Happy San Jacinto Day

[Bruce Nunnally]

On April 21, 1836 a 1,400 strong Mexican Army led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was engaged by a 910 man Texian independence force led by General Sam Houston near present day Harris County, Texas. Although the Mexican army had succeeded in cornering and bringing the army of Texas to battle, confident in their superior numbers they planned a 2-day rest.

In a letter to Henry Raguet Houston wrote:

"This morning we are in preparation to meet Santa Anna. It is the only chance for saving Texas."

In an address "To the People of Texas" he wrote:

"We view ourselves on the eve of battle. We are nerved for the contest, and must conquer or perish…We must act now or abandon all hope."

With a surprise attack in broad daylight, the Texian army took the Mexican army by surprise. The Texian rallying cries during the attack of "Remember the Alamo!" and "Remember Goliad!" echoed across the battlefield.

The Battle of San Jacinto-1895 painting by Henry Arthur McArdle (1836–1908)

The Texian militia won a stunning victory, killing about 700 Mexican soldiers, wounding 208, and taking 730 prisoners, including Santa Anna (they did not know they had eventually captured Santa Anna until one of the prisoners called him El Presidente) while suffering 9 killed and 30 wounded.

The monument at the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site reads:

"Measured by its results, San Jacinto was one of the decisive battles of the world. The freedom of Texas from Mexico won here led to annexation and to the Mexican-American War, resulting in the acquisition by the United States of the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah and parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma. Almost one-third of the present area of the American Nation, nearly a million square miles of territory, changed sovereignty."

As a result of the battle, Texas gained its independence from Mexico and became the Independent Republic of Texas in 1836. Texas was both annexed into the United States and became the 28th US state on the same day, Dec 29, 1845.

From the Texas portal:

The state name derives from a word in a Caddoan language of the Hasinai, táyshaʔ, tecas (or tejas, as the Spaniards spelled it), meaning "those who are friends," friends or allies.

Note: Today inhabitants of Texas are known as 'Texans'; during Mexican control of the area they were known as Texians.

Happy San Jacinto Day! Without the battle of San Jacinto, Texas would not be Texas.