Sam Houston is a Texas icon. General Houston signed the Texas Declaration of Independence on his 43rd birthday, and six weeks later he led the Texas Army to a spectacular victory at San Jacinto. “Old Sam Jacinto” twice was elected president of the Republic of Texas; he served thirteen years as U.S. Senator from the State of Texas; and he won election as governor of the Lone Star State.
Before he came to Texas Houston twice lived with the Cherokee. As a young army officer he was severely wounded while leading charges at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, and while still in his twenties Houston became major general of the Tennessee State Militia. In Tennessee he was elected to Congress and to the governorship, ultimately becoming the only man ever elected governor of two states. He knew and worked with fourteen consecutive U.S. presidents, from Thomas Jefferson to Abraham Lincoln, as well as Jefferson Davis, who became president of the Confederacy.
