89R11725 HMR-D
By: Cain H.R. No. 104
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, April 21, 2025, marks the 189th anniversary of the
Battle of San Jacinto, the culminating engagement of the Texas
Revolution; and
WHEREAS, After a decade of sporadic clashes between Texas
colonists and Mexican officials, the movement toward rebellion
picked up increasing momentum in the fall of 1835; Antonio Lopez de
Santa Anna, the president of Mexico, having abrogated the
federalist Constitution of 1824 and assumed autocratic power,
decided to reestablish troops at posts in Texas that had been
evacuated in 1832; as part of that plan, General Martin Perfecto de
Cos arrived in San Antonio with a battalion of infantry on
October 9, 1835; an army of Texas volunteers quickly moved to lay
siege to San Antonio, in what became the first major campaign of the
revolution; General Cos finally capitulated on December 9, 1835,
and he and his troops were allowed to withdraw to Mexico; and
WHEREAS, Determined to suppress the rebellion, General Santa
Anna led an army of some 6,000 men into Texas in early 1836,
crossing the Rio Grande near present-day Eagle Pass; at the same
time, a second Mexican force, under General Jose de Urrea, advanced
into Texas farther to the east; while General Santa Anna besieged
some 180 Texas troops at the Alamo, a convention of Texas delegates
convened at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 1, 1836, and on
March 2 adopted a declaration of independence; two days later, the
convention appointed Sam Houston, one of the delegates, to take
command of the Texas army; and
WHEREAS, General Houston left immediately to join Texas
troops gathered in Gonzales; when he reached that town, he learned
that the Alamo had fallen and that a division of General Santa
Anna's army was marching in his direction; given that the effective
strength of his own force numbered only 374, as well as the fact
that his men were poorly provisioned and largely untrained, he
began a withdrawal toward the northeast, playing for time; and
WHEREAS, Elsewhere, the Texans were meeting with successive
defeats; the most shocking of those was the loss of James W. Fannin
and some 400 men, who were captured and then executed on March 27 in
what became known as the Goliad Massacre; and
WHEREAS, In April, General Houston halted his retreat at the
Brazos River and spent two weeks drilling his troops; a short time
later, on April 20, calculating that the time for battle had come at
last, he staked out a position near the confluence of Buffalo Bayou
and the San Jacinto River; later that same day, General Santa Anna
and his army caught up to the Texans and established their own
position; the following morning, General Cos arrived with an
additional body of soldiers, bringing the total strength of the
Mexican army to perhaps 1,200 or more, as opposed to the
approximately 900 men under General Houston's command; and
WHEREAS, Confident that he had the Texans on the defensive,
General Santa Anna planned to launch an attack on April 22; on the
afternoon of the 21st, however, while the Mexican army was resting,
General Houston drew up his troops in battle formation; General
Santa Anna had apparently posted no sentries, and a swell of land
between the two armies hid the Texans from view; and
WHEREAS, At the given signal, the Texans advanced across a
mile of open prairie toward the Mexican army, becoming visible only
when they reached within about 200 yards of the Mexican camp; crying
"Remember the Alamo" and "Remember Goliad," they took General Santa
Anna's troops completely by surprise; the battle lasted 18 minutes,
according to Sam Houston's report, but the killing continued for
about an hour afterward; in the end, Texan losses stood at nine dead
and mortally wounded, with 630 Mexican soldiers killed and 730
taken prisoner; General Santa Anna himself was captured the
following day; and
WHEREAS, With the Battle of San Jacinto, the long colonial
period of Texas history, stretching as far back as the 16th century,
came to an end; Texas would remain an independent republic for nine
years before joining the Union in 1845; and
WHEREAS, The Battle of San Jacinto dramatically changed the
course of Texas history, and the story of how an outnumbered army of
volunteers ultimately prevailed against General Santa Anna and his
troops continues to inspire a special sense of pride among Texans to
this day; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 89th Texas
Legislature hereby commemorate the 189th anniversary of the Battle
of San Jacinto and pay tribute to all those whose courage and
tenacity brought ultimate victory to the Texan cause.