Big Sam: A great American

We’ve been looking at unique Americans as we celebrate 250 years of America. Sam Houston (1793-1863) is about as unique as they come.

As a teenager, he was fascinated with “The Iliad” and other classics and lived almost three years with a Cherokee tribe in Tennessee. I think they taught him some skills that came in handy later. At 19, this self-taught man was hired to be a schoolmaster at a one-roo…