[Illustration: SCENE OF HOUSTON'S CAMPAIGN] [Sidenote: =Houston elected president of Texas=] Houston had been badly wounded, and sailed to New Orleans for medical care. He returned to be elected first president of the "Lone Star Republic," as Texas was called. He was reëlected for a second term and served his country well. [Sidenote: =Annexation of Texas=] Houston wanted Texas made a part of the United States. This was afterwards done, and war followed with Mexico. In 1845 Texas sent Houston to the United States Senate, where he served his state for fourteen years. He was devoted to our national Union. He died in 1863. DAVID CROCKETT, GREAT HUNTER AND HERO OF THE ALAMO [Sidenote: =Crockett found his schooling in the woods=] =143. A Brave Backwoodsman.= At the close of the Revolution, Tennessee was still largely a wilderness. Here David Crockett was born in 1786. In those days schools on the frontier were few and poor, and young "Davy" found most of his schooling in the backwoods. He learned to know the woods and streams and the animals that lived in them. As a boy he spent most of his time hunting and trapping. As a young man he was one of the most famous rifle shots in the United States. When the Creek War broke out, he enlisted under Andrew Jackson to march against the Indians. The young rifleman fought so well under "Old Hickory" that Tennessee made him a colonel. [Sidenote: =Elected to Congress=] He had become a famous hunter and fighter. He thought he would try politics next. Instead of making political speeches, he went about from place to place telling stories. The people liked both him and his stories so well that they elected him to the legislature. A few years later they sent him to Congress. [Sidenote: =Returns to the wilderness=] [Sidenote: =Joins the fight at the Alamo=] By and by Crockett grew tired of civilization. He wanted to get back to the wilderness. His old home was too well settled to suit him. So he wandered to Texas. Here he heard that the Mexicans were surrounding the Americans at San Antonio. "Davy" Crockett loved a good fight too well to stay away. He hastened to join the small band of brave men who were defending the Alamo. All could have escaped had they chosen to do so, but with iron courage these hundred and forty stayed and defied Santa Ana's thousands. For several days the Mexicans were held at a distance. They dared not bring their cannon close to the building, for the concealed sharpshooters picked off the men who tried to man the guns. Old Crockett himself laid low five men in charge of one cannon. [Illustration: MAP OF THE WEST AFTER THE WAR WITH MEXICO _Showing the territory added to the United States after the Louisiana Purchase_] [Sidenote: =David Crockett fights to the last=]