On March 2, 1793, the noted soldier and statesman Sam Houston was born in a log cabin on a nearby knoll. Houston served with distinction in the U.S. Army and later as a congressman and governor of Tennessee before moving to Texas in the 1830s. In Texas, he soon became a leader in the revolution against the Mexican government under General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. A signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence on March 2, 1836, Houston was chosen Commander-in-Chief of the Texan army. On April 21, 1836, he led his forces to victory in the Battle of San Jacinto, which resulted in the independence of Texas.
Sam Houston twice served as President of the Republic of Texas. Later, after Texas became part of the United States of America, he served as U.S. Senator and as Governor. He died at his home in Huntsville, Texas, on July 26, 1863, during the Civil War, a struggle he bitterly opposed.
An able general, a strong political leader, and a friend to the Cherokee Indians who knew him as "The Raven", Sam Houston represented the true spirit of his native Virginia and his adopted states of Tennessee and Texas.
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