General Sam Houston Legacy

1452 Words6 Pages

In this day in age there are many schools and organizations named after the great General Sam Houston, but very few people have heard of what his slaves did for him and the legacy they left. Joshua Houston, one of the slaves owned by General Sam Houston, played a crucial part in the way Texas is today; he was an influential politician, a supporter of equal rights for all, and a church pacesetter. Born in 1822 and raised on a plantation near Marion, Alabama, Joshua Houston worked as a slave for Temple Lea until Lea died in 1834 (Littlejohn and Bowman). Afterwards, Joshua Houston was passed down to Margaret Lea, Temple’s daughter (Littlejohn and Bowman). Margaret Lea, not long after she inherited Joshua Houston, moved to Texas to be …show more content…

With these talents, he helped General Sam Houston build the Houston in Raven Hill, thirteen miles east of Huntsville, supervised the household while General Sam Houston was away, and went to political meetings with General Sam Houston. While aiding General Sam Houston in his political affairs, Joshua Houston met some of the most important men in the state. In the 1850’s General Sam Houston allowed Joshua Houston to be a stagecoach and keep part of the money he earned (Littlejohn and Bowman). Not long after that, in the fall of 1862, General Sam Houston read about Abraham Lincoln 's Emancipation Proclamation and freed all of his slaves, but Joshua Houston, like many of the other slaves, stayed with General Sam Houston until his death in July 1863 (Littlejohn and Bowman). After General Sam Houston’s death, Joshua Houston moved to …show more content…

Sorrowfully, Joshua Houston died on January eighth, 1902, but the legacy he left behind has lived far beyond what anyone could imagine. Joshua Houston’s four daughters and three sons: Lucy Houston, Julie Houston, Ellen Houston, Minnie Houston, Joe Houston, Joshua Houston Jr., and Samuel Houston, carried on his dream for education for all (Prather and Monday xv, xvi, xvii and 200). The first of Joshua Houston’s children to be born in 1836 was Joe Houston, who lived with his mother and sister, Lucy Houston, in Crockett, Texas, but died in his farming days (Prather and Monday 233). Lucy Houston was known by her successors as a strong willed woman and died around 1916 (Prather and Monday 234). In 1848 Joshua Houston brought his third child to the world, Julie Houston, was known for having a beautiful yard filled with flowers (Prather and Monday 234). Ellen Houston, born in 1856, married twice and lived in Chicago (Prather and Monday 237). Joshua Houston Jr. was born fifth in 1861 and married Carolina Orviss on October eleventh 1898(Prather and Monday xvi and 184). Minnie Houston was born last in 1875 and had the most freedom out of all of her siblings; she was born ten years after slavery ended and was the most educated child along with her older brother Samuel Houston, who was born in 1864(Prather and Monday 237). Samuel Walker Houston, one of the more well known children of Joshua Houston’s, established his own school and inspired a new generation to strengthen Joshua