The daughter of a long dead and all but forgotten hero of the Texas Revolution unveiled a statue of her tragic father at a Galveston intersection on Oct. 20, 1938.

San Jacinto should have ensured him success and immortality, but Sidney Sherman knew only pain and disappointment. The most powerful politician of his day ruined his reputation, and three suspicious fires left a promising career in ashes. Yet his public ordeal paled in comparison to the private anguish of burying four children and a wi...