[3] He was born a slave in Grahamville, South Carolina, and was taken by his master Moses Henderson to Savannah, where he served as a house servant.
[3] According to the book Redeeming the South religious cultures and racial identities among Southern Baptists: "He learned to read from white sailors while he worked in the city's hospital and earned money by hiring out his time.
[3] During the American Civil War, Houston was one of the 20 Black church leaders who met with Secretary of War Edwin Stanton and Union General William Tecumseh Sherman on January 12, 1865.
[5] This meeting (which would later be called the "Savannah Colloquy") took place at the Green–Meldrim House, and their discussion directly led to Sherman's Special Field Orders No.
[6] He was later one of the Original 33 African American legislators of the Reconstruction era in Georgia, expelled or forced to resign.