Sam Houston

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PBS - THE WEST - Sam Houston Sam Houston (1793-1863) A sometimes volatile and often contradictory man, Sam Houston played a crucial role in the founding of Texas. Houston was born into a military family in Virginia in 1793. His father, an army major who had served in the Revolutionary War, died when Sam was fourteen. His mother took their family to eastern Tennessee, where Houston spent much of his later childhood in the company of Cherokee Indians, coming to know their language and customs well. His involvement in the War of 1812 launched Houston's political career. He served under Andrew Jackson in the campaign against the Creek Indians, allies of the British.

After the war, Jackson was instrumental in securing Houston a position as an Indian agent to the Cherokee. Houston also began to study law and was soon elected the district attorney in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1823, he was elected to Congress, and reelected in 1825. In 1827 he won the governorship. Two years later, in the midst of his re-election campaign, Houston and his new wife, Eliza Allen, separated.

Rumors of infidelity and alcoholism swirled around him, and in April 1829 he moved to Indian lands in Arkansas. This portion of Houston's life is poorly documented, but it appears that for a time he had a Cherokee wife, Tiana Rogers, ran a trading post, and drank so heavily that he was widely known to the Cherokee as 'big drunk.'

Nonetheless, he made yearly trips to Washington, D.C., for business relating to Indian affairs. By 1833 Houston was living in Texas for at least part of the year, and seems to have established a permanent residence in Nacogdoches, near the Louisiana border, by 1835. With the outbreak of the Texas Revolution, Houston was quickly elevated to the command of the ragtag Texas Army. Keenly aware that he was heavily outnumbered, he kept up a retreat from the Mexican army for over a month, despite the condemnation of his supposed comrades and allegations of drunkenness. Finally, when the Mexican general split his forces in April, Houston ordered the attack at that gained Texas its independence.

The newly independent Lone Star Republic made Houston its first President in 1836, and he filled the office again in 1841, after an interim term by Mirabeau B. As President, he secured United States recognition of Texas and stabilized the republic's finances. When Texas gained statehood in 1846, Houston continued his political career as a United States Senator, serving from from 1846 to 1860. In Washington, his apparent fondness for alcohol, women and brawling again provoked sharp controversy and added new chapters to his legend. In politics, he was an enthusiastic supporter of the Mexican-American War, although disappointed that it did not end in the annexation of Mexico. A slaveholder himself and an outspoken opponent of abolition, he nonetheless voted consistently against the expansion of slavery into new territories and was a vehement opponent of secession. These views made Houston unpopular with the Texas legislature, but in 1859, as he was about to leave the Senate, he was once more elected governor and he used the office to continue his campaign against secession.

In 1861, when Texas voted to separate from the Union, Houston still held out, arguing that Texas apart from the United States was an independent republic. As chief executive of the republic, he refused to swear allegiance to the Confederacy, and as a result he was removed from office. Houston died on his farm in Huntsville, Texas, in 1863. © 2001 THE WEST FILM PROJECT and.

Samuel Houston (1793–1863). Courtesy of the, Central University Libraries, Southern Methodist University. Image available on the Internet and included in accordance with. HOUSTON, SAMUEL (1793–1863).

Sam Houston, one of the most illustrious political figures of Texas, was born on March 2, 1793, the fifth child (and fifth son) of Samuel and Elizabeth (Paxton) Houston, on their plantation in sight of Timber Ridge Church, Rockbridge County, Virginia. He was of Scots-Irish ancestry and reared Presbyterian. He acquired rudimentary education during his boyhood by attending a local school for no more than six months. When he was thirteen years old, his father died; some months later, in the spring of 1807, he emigrated with his mother, five brothers, and three sisters to Blount County in Eastern Tennessee, where the family established a farm near Maryville on a tributary of Baker's Creek. Houston went to a nearby academy for a time and reportedly fed his fertile imagination by reading classical literature, especially the Iliad. Samuel Houston, head-and-shoulders portrait in oval medallion, facing right, in Cherokee dress.

Courtesy of the. Image available on the Internet and included in accordance with. Rebelling at his older brothers' attempts to make him work on the farm and in the family's store in Maryville, Houston ran away from home as an adolescent in 1809 to dwell among the Cherokees, who lived across the Tennessee River.

Between intermittent visits to Maryville, he sojourned for three years with the band of Chief Oolooteka, who adopted him and gave him the Indian name Colonneh, or 'the Raven.' Houston viewed Oolooteka as his 'Indian Father' and the Cherokees much as a surrogate family.

He henceforth maintained great sympathy toward Indians. At age eighteen he left the Cherokees to set up a school, so that he could earn money to repay debts.

Sam Houston wounded by an arrow in the upper thigh during the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, and ordered a comrade at swordpoint to pull the arrow out. Courtesy of the. Image available on the Internet and included in accordance with. After war broke out with the British, he joined the United States Army as a twenty-year-old private, on March 24, 1813.

Within four months he received a promotion to ensign of the infantry; in late December he was given a commission as a third lieutenant. As part of Andrew Jackson's army, he fought at the battle of Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River on March 26, 1814.

During the engagement he received three near-fatal wounds. One of them, from a rifle ball in his right shoulder, never completely healed. For his valor at Horseshoe Bend, Houston won the attention of General Jackson, who thereafter became his benefactor.

Houston, in return, revered Jackson and became a staunch Jacksonian Democrat. This 1829 legal document grants Sam Houston permission to live with the Cherokees, with all the rights and responsibilities of a native-born member of the tribe. Courtesy of the. Image available on the Internet and included in accordance with. While convalescing, he was promoted to second lieutenant and traveled extensively—to Washington, New Orleans, New York, and points between. While stationed in Nashville, he was detailed in late 1817 as sub-Indian agent to the Cherokees.

In that capacity, he assisted Oolooteka and his clan in their removal to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River, as stipulated by the Treaty of 1816. Houston, by then first lieutenant, resigned from the army on March 1, 1818, and shortly thereafter from his position as subagent, following difficulties with Secretary of War John C. Still in poor health, Houston read law in Nashville for six months during 1818 in the office of Judge James Trimble. He subsequently opened a law practice in Lebanon, Tennessee. With Jackson's endorsement, he became adjutant general (with the rank of colonel) of the state militia through appointment by Governor Joseph McMinn. In late 1818, Houston was elected attorney general (prosecuting attorney) of the District of Nashville, where he took up residence.

After returning to private practice in Nashville by late 1821, he was elected major general of the state militia by his fellow officers. He was likewise prominent in the Nash Masonic order by the early 1820s. Mirc Download Connection Failed. William Stanbery, (circa 1873) member of United States House of Representatives from Ohio. Courtesy of Cecily McNeil.

Image available on the and included in accordance with. On the evening of April 13, 1832, on the streets of Washington, Houston thrashed William Stanbery, United States representative from Ohio, with a hickory cane. The assault resulted from a perceived insult by Stanbery over an Indian rations contract. Houston was soon arrested and tried before the House of Representatives. Francis Scott Key served as his attorney. The month-long proceedings ended in an official reprimand and a fine, but the affair catapulted Houston back into the political arena.

Leaving Diana and his life among the Indians, Houston crossed the Red River into on December 2, 1832, and began another, perhaps the most important, phase of his career. His 'true motives' for entering Texas have been the source of much speculation. Whether he did so simply as a land speculator, as an agent provocateur for American expansion intent on wresting Texas from Mexico, or as someone scheming to establish an independent nation, Houston saw Texas as his 'land of promise.' For him, it represented a place for bold enterprise, rife with political and financial opportunity. He quickly became embroiled in the Anglo-Texans' politics of rebellion. He served as a delegate from Nacogdoches at the in San Felipe, where he sided with the more radical faction under the leadership of.

He also pursued a law practice in Nacogdoches and filed for a divorce from Eliza, which was finally granted in 1837. As prescribed by Mexican law, he was baptized into the, under the name Samuel Pablo. In September 1835 he chaired a mass meeting in Nacogdoches to consider the possibility of convening a consultation. By October, Houston had expressed his belief that war between Texas and the central government was inevitable. That month he became commander in chief of troops for the Department of Nacogdoches and called for volunteers to begin the 'work of liberty.'

He served as a delegate from Nacogdoches to the of 1835, which deliberated in Columbia in October and at San Felipe in November. On November 12 the Consultation appointed Houston major general of the Texas army. After joining his army in Gonzales, Houston and his troops retreated eastward as the Mexican army under Gen. Swept across Texas. This campaign caused Houston much anguish because the Texan rebels suffered from a general lack of discipline. He likewise fretted when the citizenry fled in the so-called.

Despite these problems, Houston and his men defeated Santa Anna's forces at the decisive on the afternoon of April 21, 1836. During this engagement, his horse, Saracen, was shot beneath him, and Houston was wounded severely just above his ankle.

The capture of Santa Anna the next day made the victory complete. Pianoteq Crack there. At San Jacinto, Sam Houston became forever enshrined as a member of the pantheon of Texas heroes and a symbol for the age. Photograph of a reproduction of a map created by Gail Borden, who was commissioned by the Allen brothers to produce a map of the city. Courtesy of the. Image available on the and included in accordance with. Riding the wave of popularity as 'Old Sam Jacinto,' Houston became the first regularly elected president of the, defeating.

During his two presidential terms he successfully guided the new ship of state through many trials and tribulations. His first term lasted from October 22, 1836, to December 10, 1838.

The town of Houston was founded in 1836, named in his honor, and served as the capital of the republic during most of his first administration. During this term Houston sought to demilitarize Texas by cannily furloughing much of the army. He also tried, with limited success, to avoid trouble between white settlers and Indians. One of his biggest crises came with the, an unsuccessful revolt in 1838 by a group of Kickapoo Indians and Mexican residents along the Angelina River. In late 1836, Houston sent Santa Anna, then a prisoner of war, to Washington to seek the of Texas to the United States.

Although Houston favored annexation, his initial efforts to bring Texas into the Union proved futile, and he formally withdrew the offer by the end of his first term. Image available on the and included in accordance with. Houston succeeded Lamar to a second term as president from December 12, 1841, to December 9, 1844. During this administration, Houston stressed financial austerity and drastically reduced government offices and salaries. He and the Congress even tried to sell the four-ship, an effort forcibly prevented by the people of Galveston. Houston reestablished peace with the Indians by making treaties with the bands that still remained in Texas. Although many Texans clamored for action, President Houston deftly managed to avoid war with Mexico after the two.

After the first incursion Houston directed that the government archives be moved from Austin, an order that ultimately resulted in the ',' in which residents of Austin forcibly prevented removal of the files. After the second invasion Houston authorized a force under Gen. To pursue the enemy to the Rio Grande and, if conditions warranted, to attack Mexico. Part of Somervell's legion became the disastrous, an escapade that Houston opposed. In 1843 Houston approved of the abortive, which sought to interdict trade along the. In 1844 Houston found it necessary to send the militia to quell the in Shelby County, an East Texas feud that presented one of the most vexing problems of his second administration.

Houston was succeeded to the presidency by, whom the electorate viewed as a 'Houston man.' Sam Houston's name had become synonymous with Texas. Indeed, Texas politics during the republic had been characterized by a struggle between Houston and anti-Houston factions. When Texas joined the union, Houston became one of its two United States senators, along with ( see ). Houston served in the Senate from February 21, 1846, until March 4, 1859. Beginning with the 1848 election, he was mentioned as a possible candidate for president.

He even had a biography published in 1846 by Charles Edwards Lester entitled Sam Houston and His Republic, which amounted to campaign publicity. As senator, Houston emerged as an ardent Unionist, true to his association with Andrew Jackson, a stand that made him an increasingly controversial figure.

He stridently opposed the rising sectionalism of the antebellum period and delivered eloquent speeches on the issue. A supporter of the 1820 Missouri Compromise, which banned north of latitude 36°30', Houston voted in 1848 for the Oregon Bill prohibiting the 'peculiar institution' in that territory, a vote proslavery Southerners later held against him. Although he was a slaveowner who defended slavery in the South, Houston again clashed with his old nemesis who led the proslavery forces when he opposed John C. Calhoun's Southern Address in 1849. Full Plate Daguerreotype of Samuel Houston (1851) by the Meade Brothers. Courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston. Image available on the and included in accordance with.

Houston always characterized himself as a Southern man for the Union and opposed any threats of disunity, whether from Northern or Southern agitators. He incurred the permanent wrath of proslavery elements by supporting the, a series of measures designed to ensure sectional harmony. In 1854, Houston alienated Democrats in Texas and the South even further by opposing the Kansas-Nebraska Bill because it allowed the status of slavery to be determined by popular sovereignty, a concept he saw as potentially destabilizing to the nation. He likewise embraced the principles of the as a response to growing states'-rights sentiment among the Democrats. In 1854, he joined the, no doubt in partial response to the troubles of this period of his life. His career in the Senate was effectively ended when, in 1855, the Texas legislature officially condemned his position on the Kansas-Nebraska Act. As a lame-duck senator, Houston ran for governor of Texas in 1857.

He was defeated in a rigorous campaign by the state 's official nominee,. Predictably, the state legislature did not reelect Houston to the Senate; instead, in late 1857, it replaced him with.

The replacement took place at the end of Houston's term, in 1859. So concerned was Houston about sectional strife that during his final year in the Senate he advocated establishing a protectorate over Mexico and Central America as a way to bring unity to the United States. Sam Houston as governor, age 66. A passionate Unionist like his mentor Andrew Jackson, Houston wore a leopard skin waistcoat to symbolize that he would not change his spots. Courtesy of the. Image available on the Internet and included in accordance with. Out of the Senate, Houston ran a second time for governor in 1859.

Because of his name recognition, a temporary lull in the sectional conflict, and other factors, he defeated the incumbent, Runnels, in the August election and assumed office on December 21. As governor he continued to pursue his fanciful plans for a protectorate over Mexico, and envisioned the use of and volunteers to accomplish that end. He likewise tried to enlist the aid of,, and some New York financiers for his scheme. Because of his staunch Unionism, Houston was nearly nominated for the presidency in May 1860 by the National Union party convention in Baltimore, but narrowly lost to John Bell. His possible candidacy received favorable mention by people in many regions of the nation who longed to prevent sectional strife. Texas Ordinance of Secession (1861).

Courtesy of the. Image available on the Internet and included in accordance with. When Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States, the clamor of discontent in Texas prompted Houston to call a special session of the state legislature. Adamantly opposed to, Houston warned Texans that civil war would result in a Northern victory and destruction of the South, a prophecy that was borne out by future events. The, however, convened a week later and began a series of actions that withdrew Texas from the Union; Houston acquiesced to these events rather than bring civil strife and bloodshed to his beloved state. But when he refused to take the oath of loyalty to the newly formed Confederate States of America, the Texas convention removed him from office on March 16 and replaced him with Lieutenant Governor two days later.

Reportedly, during these traumatic days President Lincoln twice offered Houston the use of federal troops to keep him in office and Texas in the Union, offers that Houston declined, again to avoid making Texas a scene of violence. Instead, the Raven—now sixty-eight years of age, weary, with a family of small children, and recognizing the inevitable-again chose exile. Photograph of Sam Houston's grave at Oakwood Cemetery in Huntsville, by J.

Image available on the and included in accordance with. After leaving the, Houston at least verbally supported the Southern cause.

Against his father's advice, Sam, Jr., eagerly joined the Confederate Army and was wounded at the battle of Shiloh. Houston moved his wife and other children in the fall of 1862 to Huntsville, where they rented a two-story residence known as the, so called because it resembled a riverboat. Rumors abounded that Houston, though ailing and aged, harbored plans to run again for governor. But on July 26, 1863, after being ill for several weeks, he died in the downstairs bedroom of the Steamboat House, succumbing to pneumonia at age seventy.

Dressed in Masonic ceremonial trappings, he was buried in Oakwood Cemetery at Huntsville. See also, and. BIBLIOGRAPHY: Donald Braider, Solitary Star: A Biography of Sam Houston (New York: Putnam, 1974). Campbell, Sam Houston and the American Southwest (New York: HarperCollins, 1993). Marshall De Bruhl, Sword of San Jacinto: A Life of Sam Houston (New York: Random House, 1993). Friend, Sam Houston: The Great Designer (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1969). Jack Gregory and Rennard Strickland, Sam Houston with the Cherokees, 1829–1833 (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1976).

Clifford Hopewell, Sam Houston: Man of Destiny (Austin: Eakin Press, 1987). Lenoir Hunt, 'My Master:' The Inside Story of Sam Houston and His Time, by Jeff Hamilton as told to Lenoir Hunt (Dallas: Manfred Van Nort, 1940). Marquis James, The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1929; rpts., New York: Paperback Library, 1967, Atlanta: Mockingbird Books, 1977). Edwards Lester, Sam Houston and His Republic (New York: Burgess, Stringer, 1846; rpt., New York: Books for Libraries Press, 1972).

Madge Thornall Roberts, Star of Destiny: The Private Life of Sam and Margaret Houston (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 1993). William Seale, Sam Houston's Wife: A Biography of Margaret Lea Houston (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1970). Tolbert, The Day of San Jacinto (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1959; 2d ed., Austin: Pemberton Press, 1969). Williams and Eugene C.

Barker, eds., The Writings of Sam Houston, 1813–1863 (8 vols., Austin: University of Texas Press, 1938–43; rpt., Austin and New York: Pemberton Press, 1970). John Hoyt Williams, Sam Houston: A Biography of the Father of Texas (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993). Marion Karl Wisehart, Sam Houston (Washington: Luce, 1962). Image Use Disclaimer All copyrighted materials included within the Handbook of Texas Online are in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 related to Copyright and “Fair Use” for Non-Profit educational institutions, which permits the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA), to utilize copyrighted materials to further scholarship, education, and inform the public. The TSHA makes every effort to conform to the principles of fair use and to comply with copyright law. For more information go to: If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Citation The following, adapted from the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition, is the preferred citation for this article. Handbook of Texas Online, Thomas H. Kreneck, 'Houston, Samuel,' accessed December 23, 2017,. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Modified on March 30, 2017.

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