Sam Houston

Houston

General Sam Houston was born on March 2, 1793 in Tennessee. When he was sixteen, he ran away from home and grew up with the Cherokee Indians. Houston fought under Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812 and the Creek Indian War during which he was wounded in the shoulder. The wound never healed (Wood).

Houston studied law and became a lawyer. Then he got into politics. In 1823, he went to Washington as a Congressman representing Tennessee and was re-elected in 1825. During the next election in 1827, he was elected governor of Tennessee (Sam).

While he was governor, on January 22, 1829, Sam married Eliza Allen who was a southern belle and half his age. Eleven weeks later she ran from the house screaming back to her parents. This caused a big scandel, so Houston resigned and went back to the C herokees who were now in Oklahoma (Wood).

Once in Oklahoma, Sam remained drunk for about two years, but did manage to marry a Cherokee named Tiana Rogers. While living with the tribe, he served as the commercial agent to the tribe. While doing this job, he went to Washington where a Congressman accused him of corruption. Houston promptly beat this man up. The Congressman had Sam tried and convicted for contempt of Congress. The only punishment was a reprimand (Wood).

In 1832, Houston moved to Texas where he served as general of the Texas army during the revolution. It was Houston who led the Texans to a decisive victory in the fifteen minute long battle of San Jacinto. Then Houston went on to serve two terms as the President of the Republic of Texas. During this time he married again and quit drinking. After Texas was annexed to the United States, Sam served a US Senator from Texas. During his term, Houston decided to run for the governor's seat. He won and trie d to keep Texas from seceding from the Union. He failed, and when Texas did secede, Houston was thrown out of office because he refused to pledge allegence to the Confederate States of America. Sam Houston died on July 26, 1863. He is the only person t o be thrown out of the governor's office in two different states (Sam).

Photo Source

Back to Lyrics