Those Were the Days: Sam Houston, Part 2

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The year was 1829 when Sam Houston joined his tribe of Cherokees. By 1832, he had made friends with all the different tribes in Arkansas, was voted into full tribal membership, and was immediately dispatched to Washington, D.C., to negotiate several issues on their behalf. 

While there, a Congressman, Wm. Stanbery alleged in 1830, Houston had fraudulently placed a bid in collusion with the Jackson administration!

After several letters to Stanbery, they finally met, and Houston, in frustration, beat him with his cane. He was brought to trial and fined $500.00! (hmm, does that sound familiar?)

In mid-1832, after the “beating incident,” two friendly congressmen persuaded Sam to go to the Mexican possession called Texas. These men had kinfolks there, and they wrote about the unrest going on. They disliked Mexican rule and high taxes. They talked about how fast pioneers were moving to Texas. (This isn’t in my research papers, but I believe the “Raven” decided that due to the unrest of his tribal friends in Arkansas, he would go find them a place to live in Texas, and that’s precisely what happened!)

So, our whirlwind continued with Sam entering Texas in December 1832 and shortly thereafter was granted land around Nacogdoches. He was immediately elected to represent the people of that area and was sent to the Convention of 1833 in Independence, Texas. The meeting was to petition Mexico for statehood. However, Houston chaired a committee that proposed statehood for Texas’s independence from Mexico!

However, the convention sent Stephen F. Austin to Mexico with a petition for statehood. President Gomez Farias jailed Austin for two years. Then Santa Anna became president and released him. The two years in prison left Austin in poor physical condition. He returned to Texas and participated in the first battle of Gonzales for Texas independence. The first flag of Texas, white with a blue cannon, flew that day. Beneath the cannon, it said, “Come and Take it.” The battle ended with the Mexican army in full retreat.

A week later, in March 1836, the leaders of Texas, including Austin and Houston, met again in Independence, Texas, and drew up their demand for a separate “provisional independent state of Texas.” These Texas delegates elected Houston as the major general (highest-ranking officer) of the Texas army, which consisted of only about 250 men. However, it did not include the various militia groups, i.e., weekend warriors…

At the same time, 282 men were about to battle the Mexican soldiers at the Alamo in San Antonio under siege by Sana Anna’s 2700 troops. They finally took the fort/mission and killed and burned the Texan’s 200+ bodies. This awakened most Texans to agree that it was time to go independent entirely from Mexico.

Meanwhile, Sam had to raise an army by taking his small group of volunteers (580+) all over Texas (which, in 1836, was from the Nueces River up north to the Trinity River). Santa Anna was chasing him from March to mid-April of 1836. Finally, Houston and 783 volunteers caught the Mexican Army napping on the banks of a large stream (later called the Houston Ship Channel); it was a rout and only lasted two hours, with Santa Anna captured and forced to sign the Treaty of Velasco granting Texas their independence. During the battle, Sam had his horse shot out from under him, and a stray bullet shattered his left ankle; shortly after this negotiation, he had to go to the United States for treatment.

While Sam was away, the “leaders” met in the new capital of Texas, which had been named Austin in mid-1886 in honor of Stephen F. Austin. One of the first things they did was elect the hero who was a big help in Texas’s independence; Sam Houston was elected the first President of the Republic of Texas. Stephen F. Austin was elected Secretary of State. A short time later, Austin died at the age of 42 due to the illness he suffered in the Mexico jail. In his eulogy, Houston declared Austin “The Father of Texas.”

The whirlwind continued over the next five years:

(1) he released Santa Anna from jail,

(2) he clashed with Congress over Houston giving land in 1836 to the Cherokee “nation,”

(3) he had to put down the Cordova Rebellion (a plot to allow Mexico to reclaim Texas!).

(4) The Texas constitution barred presidents from office after two years,

(5) In 1838, the next president, Lamar, immediately removed many of Houston’s appointees,

(6) Lamar declared a war against the Cherokees. (while Houston secretly helped the Cherokees escape to Arkansas, later called the “Lost Tribe of the Cherokees.”)

(7) Houston opened a legal practice and opened a land company which was to develop a new city of Sabine, Texas,

(8) was elected to represent San Augustine County in the House of Representatives

(9) In 1841 was re-elected President of Texas by a large landslide. (Hmm…does that sound familiar?)

To be continued…

Ahhhh… these were our early days…