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Samuel Houston
Houston served under Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812 and was injured during the March 1814 Battle of Horseshoe Bend. Houston later serving as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1822) and then Governor of Tennessee (1827-1829). Moving to Texas in 1832, Houston was elected the first President of the Republic of Texas. After statehood in 1845, Houston was elected Senator from Texas to the Congress of the United States. Houston was then elected to serve as Governor of the State of Texas (1859-1861), famously removed from office for refusing to take an oath of allegiance to the Confederate States of America. He married Margaret Lea in 1840, with whom he had eight children. In 1847 Houston bought land in Huntsville to live and built Woodlawn, where four of his eight children were born. He lived there until winning the governorship in 1859. During this time in Huntsville he served on the original board of trustees of Austin College and was present at the groundbreaking ceremony for its original building. Upon election in 1859 as Governor of Texas, he became the only person elected to serve as governor of two U.S. states by popular vote. He opposed the secession of Texas from the Union and refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederate States of America. He was evicted from office in March of 1861. He retired to Huntsville in December 1862 and died the following July in the Steamboat House. Items on and around campus honoring Sam Houston include:
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