VESTED: (clockwise from above) Portrait of Houston; a museum diorama of the surrender of Santa Anna following the Battle of San Jacinto; Houston’s leopard-skin vest.
cabins, Joshua’s Blacksmith Forge, Ravens’ Pottery and Glassblowing Shop, Guerrant Family Cabin, Bear Bend Cabin and Wigwam Neosho Museum Store.
Sam Houston
It’s hard to come up with a better fictional account than the true story of Sam Houston’s life. The larger-than-life Texas political hero ran away from home at age 16 to live among the Cherokees, who gave him the name Colonneh or “the Raven.” He joined the military at 21 to serve in the War of 1812, and his valor at the battle of Horseshoe Bend attracted the atten- tion of Gen. Andrew Jackson, who became his benefactor. He studied law, opened a practice in Tennessee and subsequently began his rapid rise in public office — first elected to Congress and then governor of the state. He married Eliza Allen and announced his bid for reelection, but 11 weeks later the marriage ended amid much mystery, and a distraught Houston resigned from office. Historians muse that likely, with Jackson’s grooming, he would have eventually run for president of the United States had he not exited this phase of his career so abruptly. Houston moved back for three years among the Cherokees, where he was granted citizen- ship and became an active peacemaker among various tribes. He found himself thrust back into the political arena in a most unusual way — he assaulted a United States representative with
a cane over a perceived insult and was arrested and tried before the House of Representatives. In 1832, he traveled to Texas, a place he consid- ered a land of promise, and promptly entered the political fray pursuing independence. The Texas Declaration of Independence was issued on his birthday, and, just two days later, Houston was appointed major general of the army. The decisive victory of his forces over the Mexican army at the Battle of San Jacinto made Houston a Texas hero, and he became the first elected president of the Republic of Texas in 1836. Houston was a strong advocate for Texas
becoming part of the U.S., and when Texas ultimately did become a state, he was elected to the U.S. Senate. During his tenure, although he was a slaveholder himself, he was unafraid to make controversial decisions limiting the spread of slavery, which ultimately cost him his seat. Nevertheless, he was elected governor in 1859. As a staunch unionist, he was in opposition to secession, and when he refused to take a loyalty oath to the Confederate States of America, he was removed from office. Houston died of pneumonia in the downstairs bedroom of the Steamboat House at age 70.
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