by L. W. Kemp and Ed Kilman COPYRIGHT, 1947 by L. W. KEMP and ED KILMAN Second Printing Printed in the United States of America The Webb Printing Co., Inc., Houston...

San Jacinto, birthplace of Texas liberty!... San Jacinto, one of the world’s decisive battles!... San Jacinto, where, with cries of “Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!” Sam Houston and his ragged band of 910 pioneers routed Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, President and Dictator of Mexico and self-styled “Napoleon of the West,” with his proud army, and changed the map of North America! Here is a story that has thrilled Texans for more than a century ... a story of desperate valor and high adventur

Four days after the Declaration of Independence, news came to the convention on the Brazos of the desperate plight of Colonel William Barret Travis, under siege at the Alamo in San Antonio. Sam Houston, commander-in-chief of the Texas Army, left Washington post-haste for Gonzales, to take command of the troops there and go to the aid of Travis. He arrived there on the 11th, and at about dark learned from two Mexicans who had just arrived from San Antonio that the Alamo had fallen and its 183 bra

Flushed with their Alamo victory, the Mexican forces were following the colonists. Houston’s scouts reported that General Ramirez y Sesma and General Adrian Woll were on the west side of the Colorado with approximately 725 troops and General Eugenio Tolsa with 600. By this time recruits and reinforcements had increased Houston’s army to a strength estimated as high as 1200. The chilling news of Fannin’s defeat, reaching the Texas forces on March 25, impelled many to leave the ranks, to remove th

Meanwhile, on April 11th, the Texans at Groce’s received two small cannon, known to history as the “Twin Sisters,” a gift from citizens of Cincinnati, Ohio. Thus fortified, General Houston, after a consultation with Rusk, decided to move on to the east side of the Brazos. The river being very high, the steamboat “Yellow Stone” and a yawl were used to ferry the army horses, cattle and baggage across. The movement began on the 12th and was completed at 1 p.m. on the 13th. On the 13th Houston order

At dawn April 20 the Texans resumed their trek down the bayou, to intercept the Mexicans. At Lynch’s ferry, near the juncture of Buffalo Bayou and San Jacinto River, they captured a boat laden with supplies for Santa Anna. This probably was some of the plunder of Harrisburg or New Washington. Ascertaining that none of the enemy forces had crossed, the Texans drew back about a mile on the Harrisburg road, and encamped in a skirt of timber protected by a rising ground. That afternoon, Colonel Sidn

General Houston disposed his forces in battle order at about 3:30 in the afternoon. Over on the Mexican side all was quiet; many of the foemen were enjoying their customary siesta . The Texans’ movements were screened by the trees and the rising ground, and evidently Santa Anna had no lookouts posted. Big, shaggy and commanding in his mud-stained unmilitary garb, the Chieftain rode his horse up and down the line. “Now hold your fire, men,” he warned in his deep voice, “until you get the order!”

Santa Anna had disappeared during the battle, and next day General Houston ordered a thorough search of the surrounding territory for him. In the afternoon Sergeant J. A. Sylvester [6] spotted a Mexican slipping through the woods toward Vince’s Bayou. Sylvester and his comrades caught the fugitive trying to hide in the high grass. He wore a common soldier’s apparel—round jacket, blue cotton pantaloons, skin cap and soldier’s shoes. They took the captive to camp, and on the way Mexican prisoners

General Santa Anna, in the memoirs of his old age, wrote a brief and untruthful account of the battle of San Jacinto, an alibi blaming General Filisola for the defeat. He said he had ordered Filisola to join him by forced marches, for the attack on Houston’s army, and was waiting for the reinforcements when he found Houston camped on the San Jacinto. He continued: “ At two o’clock in the afternoon of Aprl 21, 1836, I had fallen asleep in the shade of an oak, hoping the heat would moderate so tha

It is told that Franciscan friars of Mexico, exploring the Texas coast during the period 1751-1772, found the stream now known as San Jacinto River so choked with water hyacinths (a mauve species of lily that still abounds in this region) that they could not pass. They called it the “hyacinth stream.” From that name evolved “San Jacinto”—Spanish for “Saint Hyacinth.” Legend has it that Adjutant General John A. Wharton gave the battlefield its name. Santa Anna, shortly after being captured, while

The thumbnail history of the Texas revolution, inscribed on the exterior of the monument’s base in eight panels, is as follows: THE EARLY POLICIES OF MEXICO TOWARD HER TEXAS COLONISTS HAD BEEN EXTREMELY LIBERAL. LARGE GRANTS OF LAND WERE MADE TO THEM, AND NO TAXES OR DUTIES IMPOSED. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ANGLO-AMERICANS AND MEXICANS WAS CORDIAL. BUT, FOLLOWING A SERIES OF REVOLUTIONS BEGUN IN 1829, UNSCRUPULOUS RULERS SUCCESSIVELY SEIZED POWER IN MEXICO. THEIR UNJUST ACTS AND DESPOTIC DEC

Prior to the erection of the present great shaft, the principal memorial on the battlefield was a plain square spire monument of Rutland variegated marble, fifteen and one-half feet high, which with the base stands seventeen feet. After its dedication it was placed at the grave of Benjamin R. Brigham, one of the nine Texans who were killed or mortally wounded in the battle, and whose bodies, with one exception, were buried on the ground on which the Texan army had camped April 20. Board markers

One of the two great bronze plaques that adorn the walls of the San Jacinto museum records the names of the officers and men of the Texas army who fought in the battle on April 21, 1836, and in the skirmish of the previous day. The other plaque lists the troops, mostly sick or non-effective, who were left at Harrisburg two days before the battle. Following is the roster of the participants at San Jacinto: Obeying the instructions of General Houston, the following officers and men remained April

Frontispiece “Battle of San Jacinto” is a photograph of a painting by Henry A. McArdle. Sam Houston’s picture is a photograph by Elwood M. Payne, of an etching made from a daguerreotype in the San Jacinto Museum of History. Mr. Payne also photographed the base of the monument, showing the inscriptions. Picture of Santa Anna is a photograph by Paul Peters of a daguerreotype in the Museum. The photographs of the Brigham monument and the Santa Anna surrender marker also are by Paul Peters. The surr