Chronology

1793	March 2--Sam Houston is born to Major Sam Houston and Elizabeth Paxton Houston. He is the fifth of nine children. Born at Timber Ridge, Rockbridge County, in the Shenandoah Valley. Those Children were: Paxton, Robert, James, John, Sam, Jr., William, Isabella, Mary and Eliza.

1806	September--Major Sam Houston dies suddenly at Dennis Callighan's Tavern near present-day Callaghan, Virginia in Alleghany County, 40 miles west of Timber Ridge while on militia inspections.

1807	April--Mrs. Elizabeth Houston takes her nine children to a farm on Baker Creek in the state of Tennessee, 10 miles south of Maryville in Blount County.

1808	Moved to Maryville, Tennessee in 1808, with his widowed mother, 5 brothers and 3 sisters.

1809	Sam, unhappy with farming and storekeeping, runs away from home to live with the Cherokees on Hiwasee Island in the Tennessee River near present-day Dayton, Tennessee.

1810	September--Sam returns to his family for a short period and then returns to the Cherokees. There, he is adopted by Chief Oo-Loo-Te-Ka and is given the Indian name, "The Raven."

1812	May--Sam returns to Maryville, Tennessee, where he opens a private school. The school is successful and he pays off a $300 debt.

1813	March--Houston enlists in the regular army as a private. August--Houston is promoted to Ensign and is transferred to the 39th Infantry Regiment. December--Houston is promoted to Third Lieutenant.

1814	March--Houston is badly wounded twice at The Battle of Horseshoe Bend during the War of 1812. The battle takes place on the Tallapoosa River near present-day Alexander City, Alabama. His courage in combat catches the attention of General Andrew Jackson. May--Houston is promoted to Second Lieutenant.

1816	Houston is named an Indian sub-agent in Tennessee.

1817	May--Houston is promoted to First Lieutenant.

1818	February--Houston leads a delegation of Cherokees to Washington, D.C. to meet with Secretary of War John C. Calhoun and President James Monroe. While there he is reprimanded by Secretary Calhoun for wearing Indian dress. March 1--Houston resigns his commission in the army over false accusations concerning his involvement in slave trading. Spring--Houston begins reading law in Judge James Trimble's law office in Nashville, Tennessee. Six months later he passes the bar and begins law practice in Lebanon, Tennessee. Spring--Houston is appointed Adjutant General of the state of Tennessee, with the military rank of Colonel.

1819	Houston is nominated and wins the office of Attorney General of the Nashville District in Tennessee.

1821	Resigns to return to private law practice. October--Elected by his fellow officers to the position of Major General in the Tennessee state militia.

1823	Houston is nominated by Andrew Jackson's Democratic Party for the U.S. House of Representatives. He wins the election garnering 100% of the votes.

1826	September 21--Houston badly wounds General William A. White in a duel fought 6 miles south of Franklin, Kentucky.

1827	Houston is elected Governor of Tennessee, replacing two-term Governor William Carrol.

1829	January 22--Houston marries Eliza Allen, 18 year old daughter of Colonel John Allen. Wedding takes place at the Allen plantation on the Cumberland River 3 miles south of Gallatin, Tennessee. January 30--Houston announced as a candidate for re-election as Governor of Tennessee. April 9--Houston and his wife Eliza separate. April 16--Houston resigns as Governor of Tennessee. April 23--Houston departs from Nashville on the steamboat Red River on the Cumberland River. May--Houston is reunited with his adopted Indian father, Chief Oolooteka (John Jolly) on the Arkansas River across from Illinois. July 7--Houston attends a green corn dance and talk at Maynard Bayou, in the Cherokee nation, as John Jolly's representative. Probably meets Tiana Rogers, who would later become his Indian wife. August 12 to September--Houston becomes very ill with malaria and is treated with Indian medicine while staying with Chief Oolooteka (John Jolly), his adopted father. October 21--Houston becomes a Cherokee citizen by admission letter issued at Tahlontuskee, Indian Territory. Mid-December--Houston leaves for Washington to represent the Cherokee Nation.

1830	Late January--Andrew Jackson enthusiastically receives Houston at a reception for the Diplomatic Corps. June 22--Houston's first newspaper column written to defend the position of Indians is published in The Arkansas Gazette under the name Tah-lohn-tusky. Summer--Houston marries Tiana Rogers in a Cherokee Indian ceremony. September 1--Houston and several of his associates purchase the Grand Saline and the land surrounding it from the Osage children of A.P. Chouteau. It is located 25 miles northwest of Fort Gilson

1831	March--The Osage offer to meet with the Creeks, with Houston as one of the negotiators. March-August--Houston represents his Indian wife's brother, John Rogers, when Rogers is dismissed as Cherokee interpreter. May 28--Cherokee Phoenix reports Houston's defeat in the Cherokee elections and states that he is considering moving to the Choctaw Nation. July 6--Houston sells a "third interest" in his purchase of the Grand Saline for $6,500. August-September--Houston returns to Baker County, Tennessee and is at his mother's side when she dies. December 27--Houston boards a steamboat on which Alexis de Tocqueville is a passenger.

1832	January--Houston departs from the steamboat in New Orleans on his way to Washington, D.C. April 2--Remarks of Congressman William Stanbery of Ohio appear in the National Intelligencer alleging fraud by Houston and John Eaton. April 3--Houston writes to Stanbery, asking for an explanation of remarks made by the Congressman April 13--Houston and Stanbery meet on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C. and Houston beats Stanbery with a cane. April 18--The case of Sam Houston goes before the House of Representatives. Francis Scott Key is hired as attorney. May 7--Houston addresses the House of Representatives on his own behalf. He is subsequently reprimanded by the House for the Stanbery caneing. Early June--Houston is in New York City to negotiate trips to Texas. August 18--Houston goes to The Hermitage in Nashville, Tennessee to meet with Andrew Jackson. Jackson is said to have given or loaned money to Houston to go to Texas. October 8--Houston arrives at Cantonment Gibson on the Arkansas and Three Forks Rivers. October 9--Houston meets with Washington Irving. December 10-- Houston crosses the Red River and enters Texas. December 24--Sam Houston's application for head rights in the Texas colony "with the object of acquiring lands for establishing myself" is approved by Stephen F. Austin.

1833	February 13--Houston is in Natchitoches, Louisiana, where he writes a report to Andrew Jackson about prospects for Texas. April 1--Houston is a delegate from Nacogdoches to the Second Convention calling for the state of Texas to be separated from Coahuila. Stephen F. Austin takes the request to Mexico City, where he is imprisoned. April--Houston sets up his law practice in Nacogdoches. November 30--Houston files for divorce from Eliza Allen. December--Houston joins the Roman Catholic Church as required by Mexican law.

1834	September--Houston returns east, to Washington, D.C. and then New York City, to meet with his legal client, The Galveston Bay and Texas Land Company.

1835	October 6--Houston purchases a general's uniform in New Orleans after being named Commander-in-Chief by the Nacogdoches "Committee of Vigilance." November 12--The Texas Provisional Government, on the motion of Merriweather W. Smith, names Sam Houston a Major General in the Texas Army.

1836	January 14--Houston addresses his troops at Goliad and orders Jim Bowie to return to San Antonio and blow up the Alamo. February 2--Defeated as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention from his home town of Nacogdoches, Houston is elected from the Refugio District. February 5--Houston is granted a furlough from the army to travel to an Indian parlay. There he meets with Chief Bowl to arrange a treaty that will protect both the Cherokee and white residents of northern Texas. March 1--Houston is present at the Texas Constitutional Convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos. March 2--Houston celebrates his 43rd birthday as Texas declares its independence from Mexico. March 4--Houston is appointed Major General of the Army of the Republic of Texas-- regular, volunteer, and militia. He is to take immediate command and organize the army. March 5--Houston leaves the convention on route to San Antonio. March 11-- Houston reaches Gonzales where he learns that the Alamo has fallen and all of the defenders killed. March 13--Houston begins his retreat from Gonzales. March 14-April 20--Houston continues his retreat, known as the "Runaway Scrape", moving eastward in a zig-zagging pattern. April 21--At four o'clock p.m., Houston's army of 800 attacks Santa Anna's 1400 man army, and in twenty minutes he wins the decisive Battle of San Jacinto. He loses only 6 killed and 13 wounded, while Santa Anna lost 630 killed and 208 wounded. Houston is wounded by a shot in the lower right leg. April 22--Santa Anna is captured and taken to General Houston where he signs an armistice. May 11--Houston sails from Galveston Island for New Orleans to receive medical attention for wounds received at the Battle of San Jacinto. May 22--Houston lands in New Orleans where he is met by a band and cheering crowds. May 23-June 11--Surgeons remove twenty pieces of bone from the wound while Houston is convalescing at the Christy Mansion in New Orleans. June 12--Houston begins a difficult journey back to Texas after hearing reports that the government is in chaos. September 5--Houston is elected President of the Republic of Texas, receiving 5,119 votes to 743 for Henry Smith and 587 for Stephen F. Austin. Mirabeau B. Lamar is elected Vice-President. October 22-Houston is sworn in as President of the Republic of Texas.

1838	December 10--Houston turns over the Presidency to Vice-President Mirabeau Lamar after two years, in which he stabilized the currency, secured the safety of the borders, and gained recognition by the United States.

1839	May--Houston meets Margaret Lea of Marion, Alabama while on a trip to Mobile, Alabama. Summer--Houston continues his trip through the United States, visiting Andrew Jackson at The Hermitage in Nashville, Tennessee. Summer--Houston returns to Mobile, Alabama where Margaret Lea agrees to be his wife. Summer--Houston returns to Nacogdoches, Texas, where he made a speech denouncing President Lamar's campaign against the Indians, in which Houston's old friend Cherokee Chief Bowl is killed. Fall--Houston is elected a member of the Texas Congress from Nacogdoches.

1840	May 9--Houston marries Margaret Lea in Marion, Alabama.

1841	December 13--Houston takes the oath of office for his second term as President of Texas. He struggles to balance the Texas budget.

1842	March--Houston mobilizes the army to repel a Mexican army which has invaded Texas. September--Santa Anna raids San Antonio with a strong force and Houston retaliates by sending 1200 men into Mexico.

1843	May 25--Sam Houston Jr. born at Washington-on-the-Brazos.

1844	December 14--Houston ends his second Presidency and lays plans to retire to Raven Hill plantation 13 miles east of Huntsville, Texas.

1845	May--Houston and his family begin a trip to visit Andrew Jackson at The Hermitage. June 8--Houston arrives at The Hermitage one hour after President Jackson's death. October--Houston returns to Texas where he speaks in favor of the annexation of Texas to the United States. December 29--Texas is admitted to the United States.

1846	March 12--Houston leaves Texas on his way to Washington, D.C. to serve as one of Texas' first senators. April 15--Senator Houston makes a speech supporting President Polk on the Oregon question, breaking the unwritten rule that freshmen senators are to remain silent. April 23--Mexico declares war against the U.S.

1847	March--Houston buys property in Huntsville to build Woodland Home. September 6--Nancy Elizabeth Houston is born at Raven Hill. December--Houston returns to Washington, D.C.

1848	January 24--Houston is sworn in for his first full term as a U.S. Senator. February 2--The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the war with Mexico. April 13--Margaret Lea Houston is born in Huntsville. August 12--Houston speaks for the Oregon Bill, which would prohibit slavery in the Oregon Territory.

1850	April 9--Mary Willie Houston is born in Huntsville. November 25--Texas ratifies the Texas Section of the series of bills making up the Compromise of 1850. Houston is pleased, having spoken for the Compromise 13 times.

1852	January 20--Antoinette Power Houston, the Houston's fourth daughter, is born in Huntsville. June 29--Henry Clay dies and Houston is one of the senators selected to accompany the body back to Lexington, Kentucky.

1853	January--Houston is elected to his third and last term as a U.S. Senator. November 12--Houston makes a major speech in Austin, defending his Senate record, advocating the development of railroads in Texas.

1854	February 14-15--Houston delivers a major speech on the floor of the Senate opposing the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. June 21--Andrew Jackson Houston is born at Huntsville. November 19--Houston is baptized into the Baptist Church in Independence, Texas.

1857	May 12--Houston declares himself a candidate for Governor of Texas. August 3--Houston is defeated for Governor by Hardin R. Runnels. November 7--John Hemphill is elected to replace Houston in the U.S. Senate. He will take his seat in March, 1859.

1858	February--Houston introduces a resolution proposing the establishment of a U.S. Protectorate over the "so-called Republic of Mexico." May 25--William Rogers Houston is born in Huntsville. Fall--Houston sells his Woodland Home in Huntsville and prepares to move to a sheep range in Cedar Point on Galveston Bay.

1859	February 3--Houston makes a speech on the floor of the Senate condemning Judge John C. Waltrous who had been guilty of corruption while Judge of the Eastern Judicial District of Texas. March 3--Houston's last day as a U.S. Senator June 3--Houston announces that he will be a candidate for Governor of Texas. June 9--Houston makes the only campaign speech of the election at Nacogdoches. August--Texans give Houston a 10,000 vote victory over Hardin R. Runnels in the governor's election. December 21--Houston is inaugurated as Governor of Texas, which has grown to a population of 600,000.

1860	May--Houston runs a close second to John Bell of Tennessee for the nomination of the Union Party for President of the United States. August 12--Temple Houston, the Houston's last child, is born in the Governor's Mansion in Austin.

1861	March 4--The state of Texas secedes from the Union on the same day Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as President of the United States. March 16--Governor Houston refuses to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederate States of America and is deposed as Governor. April 12--The Civil War begins at Ft. Sumpter.

1862	April 6-7--Sam Houston Jr. is badly wounded at The Battle of Shiloh. December--The Houston family moves back to Huntsville and rents the Steamboat House.

1863	July 26--Houston dies of pneumonia in the Steamboat House at Huntsville.