Sam Houston

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Sam Houston
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Sam Houston

Samuel Houston (March 2, 1793July 26, 1863) 19th century statesman, politcian and soldier; was a key figure in the history of Texas, and, as of 2005, the only person in U.S. history to have been the governor of two different statesTennessee and Texas.

Contents

Early life

He was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia to Major Samuel Houston and Elizabeth Paxton. Receiving only a basic education he emigrated with his family to Maryville, Tennessee in 1807, following the death of his father. His mother then took the family to live on Baker Creek, Tenn. He ran away from home in 1809 and resided for a time with a Cherokee tribe on Hiwasee Island. He was adopted into the Cherokee Nation and given the name Kalanu or "the Raven". In 1812 Houston becomes a school teacher for six months in Marysville, Tenn. In March 1813 he joined the U.S. Army 7th Regiment of Infantry to fight the British in the War of 1812. By December he had risen from private to third lieutenant. He was severely injured at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in March 1814. Following his recovery he was assigned as an Indian agent to the Cherokees. He left the army in March 1818.

Houston was struck by a Creek arrow at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.
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Houston was struck by a Creek arrow at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend.

Following six months of study he opened a legal practice in Lebanon, Tennessee. He was made attorney general of Nashville district in late 1818 and also given a command in the state militia. In 1822 he was elected to the House of Representatives for Tennessee, where he was a staunch supporter of fellow Tennesseean and Democrat Andrew Jackson and was widely considered to be Jackson's political protegé though their treatment of Indians differed greatly. He was re-elected in 1824. In 1827 he declined to run for re-election to Congress and instead ran for, and won, the office of governor of Tennessee, defeating former governor Willie Blount. He intended to stand for re-election in 1828 but following an eleven week marriage to Eliza Allen he abruptly resigned (the actual divorce was not until 1837). He spent a time among the Cherokee, married a Cherokee widow named Diana Rogers Gentry, and set up a trading post (Wigwam Neosho near Fort Gibson, Cherokee Nation), apparently drinking heavily the entire time. His alleged drunkenness and abandonment of his office and wife caused a rift with his mentor Andrew Jackson, which would not be healed for several years.

Life in Texas

Houston at the Battle of San Jacinto.
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Houston at the Battle of San Jacinto.

On a trip to New York and Washington on business, Houston became embroiled in a fight with an anti-Jacksonian Congressman in Washington, caning him outside of Congress. He was found guilty in the high profile trial, but the publicity resurrected his political reputation, and he left the Cherokee and his wife to enter Mexican Texas in December 1832. He was immediately swept up in the politics of the Mexican state. He attended the Convention of 1833 as representative for Nacogdoches and emerged as a radical, supporting William Harris Wharton and his brother. He also attended the Consultation of 1835. He was made a Major General, of the Texas Army in November 1835, then Commander-in-Chief in March 1836. He negotiated a settlement with the Cherokee in February 1836.

Following the Texas Declaration of Independence in March, Houston joined his volunteer army at Gonzales and was soon forced on the retreat in the face of the forces of Antonio López de Santa Anna. But at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836 the Mexicans were taken by surprise and badly beaten. Santa Anna was captured the following day. Houston briefly remained for negotiations before retiring to the United States for treatment of an ankle wound.

Using his popularity, Houston was twice elected president of the Republic of Texas on September 5, 1836 and served from October 22, 1836 to December 10, 1838, and from December 12, 1841 to December 9, 1844. He put down the Cordova Rebellion of 1838 and while initially seeking annexation by the U.S. he dropped that hope during his first term. In his second term he strove for financial prudence and worked to make peace with the Indians and avoid war with Mexico, following the two invasions of 1842. He had to act over the Regulator-Moderator War of 1844 and sent in the militia. The settlement of Houston was founded in 1836, named in his honor and served as capital. Between his presidential terms (the constitution did not allow a president to serve consecutive terms), he was a representative in the Texas House of Representatives for San Augustine. He was a major critic of President Mirabeau Lamar, who advocated continuing independence of Texas and its extension to the Pacific Ocean.

On May 9, 1840, in Marion, Alabama, he married Margaret Moffette Lea, with whom he had eight children. Margaret acted as a tempering influence on Houston. His son, Andrew Jackson Houston (1854 - 1941), was appointed to the US Senate two months before his death.

U.S. Senator

Sam Houston as a U.S. Senator.
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Sam Houston as a U.S. Senator.

After the annexation of Texas by the United States in 1845, he was elected to the U.S. Senate together with Thomas Jefferson Rusk. Houston served there from February 21, 1846 until March 4, 1859. He was a Senator during the Mexican-American War, when the U.S. acquired from Mexico vast new territory in the Southwest.

Throughout his term in the Senate, Houston spoke out against the growing sectionalism of the country, and blamed the extremists of both the North and South, saying: "Whatever is calculated to weaken or impair the strength of [the] Union, — whether originating at the North or the South, — whether arising from the incendiary violence of abolitionists, or from the coalition of nullifiers, will never meet with my unqualified approval."

Houston supported the Oregon Bill in 1848, which was opposed by many Southerners. In his passionate speech in support of the Compromise of 1850, Houston said "A nation divided against itself cannot stand". Eight years later, Abraham Lincoln would express a similar sentiment.

Houston opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854, and correctly predicted that it would cause a sectional rift in the country that would eventually lead to war: "…what fields of blood, what scenes of horror, what mighty cities in smoke and ruins — it is brother murdering brother… I see my beloved South go down in the unequal contest, in a sea of blood and smoking ruin." He was considered a potential candidate for president. But, despite the fact that he was a slave-owner, his strong Unionism and opposition to the extension of slavery alienated the Texas legislature and other southern States. He was a lame duck senator from 1857.

Houston in the 1850s-1860s

Sam Houston's grave in Huntsville, Texas.
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Sam Houston's grave in Huntsville, Texas.

He ran for governor of Texas, unsuccessfully in 1857 and successfully against Hardin R. Runnels in 1859 as a unionist, making him the only person in U.S. history to be the governor of two different states. Despite Houston being a slave owner and against abolitionism, he opposed the secession of Texas from the Union.

  • I love Texas too well to bring civil strife and bloodshed upon her. To avert this calamity, I shall make no endeavor to maintain my authority as Chief Executive of this State, except by the peaceful excercise of my functions...."

He was evicted from the office on March 16, 1861 for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy, writing

  • Fellow-Citizens, in the name of your rights and liberties, which I believe have been trampled upon, I refuse to take this oath. In the name of the nationality of Texas, which has been betrayed by the Convention, I refuse to take this oath. In the name of the Constitution of Texas, I refuse to take this oath. In the name of my own conscience and manhood, which this Convention would degrade by dragging me before it, to pander to the malice of my enemies....I refuse to take this oath."

He was replaced with Lieutenant Governor Edward Clark. To avoid more bloodshed in Texas, Houston turned down US Colonel Frederick W. Lander's offer from President Lincoln of 50,000 troops to prevent Texas' secession.

  • Allow me to most respectfully decline any such assistance of the United States Government.

Final Years

In 1862 Houston retired to his farm at Huntsville. His health deterioratd quickly over the next few months and he developed a persistent cough. In mid July Houston come down with a severe chill and developed pneumonia. At 6:16P Houston died quietly in his Steamboat House with his wife Margaret by his side on 26 July 1863. His last recorded words were "Texas. Texas. Margaret". His wife would die of Yellow Fever in 1867.

Children

1. Sam Houston, Jr. (1843-1894) 2. Nannie (1846-1920) 3. Margaret Lea (1848-1906) 4. Mary William (1850-1931) 5. Antionette Power (1852-1932) 6. Andrew Jackson (1854-1941) 7. William Rogers (1858-1880s?) 8. Temple Lea (1860-1905)

See also

References

  • Sam Houston, Haley, James L., University of Oklahoma Press: ISBN-0-806-13644-8
  • Sword of San Jacinto, Marshall De Bruhl, Random House: ISBN-0-394-57623-3
  • The Texas Revolution; Brinkley, William, Texas A&M Press: ISBN-0-876-11041-3
  • The Eagle and the Raven; Michener, James A., State House Press: ISBN-0-938-34957-0

External links


Preceded by:
William Carroll
Governor of Tennessee
1827–1829
Succeeded by:
William Hall
Preceded by:
David Burnet
(ad interim)
President of the Republic of Texas
1836–1838
Succeeded by:
Mirabeau B. Lamar
Preceded by:
Mirabeau B. Lamar
President of the Republic of Texas
1841–1844
Succeeded by:
Anson Jones
Preceded by:
none
U.S. Senator (Class 2) from Texas
1846–1859
Succeeded by:
John Hemphill
Preceded by:
Hardin R. Runnels
Governor of Texas
1859–1861
Succeeded by:
Edward Clark
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