It was a long time before he was well and strong again, but he
had made a firm friend in Andrew Jackson.
Later Houston studied law and began a successful practice. He became so
popular in Tennessee that the people elected him to many positions of
honor and trust, the last of which was that of governor. About that time
he was married, but a few weeks later he and his wife separated. Then,
suddenly and without giving any reason for his strange conduct, he left
his home and his State and went far up the Arkansas River to the home of
his early friends the Cherokee Indians. The Cherokees had been removed to
that distant country, beyond the Mississippi, by the United States
Government.
About a year later Houston, wearing the garb of his adopted tribe, went in
company with some of them to Washington. His stated purpose was to secure
a contract for furnishing rations to the Cherokees.
But another purpose was in his mind. He had set his heart on winning Texas
for the United States. Perhaps he talked over the scheme with his friend,
President Jackson. However that may be, we know that some three years
afterward Houston again left his Cherokee friends and went to Texas to
live.
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