Texas 2023 - 88th Regular

Texas House Bill HR549 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	H.R. No. 549
2	2
3	3
4	4	R E S O L U T I O N
5	5	WHEREAS, April 21, 2024, marks the 188th anniversary of the
6	6	Battle of San Jacinto, the culminating engagement of the Texas
7	7	Revolution; and
8	8	WHEREAS, After a decade of sporadic clashes between Texas
9	9	colonists and Mexican officials, the movement toward rebellion
10	10	picked up increasing momentum in the fall of 1835; Antonio Lopez de
11	11	Santa Anna, the president of Mexico, having abrogated the
12	12	federalist Constitution of 1824 and assumed autocratic power,
13	13	decided to reestablish troops at posts in Texas that had been
14	14	evacuated in 1832; as part of that plan, General Martin Perfecto de
15	15	Cos arrived in San Antonio with a battalion of infantry on October
16	16	9, 1835; an army of Texas volunteers quickly moved to lay siege to
17	17	San Antonio, in what became the first major campaign of the
18	18	revolution; General Cos finally capitulated on December 9, 1835,
19	19	and he and his troops were allowed to withdraw to Mexico; and
20	20	WHEREAS, Determined to suppress the rebellion, General Santa
21	21	Anna led an army of some 6,000 men into Texas in early 1836,
22	22	crossing the Rio Grande near present-day Eagle Pass; at the same
23	23	time, a second Mexican force, under General Jose de Urrea, advanced
24	24	into Texas farther to the east; while General Santa Anna besieged
25	25	some 180 Texas troops at the Alamo, a convention of Texas delegates
26	26	convened at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 1, 1836, and on
27	27	March 2 adopted a declaration of independence; two days later, the
28	28	convention appointed Sam Houston, one of the delegates, to take
29	29	command of the Texas army; and
30	30	WHEREAS, General Houston left immediately to join Texas
31	31	troops gathered in Gonzales; when he reached that town, he learned
32	32	that the Alamo had fallen and that a division of General Santa
33	33	Anna's army was marching in his direction; given that the effective
34	34	strength of his own force numbered only 374, as well as the fact
35	35	that his men were poorly provisioned and largely untrained, he
36	36	began a withdrawal toward the northeast, playing for time; and
37	37	WHEREAS, Elsewhere, the Texans were meeting with successive
38	38	defeats; the most shocking of those was the loss of James W. Fannin
39	39	and some 400 men, who were captured and then executed on March 27 in
40	40	what became known as the Goliad Massacre; and
41	41	WHEREAS, In April, General Houston halted his retreat at the
42	42	Brazos River and spent two weeks drilling his troops; a short time
43	43	later, on April 20, calculating that the time for battle had come at
44	44	last, he staked out a position near the confluence of Buffalo Bayou
45	45	and the San Jacinto River; later that same day, General Santa Anna
46	46	and his army caught up to the Texans and established their own
47	47	position; the following morning, General Cos arrived with an
48	48	additional body of soldiers, bringing the total strength of the
49	49	Mexican army to perhaps 1,200 or more, as opposed to the
50	50	approximately 900 men under General Houston's command; and
51	51	WHEREAS, Confident that he had the Texans on the defensive,
52	52	General Santa Anna planned to launch an attack on April 22; on the
53	53	afternoon of the 21st, however, while the Mexican army was resting,
54	54	General Houston drew up his troops in battle formation; General
55	55	Santa Anna had apparently posted no sentries, and a swell of land
56	56	between the two armies hid the Texans from view; and
57	57	WHEREAS, At the given signal, the Texans advanced across a
58	58	mile of open prairie toward the Mexican army, becoming visible only
59	59	when they reached within about 200 yards of the Mexican camp; crying
60	60	"Remember the Alamo" and "Remember Goliad," they took General Santa
61	61	Anna's troops completely by surprise; the battle lasted 18 minutes,
62	62	according to Sam Houston's report, but the killing continued for
63	63	about an hour afterward; in the end, Texan losses stood at 9 dead
64	64	and mortally wounded, with 630 Mexican soldiers killed and 730
65	65	taken prisoner; General Santa Anna himself was captured the
66	66	following day; and
67	67	WHEREAS, With the Battle of San Jacinto, the long colonial
68	68	period of Texas history, stretching as far back as the 16th century,
69	69	came to an end; Texas would remain an independent republic for nine
70	70	years before joining the Union in 1845; and
71	71	WHEREAS, The Battle of San Jacinto dramatically changed the
72	72	course of Texas history, and the story of how an outnumbered army of
73	73	volunteers ultimately prevailed against General Santa Anna and his
74	74	troops continues to inspire a special sense of pride among Texans to
75	75	this day; now, therefore, be it
76	76	RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 88th Texas
77	77	Legislature hereby commemorate the 188th anniversary of the Battle
78	78	of San Jacinto and pay tribute to all those whose courage and
79	79	tenacity brought ultimate victory to the Texan cause.
80	80	Cain
81	81	______________________________
82	82	Speaker of the House
83	83	I certify that H.R. No. 549 was adopted by the House on March
84	84	30, 2023, by a non-record vote.
85	85	______________________________
86	86	Chief Clerk of the House