robert died within a few years after they arrived in Tennessee. Elizabeth relied on James and John to run the store in Maryville, to operate the farm, and to watch over the younger children.
Houston had a carefree disposition, however, and liked to escape to explore the frontier. He was at odds with the concepts of hell and damnation preached by his mother's religion, Presbyterianism, and he was not interested in schooling. However, he did take an interest in his father's library, reading works by classical authors like Virgil, as well as more contemporary works by authors such as Jedidiah Morse.
After his father's passing in 1807 and his lack of interest in farming and working in the family store, at the age of 16, he ran away from his family and his home to live with a Cherokee tribe, led by Chief John Jolly on Hiwassee Island. During the time that Sam Houston spent with the Cherrokee Indians, he was taught their language, skills, and customs. This helped Houston develop a special relationship with the Indians, thus gaining their trust. Houston formed a close relationship with Jolly and learned the Cherokee language, becoming known as 'Raven.' According to James L. Haley, he appreciated the "free and unsophisticated spiritual expression of the Native Americans." He left the tribe to return to Maryville in 1812, and he was hired at age 19 for a term as the schoolmaster of a one-room schoolhouse. He attended Porter Academy, where he was taught by Rev. Isaac L. Anderson, founder of Maryville College. It's thought that he attended Maryville College, but that hasn't been confirmed.
According to biographer John Hoyt Williams, Houston was not close with his siblings or his parents, and he rarely spoke of them in his later life. Haley states that he was interested in his younger brother's and his sisters' welfare when he lived on Hiwassee Island. He felt used by the rest of the family.
Houston had a few women that were prominent in his life. The first being Eliza Allen. The second woman in his life was a Cherokee woman named Tiana Rodgers. The final woman that is believed to be in his life was his final wife Margaret Moffette Lea. Margaret was the mother of all of his descendants. The age difference between Margaret and Sam Houston was 26 years. Houston was 46 and Maragaret was 20.
War of 1812 and aftermath
On March 24, 1813, Houston enlisted in the army at the young age of 20 in the War of 1812 against Britain and Britain's Native American allies. He quickly impressed the commander of the 39th Infantry Regiment, Thomas Hart Benton, and by the end of 1813, Houston had risen to the rank of third lieutenant. In early 1814, the 39th Infantry Regiment became a part of the force commanded by General Andrew Jackson, who was charged with putting an end to raids by a faction of the Muscogee tribe in the Old Southwest. Houston was wounded badly in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, the decisive battle in the Creek War. Although army doctors expected him to die of his wounds, Houston survived and convalesced in Maryville and other locations. While many other officers lost their positions after the end of the War of 1812 due to military cutbacks, Houston retained his commission with the help of Congressman John Rhea. During that time he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant.Sometime in early 1817, Sam Houston was assigned to a clerical position in Nashville, serving under the adjutant general for the army's Southern Division. Later in the year, Jackson appointed Houston as a sub-agent to handle the removal of Cherokee from East Tennessee. In February 1818, he received a strong reprimand from the Secretary of War John C. Calhoun after he wore Native American dress to a meeting between Calhoun and Cherokee leaders, beginning an enmity that lasted until Calhoun died in 1850. Angry over the incident with Calhoun and an investigation into his activities, Houston resigned from the army in 1818. He continued to act as a government liaison with the Cherokee, and in 1818, he helped some of the Cherokee resettle in Arkansas Territory.
Early political career
After leaving government service, Houston began an apprenticeship with Judge James Trimble in Nashville. He quickly won admission to the state bar and opened a legal practice in Lebanon, Tennessee. With the aid of Governor Joseph McMinn, Houston won election as the district attorney for Nashville in 1819. He was also appointed as a major general of the Tennessee militia. Like his mentors, Houston was a member of the Democratic-Republican Party, which dominated state and national politics in the decade following the War of 1812. Tennessee gained three seats in the United States House of Representatives after the 1820 United States census, and, with the support of Jackson and McMinn, Houston ran unopposed in the 1823 election for Tennessee's 9th congressional district. In his first major speech in Congress, Houston advocated for the recognition of Greece, which was fighting a war of independence against the Ottoman Empire.Houston strongly supported Jackson's candidacy in the 1824 presidential election, which saw four major candidates, all from the Democratic-Republican Party, run for president. As no candidate won a majority of the vote, the House of Representatives held a contingent election, which was won by John Quincy Adams. Supporters of Jackson eventually coalesced into the Democratic Party, and those who favored Adams became known as National Republicans. With Jackson's backing, Houston won election as governor of Tennessee in 1827. Governor Houston advocated the construction of internal improvements such as canals, and sought to lower the price of land for homesteaders living in the public domain. He also aided Jackson's successful campaign in the 1828 presidential election.
In September 22, 1826, he severely wounded General William A. White in a pistol duel near Franklin, Kentucky, over the patronage political appointment of Nashville's Postmaster.
In January 1829, Houston married Eliza Allen, the daughter of wealthy plantation owner John Allen of Gallatin, Tennessee. The marriage quickly fell apart, possibly because Eliza loved another man. In April 1829, following the collapse of his marriage, Houston resigned as governor of Tennessee. Shortly after leaving office, he traveled to Arkansas Territory to rejoin the Cherokee.