Battle of San Jacinto

On the afternoon of 21 April 1836, a Texian army under Sam Houston overran the camp of the Mexican president, General Antonio López de Santa Anna, beside the San Jacinto River near present-day La Porte and Deer Park, east of Houston, Texas. The fighting proper lasted only about 18 minutes, but it ended the Texas Revolution: Santa Anna was captured the next day and agreed to withdraw his troops, opening the way for an independent Republic of Texas.

Santa Anna had come to power as a federalist, but after his election in 1833 he moved towards centralised, authoritarian rule and set aside the federal Constitution of 1824. Settlers in Texas, both Anglo-American and Tejano, resented the loss of local self-government. Fighting broke out in 1835, and in December the Texians forced General Martín Perfecto de Cos to surrender San Antonio de Béxar.

Santa Anna crossed the Rio Grande in February 1836 with an army that numbered just over 6,000 men in all. A convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos declared Texan independence on 2 March, and four days later Mexican troops stormed the Alamo, killing its defenders. After Colonel James Fannin's force surrendered near Goliad, its men were executed.

Houston, commanding the only significant Texian force, chose to retreat eastwards rather than risk his poorly trained volunteers. Civilians fled ahead of the Mexican advance in what became known as the Runaway Scrape. Many of Houston's men, and the interim president David G. Burnet, accused him of cowardice.

Believing the revolt nearly finished, Santa Anna pushed ahead with a detachment of about 700 men to try to seize the Texian government, which escaped to Galveston Island. On 18 April Texian scouts captured a Mexican courier whose dispatches revealed how small and close Santa Anna's force was. Houston turned to meet it, urging his men to "Remember the Alamo" and "Remember Goliad".

The armies reached the area near Lynch's Ferry on 20 April and camped some 500 yards apart, the Mexicans on an exposed plain with marsh behind them. Cos arrived on the morning of 21 April with about 540 reinforcements, giving Santa Anna perhaps 1,200 to 1,500 men against roughly 800 to 900 Texians. When no attack came by midday, the tired Mexican troops were allowed to rest.

At about 4.30 in the afternoon the Texians' two cannon, the Twin Sisters, opened fire and the infantry charged across the grass. Taken by surprise, the Mexican line collapsed within minutes. Many fleeing soldiers were shot in the marshes; Houston and other officers were unable to restrain their men. According to the figures usually cited, about 650 Mexican soldiers were killed, 208 wounded and 300 captured, while the Texians lost 11 dead and some 30 wounded, Houston among them.

Santa Anna was found hiding in the marsh on 22 April, dressed as a private, and was given away when other prisoners called out to him. To save his life he ordered his remaining forces, still around 4,000 strong under Vicente Filisola and José de Urrea, to fall back. In the Treaties of Velasco he agreed to withdraw Mexican troops beyond the Rio Grande and secretly promised to press for recognition of Texas.

Mexico rejected agreements signed by a captive and refused to recognise Texan independence, but no reconquest followed. Houston was elected the republic's first president later in 1836. Voters also backed a request for annexation to the United States, and many Tejano families were pushed off their land in the following years. A 570-foot monument, dedicated in 1939, stands on the battlefield.

Our 1815 map shows Texas as part of New Spain, and our 1878 map shows it within the United States, bordering independent Mexico.