ased upon representations from
the government at Washington. He rose steadily in the service, and in
1813, during the second war with England, led an assault upon Little
York, now Toronto. The town was captured, but the fleeing British
exploded a powder magazine, and General Pike was crushed and killed
beneath the flying fragments. He died with his head on the British flag,
which had been hauled down and brought to him.

The next step to be recorded in the growth of the United States is a
step variously regarded as infamous or glorious--but it was marked by
one of the most heroic incidents in history, and dominated by the
picturesque and remarkable personality of Sam Houston.

The purchase of Louisiana from the French brought the United States in
direct contact with Mexico, which claimed a great territory in the
southwest, and, finally, in 1819, a line between the possessions of the
two countries was agreed upon. It left Mexico in possession of the wide
stretch of country now included in the states of California, Nevada,
Utah, Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. Most of this
country was practically unknown to Americans, and the great stretches of
arid land which comprised large portions of it were considered worthless
and uninhabitable. But a good many Americans had drifted across the
border into the fertile plains of Texas, and settled there. As time went
on, the stream of immigration increased, until there were in the country
enough American settlers to take a prominent part in the revolt of
Mexico against Spain in 1824. The revolt was successful, and the country
which had discovered the New World lost her last foothold there.

The settlers in Texas, coming as they did largely from the southern
states, were naturally slave-holders, but in 1829, Mexico abolished
slavery, an action which greatly enraged them. It is startling to
reflect that a country which we consider so inferior to ourselves should
have preceded us by over thirty years in this great step forward in
civilization. In other ways, the Mexican yoke was not a pleasant one to
the Texans, and within a few years, the whole country was in a state of
seething insurrection. President Jackson was eager to annex Texas, whose
value to the Union he fully recognized, and offered Mexico five million
dollars for the province, but the offer was refused. Such was the
condition of affairs when, in 1833, Sam Houston appeared upon the scene.

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