IN: Sam Houston was the fifth son of Major Samuel Houston and Elizabeth Paxton. Houston's paternal ancestry is often traced to his great-great grandfather Sir John Houston, who built a family estate in Scotland in the late seventeenth century. His second son John Houston emigrated to Ulster, Ireland, during the Ulster plantation period. Under the system of primogeniture, he did not inherit the estate.

Houston's political reputation suffered further due to the publicity related to the trial for his assault of Stanbery. He left for Texas in December 1832 and was immediately swept up in the politics of what was still a part of the Mexican state of Coahuila, attending the Convention of 1833 as representative for Nacogdoches. Houston emerged as a supporter of William Harris Wharton and his brother, who promoted independence from Mexico. This was the more radical position of the American settlers and Tejanos in Texas. He also attended the Consultation of 1835, and the Texas Army commissioned him as Major General in November 1835. He negotiated a peace settlement with the Cherokee of East Texas in February 1836 to allay their fears about independence.  Houston was selected as Commander-in-Chief at the convention to declare Texan independence in March 1836, and he signed the Texas Declaration of Independence on March 2, 1836, his 43rd birthday. Mexican soldiers killed almost all of those at the Alamo Mission at the end of a 13-day siege on March 6. On March 11, Houston joined what constituted his army at Gonzales: 374 poorly equipped, poorly trained, and poorly supplied recruits. Word of the defeat at the Alamo reached him and, while he waited for confirmation, he organized the recruits as the 1st Regiment Volunteer Army of Texas.  On March 13, Houston retreated before the superior forces of Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, as he was short on rations. Heavy rain fell nearly every day, causing severe morale problems among the exposed troops struggling through the mud. He received additional troops near present-day La Grange, after four days' march, and continued east two days later with 600 men. At Goliad, Santa Anna ordered the execution of more than 400 volunteer Texas militia led by James Fannin, who had surrendered his forces on March 20. Houston's forces were joined by 130 more men on March 26 near present-day Columbus, and the next day he learned of the Fannin disaster.  Houston continued his retreat eastward toward the Gulf coast, drawing criticism for his perceived lack of willingness to fight, and two companies refused to retreat further on March 29 while they were camped along the Brazos River. Houston decided to use the opportunity for rudimentary training and discipline of his force. On April 2, he organized the 2nd Regiment and received a battalion of regulars, and he ordered all troops along the Brazos to join the main army on April 11, approximately 1,500 men in all. He began crossing the Brazos on April 12.  Santa Anna finally caught up with the Texans, but he had split his own army into three separate forces in an attempt to encircle Houston's forces. Houston surprised Santa Anna's forces during their afternoon siesta at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. The Texans won a decisive victory in less than 18 minutes, suffering few casualties, although Houston's ankle was shattered by a stray bullet. Santa Anna was badly beaten and forced to sign the Treaty of Velasco, granting Texas its independence. Houston stayed on briefly for negotiations, then returned to the United States for treatment of his ankle wound.

did he do anything else during the war?

OUT: The Texans won a decisive victory in less than 18 minutes, suffering few casualties, although Houston's ankle was shattered by a stray bullet.

input: Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament were members of pioneering grunge band Green River during the mid-1980s. Green River toured and recorded to moderate success but disbanded in 1987 due to a stylistic division between the pair and bandmates Mark Arm and Steve Turner. In late 1987, Gossard and Ament began playing with Malfunkshun vocalist Andrew Wood, eventually organizing the band Mother Love Bone. In 1988 and 1989, the band recorded and toured to increasing interest and found the support of the PolyGram record label, which signed the band in early 1989. Mother Love Bone's debut album, Apple, was released in July 1990, four months after Wood died of a heroin overdose.  Ament and Gossard were devastated by the death of Wood and the resulting demise of Mother Love Bone. Gossard spent his time afterwards writing material that was harder-edged than what he had been doing previously. After a few months, Gossard started practicing with fellow Seattle guitarist Mike McCready, whose band, Shadow, had broken up; McCready in turn encouraged Gossard to reconnect with Ament. After practicing for a while, the trio sent out a five-song demo tape in order to find a singer and a drummer. They gave former Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Jack Irons the demo to see if he would be interested in joining the band and to distribute the demo to anyone he felt might fit the lead vocal position.  Irons passed on the invitation but gave the demo to his basketball friend, San Diego, California singer Eddie Vedder. Vedder was the lead vocalist for a San Diego band, Bad Radio, and worked part-time at a gas station. He listened to the tape shortly before going surfing, where lyrics came to him. He then recorded the vocals to three of the songs ("Alive", "Once", and "Footsteps") in what he later described as a "mini-opera" entitled Momma-Son. Vedder sent the tape with his vocals back to the three Seattle musicians, who were impressed enough to fly Vedder up to Seattle for an audition. Within a week, Vedder had joined the band.  With the addition of Dave Krusen on drums, the band took the name Mookie Blaylock, in reference to the then-active basketball player Mookie Blaylock. The band played its first official show at the Off Ramp Cafe in Seattle on October 22, 1990. They opened for Alice in Chains at the Moore Theatre in Seattle on December 22, 1990, and served as the opening act for the band's Facelift tour in 1991. Mookie Blaylock soon signed to Epic Records and renamed themselves Pearl Jam. In an early promotional interview, Vedder said that the name "Pearl Jam" was a reference to his great-grandmother Pearl, who was married to a Native American and had a special recipe for peyote-laced jam. In a 2006 Rolling Stone cover story however, Vedder admitted that this story was "total bullshit", even though he indeed had a great-grandma named Pearl. Ament and McCready explained that Ament came up with "pearl", and that the band later settled on "Pearl Jam" after attending a concert by Neil Young, in which he extended his songs as improvisations of 15-20 minutes in length.

Answer this question "When did they form their band?"
output:
In 1988 and 1989, the band recorded and toured to increasing interest and found the support of the PolyGram record label, which signed the band in early 1989.