Sam Houston - First Citizen of Texas

Sam Houston left home at the age of 20 for the War of 1812 with this advice from his widowed mother: "My son, take this musket and never disgrace it, for remember, I had rather all my sons should fill one honorable grave than that one of them should turn his back to save his life.  Go, and remember, too, that while the door of my cabin is open to brave men, it is certainly shut against cowards."

Houston made his mother and his hometown proud.  After getting an arrow in the thigh at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in 1814, he refused the order to leave the battlefield.  He was the first to volunteer for a new charge in which he was wounded twice more.  His valor won  General Andrew Jackson's undying respect.  As Jackson's protégé, he won acclaim as a senator, governor, and savior of the Lone Star Republic.

Houston was one of nine children, born on March 2, 1795.  His father was a professional soldier (Major) and veteran of the Revolution.  His mother Elizabeth was a gentlewoman of the tidewater.  Houston was enrolled at Porter Academy and became a voracious reader, fond of quoting the Iliad.  School was not for Sam, however, and he wanted to live among the Indians.  At age 16 he was adopted by a Cherokee chief, Oo-loo-neh and given the Indian Co-lon-neh (the Raven).

Three years latter, he settled down at home again and returned to Porter Academy.  Again his heart as not in it, and in 1813, when a visit of the US Regulars passed through town offering silver dollars for enlistment, Sam was ready.

At 25, he went to Nashville to study law.  A good student, he was admitted after six months to the bar.  In 1823 he was elected to two terms in Congress and just two later years later he became governor of Tennessee.

Next time...Part 2
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On This Day in Pioneer History:  On September 29, 1913, Rudolf Diesel, inventor of the engine that bears his name, disappears from the steamship Dresden while traveling from Antwerp, Belgium to Harwick, England.