We visited the Sam Houston Museum & Statute (which you can see as you drive along I-45 in Huntsville). Who is Sam Houston? Husband, father, attorney, statesman, warrior, United States Senator, Governor of Texas. General Sam Houston was born in Rockbridge County, Virginia on March 2, 1793. He was the son of Major Sam and Elizabeth Paxton Houston and descendant of Sir Hugh of Padivan, the founder of Hughstown Castle of Scotland.
Sam Houston was a Congressman and Governor in Tennessee. Sam Houston arrived in Texas in 1832; was a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence on March 2, 1836. He was Commander-in-Chief of the Texas Revolutionary Army; victor at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. He was President of the Republic of Texas twice; Congressman of the Republic of Texas; United States Senator from Texas, and then Governor of Texas. He died in Huntsville, Texas on July 26, 1863.
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| Sam Houston, 1793-1863 |
The Houston family came to America in 1735 as part of a large migration of Scots-Irish to the English colonies. Thousands of Scottish farmers had settled in northern Ireland during the 17th century, but many crossed the Atlantic Ocean for better economic opportunities before the American Revolution. Like other Scots-Irish, Sam Houston's great-grandfather, John Houston, settled on inexpensive frontier land in what was then Lancaster County near present day Carlisle, PA. A few years later the Houston family moved to the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.
Samuel Houston, Sam's father, fought in the American Revolution as an officer in the Continental Army. When the war ended in 1783, he married Elizabeth Paxton and served as an inspector of the Virginia militia. The couple settled at the Timber Ridge in Rockbridge County, where Sam, the fifth of nine children, was born on March 2, 1793.
Samuel Houston died in 1806 during an inspection trip. As planned, Elizabeth sold the farm, paid off the debts, and traveled the popular wilderness road west, settling the family on a farm near Maryville, Tennessee. The Houstons started a new life there among relatives who had migrated to the frontier settlement earlier.
Young Sam avoided farm work at every opportunity, instead finding inspiration in books. His favorite work, The Iliad, sparked heroic dreams in the boy, who dropped out of school when the instructor refused to teach him Greek and Latin. At his brother's insistence, Sam went to work in the family's dry goods store, but hated the drudgery of a clerk's life. Sam said he preferred measuring deer tracks to measuring tape. He enjoyed spending his days exploring the countryside, where he befriended the Cherokee Indians. To avoid responsibility, he ran away to join a group of Cherokees on Hiwassee Island in the Tennessee River, where Chief Oolooteka (John Jolly) adopted Sam and named him Co-lon-neh (the Raven).
After three years, Houston realized he had to face his obligations and returned to Maryville in 1812. He opened a school to pay off his debts. He taught only one six-month term, but the experience made a lasting impression. Later in life, he said of teaching, "I experienced a higher feeling of dignity and self-satisfaction than from any office or honor which I have since held."
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| Margaret Lea Houston, 1819-1867 |
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| Margaret Lea Houston's Trousseau |
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| Houston Woodland Home |
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| Steamboat House |
The Woodland Home was Sam and Margaret Lea Houston's main home. They were married on May 9, 1840, when Sam was 47 and Margaret 21. Four of their eight children were born here. Houston owned over 200 acres of land in Huntsville, much of which was managed as a working farm. Since Sam was often away from home in Washington, D.C., Margaret managed the farm with the help of their slave, Joshua.
This is a typical dogtrot house, consisting of two log rooms connected by a covered dogtrot, or breezeway. There are hand-hewn logs underneath the clapboard walls. Downstairs is the parlor and master bedroom. The round top marble table, mirror and red settee in the parlor are identified as original Houston pieces.
There are actually two homes that belonged to Sam Houston. The Woodland Home, built in 1847, is on its original site. In 1858, Houston sold the Woodland Home to pay off campaign debts before moving the family to Austin. In 1862, Houston and his family returned to Huntsville after he was removed from the governorship for refusing to take the oath of the Confederacy. Because of financial reasons, Sam could not afford to buy back the Woodland property. Houston then rented the Steamboat House. Houston died in the Steamboat house on July 26, 1863.
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| The Houston Children |
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| The Houston Kitchen |
This building is a replica of the original Houston kitchen. The kitchen is one of the busiest and most important places on the farm. In addition to food preparation, they also used the building to make candles and soap, do laundry and bathe. The person who operated the kitchen was their slave Eliza. Eliza was given to Margaret in 1834 at the death of Margaret's father, Temple Lea. Eliza came to Texas with Margaret and remained with the Houston family even after both Sam and Margaret had died. It is through Eliza that we have the recipes of the food eaten on the Houston farm. Cooks often slept in the kitchen in order to protect their supplies and restart the fire early in the morning. Cooking was not done directly over a flame; instead, coals were pulled out on the hearth, and the food was cooked over the coals using Dutch ovens or kettles.
It was not uncommon for Southern kitchens to be built away from the main house. Southern homeowners did not want their houses warmer in the summer from cooking; kitchens frequently burned down due to the large amount of grease was was cooked daily, and in order to keep the house safe.
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| Houston Law Office |
During the ten years Sam Houston lived on this farm he served as a U.S. Senator. Houston family tradition tells us that Houston's law books and papers were kept in his office and that only Joshua, his trusted servant, was allowed in to 'straighten up.' Here Houston could retreat from his young and growing family to consider his votes on the important issues facing the country.
In 1850, Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky introduced a series of bills designed to avert the serious sectional differences between the North and South that threatened the Union. The passage of these bills, dealing with California Statehood, the fugitive slave law, the organization of New Mexico and Utah territories, slavery in the District of Columbia, and the adjustment of Texas' western boundary, became known as the Compromise of 1850. Because of Sam Houston's conviction to preserve the Union and to the dismay of many Southerners, he was the only Senator from the South to vote for all the bills of the "Compromise," helping to insure their passage.
Again in 1854, another crisis arose with the introduction of Illinois Senator Stephen Douglas' bill to divide the land west of Iowa and Missouri into two territories, Kansas and Nebraska. This bill proposed the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, which had established the line prohibiting slavery north of 36 deg. 30' and allowed the two new territories the right to 'popular sovereignty' to decide on the slavery question. Although the legislation passed with strong support from the South, Sam Houston warned the Senate of the serious consequences for the Union and and was one of only two southern senators who voted against the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Was it here in this small cabin that Houston struggled with these and other decisions gathering his strength to maintain this convictions?
In 1857, Houston knew that his unpopular stands would cost him his seat in the Senate, but his political career was far from over. He was planning another race - Governor of Texas. During this difficult campaign his running mates and other important Texans must have stopped by Houston's Law Office to seek his advice and discuss political strategies.
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| Inside the Law Office |
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| Joshua's Forge |
This building is named in honor of the person who was the blacksmith and factotum for the Houston family until emancipation. Joshua was considered family, taking "Houston" for his last name after emancipation. As a blacksmith, he made essential items needed to maintain the Houston farm. The Houston family depended quite a lot on his wisdom, talent and integrity to keep it in good working order. During his time with the Houstons, he was allowed to continue his studies in reading, writing and mathematics. He became a trusted member of the community. After the Civil War, as a freed man, Joshua used his skills and life-savings to become a prominent business owner and leading promoter of education for the Black community in Huntsville and Walker County.
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| Joshua "Houston" |
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| Surrender of Santa Anna |
The Battle of San Jacinto took place on April 21, 1836, in present-day Pasadena, Texas, and was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Samuel Houston, the Texan Army engaged and defeated General Antonio López de Santa Anna's Mexican army in a fight that lasted just 18 minutes.
Anson Jones took office as the last president of Texas in 1844, as James K. Polk won the United States Presidency on a pro-annexation platform. An 1843 annexation treaty had failed when northern senators voted against the addition of another slave state. After Polk's victory, Tyler convinced Congress to pass a joint resolution requiring a simple majority supporting annexation. Texas joined the Union on December 29, 1845, as the 28th state. On February 19, 1846, President Anson Jones addressed the crowd declaring, "The final act in this great drama is now performed; the Republic of Texas is no more." As the Lone Star flag was lowered over the capitol in Austin, Houston stepped out of the crowd and gathered it in his arms.
Texas annexation soured United States' relations with Mexico. Mexico never accepted the result of San Jacinto and still maintained its claim to Texas. Even worse, Mexico claimed the Nueces River as the boundary with Texas, while the United States claimed the Rio Grande. To protect the new state, Polk sent an army under General Zachary Taylor to the Nueces.
When Polk entered office in early 1845, he was facing two possible wars. Mexico regarded the annexation of Texas as an act of war. At the same time, the United States and Britain nearly came to blows over ownership of the Oregon Territory (Modern Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia). Fortunately, the Oregon crisis ended with a compromise.
The annexation of Texas and Polk's desire to acquire California led to war with Mexico. The president believed in the "Manifest Destiny" of the United States to expand to the Pacific. When United States troops marched to the Rio Grande in April 1846, Mexico considered this an invasion of its territory and attacked Taylor's army, leading Congress to declare war.
The Mexican War faced opposition in Congress from northerners who viewed the conflict as a land grab to expand slavery. Houston, representing Texas in the United States Senate, staunchly supported Polk and the war effort. The Texan argued that Mexico had brought war on itself by refusing to recognize annexation.
Texas played a major role in the Mexican War. The first battles occurred north of the Rio Grande and the state provided three volunteer regiments to Taylor's army. Texas Rangers served alongside United States Army troops throughout the fighting, which lasted until Mexico City fell in September 1847.
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| Abraham Lincoln |
In 1859 Houston won the Governor's election with a campaign in which he only made one speech, and Texas entered the Election of 1860 with a strong Unionist governor. The Democratic party lost the election of 1860 by dividing between northern candidate Stephen Douglas and southern candidate John C. Breckinridge, thus ensuring the the victory of Republican Abraham Lincoln. Fearing that the South would secede if Lincoln won, Houston backed John Bell of the new Constitutional Union Party.
When Lincoln won the Presidency, pro-slavery southerners feared that he would destroy their "Peculiar Institution." The Deep South states from South Carolina to Louisiana left the Union in the next few months, forming the Confederate States of America in early 1861, and electing Jefferson Davis president.
In the first months of 1861, Governor Houston sought to delay the decision by first calling for a secession convention and then a popular vote on the question of leaving the Union. Houston even suggested restoring the Republic of Texas. President-elect Lincoln offered Houston federal troops to keep Texas in the Union, but the governor refused to fight against his own people. Texas did not heed the warnings of their governor and voted to secede and join the Confederate States of America. In a final blow, the Legislature removed Houston from office in March 1861, when he refused to swear allegiance to the Confederacy.
In September 1867, Texas was ravaged with Yellow Fever. Various stories report that the yellow fever epidemic of 1867 likely originated in the coastal town of Indianola, Texas, and was carried to Galveston, into Houston, and then into other parts of Texas. They mysterious nature and quick spread of the disease caused many to panic and fear for their lives. Quickly, and by the dozens, people began to flee from their homes in search of refuge away from the terrible illness. Those who could not flee and escape the disease hid themselves inside their homes until the threat was deemed to have passed.
Huntsville experienced the terrors of yellow fever for the first time in 1867, having once believed the town to be a city of refuge from the disease. In November 1867, Margaret Houston made a stop at her home in Independence. With the cold months coming on, people thought that the threat of yellow fever had lessened. Just a few days after being back in Independence, Margaret began showing the signs of yellow fever. With no doctor present, Margaret took to her bed, with two of her daughters by her side. She stayed in a delirious state for two days drifting in and out of consciousness before slipping into a coma. She died December 3, 1867. Because of the hysteria surrounding yellow fever and the fear of contagion, Margaret's wishes of being buried next to her husband in Huntsville would never come to pass. Instead she was buried within hours of her death in a grave next to her mother's vault in Independence.
The first recorded case of yellow fever in the Americas was in Barbados in 1647 after the arrival of a slave ship from Africa. Likely stowed away in the ship's cargo hold was an infected female mosquito, which then fed on the ship's unsuspecting passengers, infecting them with the disease and causing it to spread. For centuries yellow fever plagued the coastal regions of the United States and other parts of the world.
It was known that cases of yellow fever spiked in the summer months and seemed to cease in the first frost, however, the exact cause remained a mystery, and fear and hysteria surrounded the dreaded, and oftentimes deadly, disease.
In 1867, Texas would experience the deadliest yellow fever epidemic in its history, having battled the disease almost yearly since Texas became an independent republic in 1836. By the end of the year, 4,000 people had died. Dr. Ashbel Smith, ex-Surgeon General for the Texan army and family friend of the Houstons, contributed to the research and understanding of yellow fever in his 1839 report, An Account of the Yellow Fever. He had deduced with his research of the disease that unsanitary conditions and unfilled marshes were a contributing factor in the cause and spread of yellow fever, yet it wouldn't be until 1900 that the connection between yellow fever and mosquitos would be made.
Yellow fever cannot be transmitted from person to person. You can only get yellow fever from the bite of an infected mosquito. In mild cases, the symptoms are almost flu-like: headache, fever, chills, and body aches. In more extreme cases, some people experienced an extremely high fever, jaundice, and bleeding of the gums, nose and stomach lining. Because of the partially digested blood in the stomach, the person would produce something called "black vomit." As death approaches, people are delirious, have convulsions, coma, with death resulting from damage to the liver, kidneys, heart, and blood vessels.
The treatment for yellow fever in 1839, according to Dr. Ashbel Smith: "When called to a patient, if the excitement is fairly developed, I immediately bleed him in a sitting posture till slight faintness, or a mitigation of the pains is produced ... At the same time, I order a strong hot mustard bath for the feet, and applied as high up in the extremities as can conveniently be done ... For a beverage I prescribe warm tamarind water or any warm mild tea, as sage tea in moderate quantity."
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| Instruments for bloodletting |
After we toured the museum, we headed to lunch and then to see the statute. We travel up and down I-45 and see Sam Houston's statute along the interstate and have always wanted to stop. The statute was just down the road off of Texas 75 in the city of Huntsville.
The statute is named "A Tribute to Courage" by David Adickes, but is often dubbed "Big Sam." To create "Big Sam" Adickes needed to transform 30 tons of concrete and steel into the bigger than life monument. Adickes started the project in early 1992, and was not exactly sure how he would accomplish the task. He admitted that it was really a work of engineering without a blueprint.
All tools used during the building of the statute were put inside the cement mixer and lowered through the head to the heart, to forever be the heart of the project.
Positioning the right arm was a major undertaking.
Slight miscalculations where the two torso pieces joined translated into major, time-consuming corrections.
I was expecting to see the San Jacinto monument in this picture. The San Jacinto Monument is 567.31 feet tall. I guess it's taller than all of the above statutes, and that is why it is not shown as a comparison. I had no idea it was taller than the Statute of Liberty.
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| Freemason Insignia |
The most well-known Freemason symbol, “The Square and Compasses,” depicts a builder’s square joined by a compass. The “G” at its center remains subject to dispute; some experts at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for example, believe the “G” in the symbol’s center represents geometry, a critical field to the first Freemasons, while others believe it represents God, the “Grand Architect of the Universe.” The Square and Compasses remains a popular symbol on Masonic rings.
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