March 2, 2020 (Monday)
On March 6 the brave defenders at the Alamo gave their all in the fight for independence from Mexico.
On March 10 Sam Houston left Gonzales and led brave Texians eastward to avoid the advancing Mexican army. Panicky settlers in the area flee as well in an exodus called the Runaway Scrape.
On March 27 about 350 Texan prisoners, including their commander James Fannin, are massacred at Goliad.
On April 21, in a battle lasting 18 minutes, Texan troops led by Sam Houston defeated the Mexican army commanded by Santa Anna at San Jacinto near present-day Houston. A total of 630 Mexican troops were killed and 730 were taken prisoner. Of the Texas troops, nine of a force of 910 were killed or mortally wounded, and 30 were less seriously wounded.
On May 14, treaties ending the Texas Revolution were signed, but hostile acts continued by both sides until 1848.
On September 5, Sam Houston became president and Lorenzo de Zavala, vice president of the Republic of Texas. A move to be annexed by the United States gained momentum.
In October the first Congress of the Republic of Texas convened at Columbia.
“Texas, Our Texas” is the official state song of Texas. It was written in 1924 by William J. Marsh, who was born in Liverpool, England, and emigrated to Texas as a young man, and Gladys Yoakum Wright, a native of Fort Worth, Texas, and selected as the state song by a concurrent resolution of the Texas Legislature in 1929 following a statewide competition. Older songs, such as “The Yellow Rose of Texas” and “Dixie”, were also considered but ultimately it was decided a new song should be composed. At times, there have been movements to replace “Texas, Our Texas” with the better known “The Eyes of Texas.”
The first word of the third line was originally largest, but when Alaska became the largest state when it was admitted to the United States in 1959, the word was replaced with boldest.