The purchase of Louisiana from the French brought the United States in direct contact with Mexico, which claimed a great territory in the southwest, and, finally, in 1819, a line between the possessions of the two countries was agreed upon.  It left Mexico in possession of the wide stretch of country now included in the states of California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.  Most of this country was practically unknown to Americans, and the great stretches of arid land which comprised large portions of it were considered worthless and uninhabitable.  But a good many Americans had drifted across the border into the fertile plains of Texas, and settled there.  As time went on, the stream of immigration increased, until there were in the country enough American settlers to take a prominent part in the revolt of Mexico against Spain in 1824.  The revolt was successful, and the country which had discovered the New World lost her last foothold there.

The settlers in Texas, coming as they did largely from the southern states, were naturally slave-holders, but in 1829, Mexico abolished slavery, an action which greatly enraged them.  It is startling to reflect that a country which we consider so inferior to ourselves should have preceded us by over thirty years in this great step forward in civilization.  In other ways, the Mexican yoke was not a pleasant one to the Texans, and within a few years, the whole country was in a state of seething insurrection.  President Jackson was eager to annex Texas, whose value to the Union he fully recognized, and offered Mexico five million dollars for the province, but the offer was refused.  Such was the condition of affairs when, in 1833, Sam Houston appeared upon the scene.

The story of the life of this extraordinary man reads like a fable.  Born in Virginia in 1793, he was taken to Tennessee at the age of thirteen, and promptly began his career by running away from home and joining the Cherokee Indians.  When his family found him, he refused to return home, and the next seven years were spent largely in the wilderness with his savage friends.  The wild life was congenial to him, and he grew up rough and head-strong and healthy.  Then the Creek war broke out, and Houston enlisted with Andrew Jackson.  One incident of that war gives a better insight into Houston’s character than volumes of description.  At the battle of the Horseshoe, where the Creeks made a desperate stand, a barbed arrow struck Houston in the thigh and sank deep into the flesh.  He tried to pull it out and failed.

“Here,” he called to a comrade, “pull out this arrow.”

The other took hold of the shaft of the arrow and pulled with all his might, but could not dislodge it.

“I can’t get it out,” he said, at last.

“Oh, yes, you can!” cried Houston, and raised his sword.  “Pull it out, or it’ll be worse for you!”

The soldier saw he was in earnest, and, taking hold of the arrow again, gave it a mighty wrench.  It came out, but the barbs of the arrow tore the flesh badly.  Houston, however, paused only to tie up the wound roughly, and hurried back into the fight, though Jackson ordered him to the rear.  Before long, two bullets struck him down, and he lay between life and death for many days.