Born on March 2, 1793, in Rockbridge County, Va., Sam Houston was the son of Samuel and Elizabeth Houston. He moved to Tennessee in 1807 with his widowed mother and her family. In 1813 he joined the U.S. Army under Gen. Andrew Jackson, with whom he formed a lifetime friendship and political ties. In Tennessee he taught school, kept a store, served in U.S. Congress, and was governor of the state. In 1829, after his young bride left him, he resigned as governor and went westward. After settling in Nacogdoches in 1833, he became a leader in the cause of Texas independence from Mexico. Elected on March 4, 1836, to command the Army of the Republic, he engineered the retrograde movement that led to victory at San Jacinto and won Texas independence. He served as president of the Republic from 1836 to 1838 and from 1841 to 1844, and after annexation he was a senator. In 1859 he was elected governor and served until secession. In 1861 he declined to take the oath of office in the Confederacy and retired after a quarter-century of service to his state, though he did not oppose the Confederate army enlistment of his young son, Sam Houston, Jr. While the Civil War continued, he died on July 26, 1863, at his home, "Steamboat House," in Huntsville, with his family beside him to hear his last words to his wife: "Texas--, Margaret, Texas--".