Samuel Houston ( , HEW-stən; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American military 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.
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 Africans. 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 (married Patience Bills), John, William (married Mary Ball), Isabella, Mary (married Matthew Wallace), and Eliza (married Samuel Moore).
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 (Cherokee name: Ahuludegi, also spelled Oolooteka) 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.' During his time with the Cherokee, Houston learned their language, adopted many of their customs, and maintained close ties with the tribe throughout his life. 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. His first marriage to Eliza Allen ended in scandal and divorce. He had a relationship with a Cherokee woman named Tiana Rodgers, with whom he lived before his divorce from Allen. His final wife was Margaret Moffette Lea, who was twenty years his junior.
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 (or "Creek") 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.