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The Battle of San Jacinto |
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On March 6, 1836, the Mexican army led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana had taken the mission/fort known as The Alamo in San Antonio, TX, killing all of its defenders, burning their bodies, and dealing a significant blow to the Texan’s fight for independence. Because of the advancing Mexican army, many Texans began fleeing to neighboring Louisiana. But Sam Houston, leader of the Texas militia, had other plans. Santa Ana gave chase and advanced eastward, making camp in a vulnerable area near the present-day towns of La Porte and Pasadena, TX. In the late afternoon of April 21, Houston launched a surprise attack on the camped Mexican army. With the rallying cry "Remember the Alamo", the Texans routed the Mexicans in a blood bath that lasted a mere eighteen minutes, capturing Santa Ana in the process and assuring the independence of Texas from Mexico, becoming The Republic of Texas, an independent nation, later negotiating with the U.S. to become its 28th state of the union in 1845. Located at the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site, The San Jacinto Monument houses the San Jacinto Museum of History in its base. The monument is taller than the Washington Monument in the nation’s capital and is capped with a 220-ton star commemorating Texas as the Lone Star state. Click the following links to read more about The Battle of San Jacinto, the State Historic Site, and the San Jacinto Monument: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_San_Jacinto https://www.history.com/topics/mexico/battle-of-san-jacinto https://historicalcommission.harriscountytx.gov/sanjacinto1836/default.aspx https://www.warhistoryonline.com/history/battle-san-jacinto-santa-anna.html |
On a personal note, in 1964-5, I was working for what was then Esso Research and Engineering Company (now part of Exxon-Mobile) and was on a one-year assignment to the Humble Oil Company’s refinery in Baytown, TX. (Humble was one of Esso’s refining subsidiaries. I was working on a computer control system for what was to be the world’s largest Fluid Catalytic Cracking Unit (FCCU).) Baytown and The San Jacinto Battlefield are both located along the Houston Ship Channel east of Houston and near Galveston, TX. Anchored at the battlefield was the WWII Battleship Texas, so we frequently visited the battlefield mainly because our two young sons, David and Dennis, liked to visit the battleship. Here are a couple of pictures from one of those visits with the battleship in the background.
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