April 21, 2016 (Thursday)
I went to San Jacinto High School in Houston, Texas from 1946-1949. There are businesses, streets, organizations, and many other entities in and around Houston and Texas that include the name, “San Jacinto.” Today is “San Jacinto Day,” the date of the battle which won Texas independence from Mexico in 1836. When I was growing up we always had a holiday from school classes on this day. It is an official Texas holiday.
One hundred years after the battle, a monument was built at the site. It is slightly taller than the Washington monument. Our family visited the place several times when I was a child. My cousins found bullets (round lead balls) on the grounds, and once even what looked like a small cannon ball. I suppose such relics kept appearing for a while, because there are many such items in the museum at the base of the monument.
There is a reflecting pool at the monument and later the decommissioned Battleship Texas was added to the attractions there.
The battle, which took place 180 years ago, was brief but decisive. Texans had few casualties, but Mexico counted 630 dead. The Texas army took 730 prisoners from the Mexican army. General Santa Anna, unhurt amidst the gunfire, surrendered, agreeing to withdraw all Mexican claims to Texas. Mexico was still a young nation, having gained independence from Spain only 15 years earlier. Sam Houston was wounded (shot in the leg).
It was an unlikely victory; only weeks before, all (182-257) defenders of the Alamo died in its defense, and shortly afterwards 350 Texas soldiers were massacred at Goliad under orders from Santa Anna. General Sam Houston’s volunteer army had retreated from Gonzales to meet the Mexican army at San Jacinto. Only 9 “Texians” were killed and 30 wounded in the battle.
Texas won its independence (that had been declared March 2) and was an independent nation, The Republic of Texas, for the next 9 years, until annexed by the United States and becoming a state in 1845.
I’ve mentioned in these blogs that Wanda had a great granduncle, Jonathan Lindley, at the Alamo and a 2nd Great Grandfather, John Sadler, at San Jacinto.