Happy Birthday, Sam Houston

On March 2, 1836, Sam Houston turned 41 years old. And the 41 delegates to the Convention gave him a present. They declared independence from Mexico. The Republic of Texas was born, on Sam Houston’s birthday.

Meanwhile, down in San Antonio at the Alamo, courier James Bonham brought the news that Colonel Fannin would NOT be coming to their aid. The Alamo defenders were on their own. Sam Houston had ordered them to blow up the Alamo and join him at Washington-On-The-Brazos. They refused.

Houston was one of the more remarkable characters in American history. He was the only person to act as Governor of two different states. He became President of a foreign nation. A one-time member of the US House of Representatives (he was censured for taking his walking stick to a fellow Congressman) and a member of the Senate, representing the state of Texas.

He was also an adopted Cherokee, a famous drunkard, and possibly a bigamist – although his Cherokee wife, Tiana Rogers, may have been an informal arrangement.

Sam Houston refused to sign the Articles of Confederation. He remained loyal to the United States, and sat out the Civil War in Huntsville, Texas until his death.

His most memorable achievement? The eighteen minutes it took the little Texas army to defeat Mexican General Santa Ana, thus ensuring the survival of the Republic of Texas.

Happy Birthday, Sam.

Dac Crossley
March 2, 2017. And happy birthday, Bruce W.

“All new states are invested, more or less, by a class of noisy, second-rate men who are always in favor of rash and extreme measures, but Texas was absolutely overrun by such men.” – Sam Houston.

Comments

[Jan Okey]

Excellent blog. Learned more about Sam
Houston than I had known before. As for
Omar the tentmaker - think he was off in
predicting the end of winter. When I got up
this a.m. it was 27 deg. Hope we escaped
major freeze damage.

[mary]

excellent blog. Makes me want to reread "The Raven" (the biography, not the poem). Happy Birthday Sam indeed!