366 



HOUSTON. 



HOUSTON, SAM. 



utility. In the efforts of Florence Nightingale 

 and others to promote the welfare and relieve 

 the sufferings of the soldiers in the Crimea, 

 they had no more zealous and efficient assist- 

 ants than the Hon. Sidney Herbert and his 

 amiable and accomplished lady. One of his 

 later acts of benevolence was the erection of a 

 beautiful church in the Lombardic style for the 

 people of his native town of Wilton. 



HOUSTON, a town of Southern Missouri, 

 capital of Texas Co., situated on the Piney fork 

 of Gasconade Kiver, at the foot of the northern 

 slope of the Ozark Mountains. Here, on the 

 4th of November, an expedition, under com- 

 mand of Col. Gresnel, sent by Col. Dodge, at- 

 tacked a Confederate force stationed here, and 

 captured 32 prisoners, several of them officers, 

 500 cattle, 90 horses and mules, a considerable 

 amount of stores, and a large mail for the Con- 

 federate army, containing information respect- 

 ing the position of the entire Confederate force 

 in Missouri. 



HOUSTON, SAM, a general, president, and 

 governor of Texas, born near Lexington, Vir- 

 ginia, Mar. 2, 1793, reported as having died at 

 Austin, Texas, Oct. 8, 1861. His life was one 

 of remarkable adventures and sudden changes. 

 His father was a soldier of the Revolution, and 

 held the post of brigade-inspector at the time 

 of his death in 1807. Soon after his death, his 

 widow, with nine children, removed to Blount 

 Co., Tennessee, on the very borders of civiliza- 

 tion, within eight miles of the Cherokee settle- 

 ments. Sam was sent to an academy, and 

 made rapid progress in his studies, and begged 

 permission of his teacher to be allowed to add 

 Greek and Latin to his other studies. He was 

 refused, and thereupon left the school, and 

 could not be persuaded to return. After a 

 short stay in a store as clerk, a situation not at 

 all to his liking, he absconded, crossed the Ten- 

 nessee Eiver, and took up his abode with the 

 Indians, with whom he remained for three 

 years ; Oolooteka, one of their principal chiefs, 

 adopting him as his son. In 1811 he returned 

 to his family, and opened a school for his 

 maintenance; he soon had an abundance of 

 pupils, though his price was high for the coun- 

 try and time. In 1813 he enlisted as a com- 

 mon soldier in the U. S. Army, distinguished 

 himself by his good conduct, and was soon pro- 

 moted to an ensigncy ; and in 1814, at the bat- 

 tle of the great bend of the Tallapoosa, led the 

 forlorn hope in a storming party to capture the 

 Oreek fortification, and was three times severe- 

 ly, and as it was supposed, mortally wounded. 

 His daring attracted the attention, and secured 

 him the lasting friendship of Gen. Jackson. 

 For nearly three years he suffered severely 

 from his wounds, and finally underwent a pain- 

 ful and dangerous operation, which nearly cost 

 him his life. He had been promoted to a lieu- 

 tenancy in 1815, and in November, 1817, was 

 appointed as a subordinate Indian agent to 

 carry out a treaty with the Cherokees. The 

 next winter he conducted a delegation of In- 



dians to "Washington. His zeal in preventing 

 the unlawful importation of negroes from Af- 

 rica through Florida, then a Spanish province, 

 into the Southern States, had made him ene- 

 mies who were loud in their complaints against 

 him. The Government acquitted him of all 

 blame, but as its justification and approval of 

 his course were not so decided as he thought it 

 should have been, he threw up his commission 

 on the 1st March, 1818, and returning to Ten- 

 nessee, settled in Nashville, and began to study 

 law. Applying himself to his studies with 

 great earnestness, he was admitted to the bar 

 within six months, after a rigid examination. 

 He was soon appointed adjutant-general with 

 the rank of colonel, and in Oct. 1819, one year 

 after his admission to the bar, elected district- 

 attorney of the Davidson district. He was re- 

 markably successful as a prosecuting officer, 

 and rose rapidly in reputation, although the bar 

 of Nashville at that time was composed of an 

 unusually large number of men of superior abil- 

 ity. In Dec. 1821, he was elected major-general 

 of militia, and in 1823 chosen to Congress with- 

 out opposition ; he was reflected in 1825 by 

 an almost unanimous vote, and in Aug. 1827 

 chosen Governor of Tennessee by a majority of 

 12,000. His popularity was such that he had 

 not a single opponent in the State Legislature. 

 In Jan. 1829, he was married, and in April of 

 the same year, for reasons never publicly ex- 

 plained, separated from his wife, resigned his 

 office, and went to the Indian Territory, whither 

 his old friends the Cherokees had removed, and 

 presented himself before the old chief Ooloo- 

 teka, who received him kindly, and through 

 whose influence he was formally admitted to 

 all the rights and privileges of the Cherokee 

 nation. He remained among the Indians till 

 1832, when he went to Washington to protest 

 against the wrongs which had been inflicted on 

 them by the Government agents, and to demand 

 redress. The President ordered an investiga- 

 tion, which resulted in the removal of five of 

 the Government Indian agents from office. 

 This action involved Houston in numerous per- 

 sonal difficiilties and annoyances, and led to a 

 personal rencontre between him and Mr. W. K. 

 Stansbury, of Ohio, in consequence of a charge 

 of fraud made by him against Gen. Houston. 

 In this rencontre Mr. Stansbury was severely 

 beaten, and Gen. Houston was arrested, brought 

 before the House, and publicly censured by the 

 Speaker ; he was also indicted and tried for the 

 assault and fined $500 and costs, but the fine 

 was remitted by the President. The charge 

 of fraud made against him was investigated and 

 effectually disproved. Houston, on quitting 

 Washington, returned to his Cherokee friends, 

 but soon after removed to Texas with a few 

 companions, professedly for the purpose of rear- 

 ing herds of cattle on its prairies, but, as was 

 commonly reported and believed, to take part 

 in the impending revolution there. Soon after 

 his arrival there he was a delegate from Nacog- 

 doches to a Convention, to form a Constitution 



