April 21, 2014 (Monday )
On this day we celebrate the 178th anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto, in which Texas won independence from Mexico. Sam Houston was the leader of the Texas soldiers.
Houston was born in Virginia in 1793, but grew up in Tennessee. In those mountains, he learned to know and appreciate the Cherokee Indians and their customs. He later married into the “Cherokee Nation.”
He joined the military in the War of 1812, was wounded in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, and rose to the rank of first lieutenant before resigning in 1818 to study law. He became a United States Senator in 1823 and governor of Tennessee in 1827. Afterwards he lived with the Cherokee until 1832, when he moved to Texas, where he became active in the movement for independence, and in 1836 was made commander-in-chief of the armies of Texas.
His soldiers defeated Santa Anna at San Jacinto (where he was wounded again), and he was elected first President of the Republic of Texas in October 1836. When Texas became a state in 1845, he was elected to the U.S. Congress for the third time. In 1859, he was elected governor of Texas, but was removed from office in 1861 because he opposed secession. He then moved to Huntsville, where he lived until his death in the summer of 1863.
A giant statue of Sam Houston captures your attention as you drive by Huntsville on Interstate 45. It is fitting that the statue makes you think, “bigger than life,” because that phrase describes the man himself.
Visit the San Jacinto Battleground.