Not long after that General Houston fought a great battle near the city which is now called by his name.[7] The Mexicans had more than two men to every one of Houston’s; but the Americans and Texans went into battle shouting the terrible cry “Remember the Alamo!” and the Mexicans fled before them like frightened sheep.  Texas then became an independent state, and elected General Houston its president.  The people of Texas raised a flag having on it a single star.  For this reason it was sometimes called, as it still is, the “Lone Star State.”

[Illustration:  THE “LONE STAR” FLAG.]

Texas was not contented to stand alone; she begged the United States to add her to its great and growing family of states.  This was done[8] in 1845.  But, as we shall presently see, a war soon broke out (1846) between the United States and Mexico, and when that war was ended we obtained a great deal more land at the west.

[Illustration:  Map showing the extent of the United States after we added Texas in 1845.  The black and white bars show that the ownership of the Oregon country was still in dispute between the United States and Great Britain.]

[Footnote 3:  Alamo (Al’a-mo).]

[Footnote 4:  Pioneers:  those who go before to prepare the way for others; the first settlers in a country are its pioneers.]

[Footnote 5:  Travis (Tra’vis).]

[Footnote 6:  Bowie (Bow’e).]

[Footnote 7:  See map in this paragraph.]

[Footnote 8:  See map in this paragraph.]

231.  General Sam Houston in the great war between the North and the South; what he said.—­We have seen the part which General Sam Houston took in getting new country to add to the United States.  He lived in Texas for many years after that.  When, in 1861, the great war broke out between the North and the South, General Houston was governor of the state.  He withdrew from office and went home to his log cabin in Huntsville.  He refused to take any part in the war, for he loved the Union,—­that is, the whole country, North and South together,—­and he said to his wife, “My heart is broken.”  Before the war ended he was laid in his grave.[9]

[Footnote 9:  General Houston was buried at Huntsville, about eighty miles northwest of the city of Houston, Texas.]

232.  Summary.—­General Sam Houston of Tennessee led the people of Texas in their war against Mexico.  The Texans gained the victory, and made their country an independent state with General Houston as its president.  After a time Texas was added to the United States.  We then had a war with Mexico, and added a great deal more land at the west.  General Houston died during the war between the North and the South.

Tell about Sam Houston and the Indians.  Where did Houston go after he became governor of Tennessee?  Where did Houston go next?  What did he say he would do about Texas?  What was David Crockett’s motto?  What is said about Fort Alamo?  What about the battle with the Mexicans?  What did Texas become?  To what office was Houston elected?  What is said of the Texas flag?  When was Texas added to the United States?  What war then broke out?  What did we get by that war?  What is said of General Houston in the great war between the North and the South?