Excerpt: “Sam Houston should justly be regarded as a great American. He laid his course and steered by it utterly regardless of the opposition. Strong characters are known as much by the enemies that they make as by the friends that they retain. When they launch into a course that they deem is right, they do not depend upon fair winds. They go ahead, if they have real faith. Threats, ridicule and dangers do not daunt them. Sometimes they may pause, to renew their courage; but they proceed again on the same line Such a character was Sam Houston. To his friends he was loyal; to his enemies he was unyielding; his ideals were high; and he loved his country. Whatever he undertook, he undertook with his whole might, in spite of censure and discouragements. This book deals with him chiefly as the six-months’ general who, out of seeming defeat, achieved the triumph of Texas arms, and at one stroke established Texas independence. But we ought to admire him as a patriot statesman, rather than as a military commander. Some other commander could have won the victory for Texas. Freedom, well or poorly led, cannot be conquered by oppression. Justice cannot be combatted, forever, by injustice. But few other men have had Sam Houston’s rugged courage."
