Sam Houston: American Statesman, Soldier, and Pioneer (2013)

Sam Houston (1793-1863) is remembered today primarily for his activities in Texas, but n fact he was also a giant of the frontier and a dominant American political figure in the 1800s. This path breaking film is the first to document Sam Houston's remarkable life, in which viewers will find surprising points of identification: the teen-aged runaway who fled his controlling family to live with the Indians, the rejected husband who learned too late that his wife did not love him, the alcoholic forced to choose between ruin and sobriety -very modern sounding challenges. Yet Sam Houston lived out a triumphant American story: the only person ever to govern two states, conquering general, two-term President of the Republic of Texas, U.S. House member, U.S. Senator, and at the end a southerner banished from power and hated for his devotion to the Union. No one who learns Sam Houston's story will ever see American history the same way again.