HISTORY
History of
FORT SAM HOUSTON
General Sam Houston he namesake of the post, Sam Houston, was born in Virginia on March 2, 1793. At age 15, he left home in Tennessee and was adopted by the Cherokee tribe. Houston was called “The Raven” by the Cherokees. He returned to Maryville, Tennessee, and became a schoolmaster. Enlisting in the Army during the War of 1812, Houston rose to the rank of First Lieutenant. Wounded three times at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend in Alabama serving under General Andrew Jackson, he resigned from the Army in 1818 and became an Indian Agent. Houston studied law and was elected prosecuting attorney and was then appointed a major general of the Tennessee Militia. At age 30, he became a Congressman from Tennessee and four years later, Governor. Houston married in 1829, but shortly afterward his wife left him. He resigned from the office and rejoined the Cherokees. There, he decided his destiny awaited him in Texas. Houston arrived in Texas in 1832, became involved in the struggle for independence, and on November 12, 1835, he was elected Major General of the Texas Army. He was delegate to the Convention if 1836 and signed the Declaration of
Independence on March 2. On March 11, he was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Texas Army at Gonzales. Withdrawing to the east, Houston decisively defeated the Mexican Army under General Santa Ana at San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. Sam Houston was elected President of the Republic of Texas under the Constitution of 1836 and took office in October 1836. After the annexation of Texas by the United States, Houston was elected to the U.S. Senate and served from 1846 until 1859. Elected as the seventh Governor of Texas in 1859, he opposed secession from the union. When Texas seceded from the Union, Houston refused to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy and was deposed on March 16, 1861. He retired to his farm in Huntsville, where he died on July 26, 1863
Fort Sam Houston
The U.S. Army has maintained a presence in the Alamo city since 1845. During that time, the installation has performed five distinct and important roles: headquarters, logistical base, mobilization and training site, garrison and provider of medical support.
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At first, the Army leased facilities in the City of San Antonio, including its most famous landmark, the Alamo. In fact, the Army repaired the Alamo structure and added a roof so it could be used as a headquarters. In 1876, the Army began to move its facilities to the present site of Fort Sam Houston upon completion of the Quadrangle. The post has since increased in size from the original 92 acres donated to the Army by the city, to approximately 3,000 acres today. As it expanded, additional facilities were built to meet the Army’s needs. The headquarters and garrison have always constituted one of the Army’s most important commands. Prior to the Civil War, the headquarters controlled 25 percent of the Army’s forces. From 1910 until World War II, Fort Sam Houston was the largest Army post in the continental United States. Many of America’s most distinguished soldiers have served here, including no less than 13 Army Chiefs of Staff and two United States presidents. The post’s prominence led to significant tactical and organizational innovations. Military aviation was born here in the 1910s and revitalized during the 1940s and 1950s. Large scale troop maneuvers have
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