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Biography of Samuel HoustonName: Samuel HoustonBirth Date: March 2, 1793 Death Date: July 26, 1863 Place of Birth: Rockbridge County, Virginia, United States Nationality: American Gender: Male Occupations: statesman, politician, soldier Samuel Houston Samuel Houston (1793-1863), American statesman and soldier, was the person most responsible for bringing Texas into the Union.Sam Houston's life was controversial and colorful. It exemplified the opportunities that existed on the American frontier: he rose from humble origins to become governor of two states and to represent both in Congress.Houston was born on March 2, 1793, in Rockbridge County, Va. Following the death of his father, he and his mother moved to Blount County, Tenn., in 1807. Houston received less than a year and a half of formal education. In 1809, when farming and clerking proved distasteful to him, he ran away to live with the Cherokee Indians for 3 years. The Cherokee called him "The Raven." In 1812 he established a subscription school, where he also taught for a year.Soldier and LawyerDuring the War of 1812 Houston enlisted as a private and rose to the rank of second lieutenant. He was severely wounded …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…was deposed from office for failure to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy.Houston had remarried in 1840, following a Texas divorce. His third wife, Margaret Lea of Alabama, bore him eight children. They maintained a home at Huntsville, Tex., and there Houston died on July 26, 1863, having seen most of his predictions about the disaster of secession borne out. Proud to the point of being vain, Houston in later years had signed his first name with an "I" instead of an "S," so that his signature read "I am Houston." Further Reading Most of the known writings of Houston are contained, with adequate footnotes and introduction, in The Writings of Sam Houston, edited by Amelia Williams and Eugene C. Barker (8 vols., 1938-1943). A thorough and factual biography of Houston is Llerena Friend, Sam Houston (1954). Marquis James, The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston (1929), is slightly more readable but very romanticized. |