# Sam Houston Sam Houston (1793–1863) was the general who commanded the Texian army to victory at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, effectively winning the [[Texas Revolution]], and later served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas, as a U.S. senator, and as governor of Texas. Houston is the central figure of the Texan founding narrative — the counterpart to the martyrs of the [[Alamo]] in the state's origin mythology. His later career complicated the heroic image: as governor on the eve of the Civil War, Houston opposed secession and was removed from office when he refused to swear loyalty to [[The Confederacy]] — a Unionist stance that set him apart from the slaveholding order the Republic he founded had entrenched. ## See Also - [[Texas Revolution]] - [[Alamo]] - [[The Confederacy]] - [[Texas History Hub]]