Happy Birthday, Sam Houston!

In addition to marking Texas Independence Day, March 2nd is also the birthday of one of Texas' greatest heroes and our city's namesake: Sam Houston. In honor of his 216th birthday, Houstonist would like to share some fun trivia about the man who served as the first president of the Republic of Texas and seventh governor of the State of Texas.

Despite becoming a Texas legend later in life, he was born Samuel Houston (no middle name) in Lexington, Virginia on March 2, 1793.
He fought alongside Andrew Jackson during the War of 1812 and was injured twice: once by a Creek Indian arrow and once by bullets to the shoulder and arm. Jackson and Houston became fast friends and Houston was, at one time, considered President Jackson's protege.
Houston served as a Congressman for and the seventh governor of Tennessee before coming to Texas.
His friendship with President Jackson would later become strained due to Houston's excessive drinking and abandonment of both his 18-year-old wife and the Tennessee governor's office.
He left Tennessee in a cloud of controversy, having been put on trial for assaulting a political rival with a hickory cane. The rival, Congressman William Stanbery of Ohio, managed to draw his gun on Houston and fired it point-blank into Houston's chest. The gun misfired, sparing Houston.
His lawyer at the trial was none other than Francis Scott Key, who would later write our national anthem. Key wasn't a very good lawyer, since Houston was found guilty of the assault. Houston later fled the country instead of paying a $500 fine.
For a brief time before coming to Texas, Houston lived among the Cherokee Indians and ran a trading post near Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. He continued to drink heavily and married a Cherokee woman, but she refused to accompany him to Texas, where he would ultimately find glory.
In 1836, Houston was appointed commander-in-chief of the Texian Army after fighting in several other battles and being promoted to Major General. It was Houston's cunning that won the pivotal Battle of San Jacinto -- and the entire Texas Revolution -- after he and his men surprised General Santa Anna and his troops during their afternoon siesta.
The Allen brothers founded the City of Houston in 1836 in honor of the newly-christened war hero. It conveniently served as the capital of the Republic of Texas until 1839 when political rival and second president of the Republic, Mirabeau B. Lamar, moved it to Austin.
After Texas was annexed by the United States, Houston served as a senator and later as governor of Texas. His strong stance against seceding from the Union and refusal to pledge his support for the Confederacy alienated him from Texans and other southern states, eventually sullying his grand reputation in his own home state.
Although most people attribute the famous saying, "A nation divided against itself cannot stand" to Abraham Lincoln, it was actually Sam Houston who first made that remark, a full eight years before Lincoln borrowed the phrase. Houston was a renowned orator and made impassioned speeches against the impending Civil War and the extension of slavery, despite being a slaveowner himself.
Houston died of pneumonia in Huntsville at the age of 70, his third wife Margaret Moffette Lea at his side. His last words were, "Texas. Texas, Margaret."
The statue of Sam Houston by sculptor David Addickes is -- at 67 feet tall -- the largest freestanding statue of an American figure in the world. The statue was erected in Huntsville in part because Sam Houston State University is located there, but also because Huntsville is Sam Houston's final resting place.