MoDNKv] SAMUEL HOUSTON 223 



iR'iut, ami he .sought fdrsjetfuhu'ssi in drinli to such an oxtent tluit for a tinit- his 

 manhood seemed to liave dei)aited. nntwitli;rtandinir which, sucli was liis force of 

 cliaracter and his past reputation, he retained his liold upon the affections of the 

 Cherokeeand his .stan<iing with the ofiicer.s and their families at the neighboring posts 

 of Fort Smith, Fort ( iilison, and Fort Coffee. In the meantime his former wife in Ten- 

 nessee had ol)taine<l a divorce, and Hou.«ton being thus free once more soon after 

 married Talihina, tlie youngest (laughter of a prominent mixed-l)lood (jherokee 

 named Rogers, who resided near Fort Gibson. She was tlie niece of Houston's 

 adopted father, Cliief Jolly, and he had known her when a boy in the old Nation. 

 Being a beautiful girl, and cilucated above her surroundings, she became a welcome 

 guest wherever her husband was received. He started a trading store near Webbers 

 Falls, but continued in his dissipated hal)its until recalled to his senses by the out- 

 come of a drunken affray in which he assaulted liis a<lopted father, the old chief, 

 and was himself felled to the ground unconscious. Upon recovery from bis injuries 

 he made a publicapology for his conduct and thenceforward led a. sober life. 



In 18:!2 he visited Washington in tlie interest of the we.stern Clierokec. calling in 

 Indian costume ujion President Jackson, who received him with old-time friendship. 

 Being accused while there of connection with a frauilulent Indian cnntract, he 

 administered a sevt>re Ideating to his accuser, a member of Congress. For this he 

 was fined §500 and reprimanded by the bar of the House, but Jackson remitted the 

 fine. Soon after his return to the West he removed to Texas to take part in the 

 agitation just started against Mexican rule. He was a member of the convention 

 which adopted a separate constitution for Texas in IBS.'?, and two years later aided in 

 forming a provisional government, and was elected commander-in-chief to organize 

 the new militia. In 183f> he was a member of the convention which declared the- 

 independence of Texas. At the battle of San Jacinto in Ai)ril of that year he defeated 

 with 750 men Santa Ana's army of 1,800, inflicting upon the Mexicans the terrible 

 loss of 630 killed and 7'M prisoners, among w hom was Santa Ana himself. Houston 

 received a severe wound in the engagement. In the autumn of the same year he 

 was elected first president of the republic of Texas, receiving more than four-fifths 

 of the votes cast. He served two years and retired at the end of his term, leaving 

 the country on good terms with both Mexico and the Indian tril)es, and with its 

 notes at par. He was immediately elected to the Texas congress and served in that 

 capacity until 1S41, when he was reelected president. It was during these years that 

 he made his steadfast tight in liebalf (jf the Texas Cherokee, as is narrated elsewhere, 

 supporting their cause without wavering, at the ri.sk of his own i)o|)ularity and posi- 

 tion. He frequently declared that no treaty made and carried out in good faith had 

 ever been violated by Indians. His Cherokee wife liaving died some time before, he 

 was again married in 1840, this time to a lady from Alabama, who exercised over 

 him a restraining and ennobling influence through the st<jrmy vicissitudes of liis 

 eventful life. In June, 1842, he vetoed a bill making him dictator for the i)urpose of 

 resisting a threatened invasion from Jlexico. 



On December 29, 1.S45, Texas was adinitted to the Union, and in the following 

 March Houston was elected to the Senate, where he served continuously until 1859, 

 when he resigned to take his seat as governor, to which |)osition he had just been 

 elected. From 1852 to 18(i0 his name was three times presented before national 

 presidential nominating conventions, the last time receiving 57 votes. He had taken 

 issue with the Democratic majority thronghoiit his term in the Senate, and when 

 Texas pas.sed the .secession ordinance in February, 1861, being an uncompromising 

 Union man, he refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy and was 

 accordingly deposed from the uthce of governor, declining the proffered aid of federal 

 troops to keep him in his seat. Unwilling either to fight against the Union or to 

 take sides against his friends, be held alnof from the great struggle, and remained in 

 silent retirement until his death, two years later. No other man in American history 



