Sam Houston

When Sam Houston was born on 2nd March 1793, George Washington was President, and at the time of his death Abraham Lincoln was guiding the nation through a civil war.

They say that in certain dramatic moments of the past, the fate of a nation has marched side-by-side with that of an individual - and that can certainly be said of Sam Houston, the frontier hero and statesman whose bravery and vision led to the creation of Texas, and who is the namesake of the fourth biggest city in our nation.

He was in his time many things, school teacher, soldier, lawyer, the governor of Tennessee, a United States senator, the first President of the Republic of Texas, and at one time he seemed scheduled for the presidency of the United States - and if it hadn't been for his ill-fated marriage to Eliza Allen, he probably would have been Andrew Jackson's successor. 

With the scandal surrounding his marriage, Sam Houston's career as the popular governor of Tennessee ended in disgrace and heartbreak. He resigned less than three months after his wife left him, before leaving his Nashville home to begin a new life out west. The Presidency of the United States is one office that most men wouldn't deliberately avoid, and yet Sam Houston renounced it all.

As a boy he had lived among the Cherokee, who had named him Raven. So perhaps in an attempt to heal, he spent time with them again in Oklahoma and Arkansas, where he found love with a part-Cherokee woman. 

After a few years, he left the Cherokee and moved to Coahuila y Tejas - which was at the time a Mexican state. He led the Texas Revolution, and under his command, General Sam Houston defeated the army at the Battle of San Jacinto, leading to Texas achieving independence from Mexico.

When the war ended, Sam was elected as the first President of the Republic of Texas. He strongly supported the Texas annexation, and Texas became the 28th state to be admitted to the Union, which was finalized in late 1845.

At 47 years old, he married for a third time, to a 21 year old bride called Margaret Moffette Lea. They went on to have eight children - the last being born when he was 68 - before he passed away in 1863 at the age of 70.

You can listen to the story of his life on RUSC in a show titled Raven Wins Texas from the Cavalcade of America.

The American West has produced more than its share of legends, but I can honestly say that the true-life story of Sam Houston had me fascinated!

Happy listening my friends,