Battle of San Jacinto
From Freepedia
| Battle of San Jacinto | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Image:Sam Houston at San Jacinto.jpg Sam Houston at the battle of San Jacinto | |||
| Conflict: Texas Revolution | |||
| Date: April 21, 1836 | |||
| Place: Houston, Texas | |||
| Outcome: Decisive Texan victory | |||
| Combatants | |||
| Mexico | Texas | ||
| Commanders | |||
| Antonio López de Santa Anna | Sam Houston | ||
| Strength | |||
| about 1,200 | 910 | ||
| Casualties | |||
| 630 killed, 208 wounded, 730 captured | 9 killed, 30 wounded | ||
| |||
The Battle of San Jacinto, fought on April 21, 1836, was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. On that day, the Texas Army, led by General Sam Houston engaged and defeated General Antonio López de Santa Anna's Mexican forces. Hundreds of Mexican soldiers were killed or captured, while there were very few Texan casualties.
During the early years of Mexican independence, numerous American colonists had settled in Texas, then a part of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas. In 1835 they rebelled against the Mexican government of General Santa Anna. Besides capturing a number of outposts and defeating the Mexican army garrisons in the area, the Texans formed a provisional government and drafted a Declaration of Independence. Early in 1836, Santa Anna personally led a force of several thousand Mexican troops into Texas to put down the rebellion. First, he entered San Antonio de Béjar and defeated a Texan force at the Battle of the Alamo, then the right wing of his offensive, under General Urrea, defeated a second Texan force near Goliad. Santa Anna ordered that all prisoners be put to death.
Sam Houston, now in command of the main Texan army, retreated. Santa Anna pursued him and he devised a trap, in which three columns of Mexican troops would converge on Houston's force and destroy it. However, he diverted one column to attempt to capture the provisional government, and a second one to protect his supply lines. Meanwhile, he led the only remaining column against Houston. Santa Anna caught up to Houston on April 19. He established positions around the San Jacinto River, and Houston established his positions across a field a thousand yards away.
Believing Houston to be cornered, Santa Anna decided to rest his army on April 21 and attack on the 22nd. On the morning of April 21st Houston held a council of war, and the majority of his officers favored waiting for Santa Anna's attack. Houston however, decided in favor of a surprise attack that afternoon. With his army of 910 men, he decided to attack Santa Anna, whose troops numbered about 1,200. Most of the attack would come over open ground, where the Texan infantry would be vulnerable to Mexican gunfire. Even riskier, Houston decided to outflank the Mexicans with his cavalry, stretching his troops even thinner. However, Santa Anna made a crucial mistake: during the army's traditional Mexican afternoon siesta, he failed to post sentries around his camp.
On April 21, at 4:30 pm the Texan attack began. The Texan army moved quickly and silently across the high-grass plain, then when they were only a few dozen yards away, charged Santa Anna's camp shouting "Remember the Alamo" and "Remember Goliad", only stopping a few yards from the Mexicans to open fire. Confusion ensued. Santa Anna's army were professional soldiers, but they were trained in the traditional style of fighting, which relied on difficult officer-dependent vollies. The Mexican troops were ill-prepared, fighting a political war, and some were thousands of miles from home. They also were demoralized by their own leader, because at Goliad and the Alamo Santa Anna had flaunted Mexican traditions by executing enemy prisoners en-masse. Many Mexican soldiers fled, thinking they were defeated, and ran into the marsh. Some of the Mexican army rallied and attempted to push the Texans back, mostly using hand-to-hand combat, but their training left them ill-equipped to fight American frontiersmen hand-to-hand. During the battle, Sam Houston was wounded and Santa Anna escaped. In less than twenty minutes, the Texian army had won, taking 730 Mexicans prisoner and killing 600.
Image:San Jacinto Memorial inscription 1.jpg The following day, Santa Anna was captured. On May 14 he signed the Treaties of Velasco, in which he agreed to withdraw his troops from Texan soil and, in exchange for safe conduct back to Mexico, lobby there for recognition of the Republic. However, the safe passage never materialized; Santa Anna was held for six months as a prisoner of war (during which time his government disowned him and any agreement he might enter into) and finally taken to Washington, D.C., in the supposedly uninvolved United States. There he met with President Andrew Jackson, before returning in disgrace to Mexico in early 1837. By then, however, Texan independence was a fait accompli, although Mexico did not officially recognize it until the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848.
Today, the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site commemorates the battle, and includes the San Jacinto Monument, the world’s tallest memorial column. The park is located in Deer Park, about 25 miles east of Houston.
External links
- Battle of San Jacinto – Handbook of Texas Online
- Battle of San Jacinto – The Sons of DeWitt Colony
- Battle of San Jacinto – Texas State Library
- Memorial aerial view
