An Excerpt from Texas Got it Right!:
No single name is more revered in Texas than that of Sam Houston. Not because that name has been given to countless schools, libraries, and public spaces, and to our biggest city. No, Sam Houston is revered by Texans because the man deserves it. He led the Battle of San Jacinto, which won the Texas War of Independence. Then he became the first president of the fledgling Republic of Texas. Then, three years after his first term ended, he came back for a second, out of sheer love and duty.
When the Lone Star Nation became a U.S. state, the people elected him senator. Then they elected him governor.
And let’s not forget that before Sam Houston became Texas’s most famous Texan, he’d already started the first primary school in Tennessee (though he’d received little formal education of his own), been a congressman and governor for that state, fought against the mistreament of Indians before Congress, and taken a bullet in the War of 1812.
Read more about Sam Houston in Texas Got It Right!