He was destined to defy the odds long before Texas ever knew his name.

One of the most controversial and contradictory figures in American history, Sam Houston was a hero of two wars, badly wounded in both, famous for his marathon speeches, and known as a prodigious drinker, brawler, and carouser. A runaway teenager adopted by a Cherokee chief, he found a father figure in the tribe-while his other mentor, Andrew Jackson, would guide him for more than thirty years.

From his rough frontier upbringing and years among the Cherokee to his muddle-headed bravery at the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, Houston's early life was a grand adventure shaped by conflict and contradiction.

In a raw young Washington, Houston had his first taste of national politics and made his mark as an adroit politician. Elected governor of Tennessee, he faced a brief and tumultuous term before scandal forced him out of office-just as he would be forced out again years later. Even after a stunning fall from grace and a brutal street brawl with an Ohio congressman, Houston found a way to recover, never content to stay down for long.