Fought 175 years ago today (April 21, 1836), the Battle of San Jacinto is probably one of the most important battles you’ve never heard of in American history. Less than two months after the Alamo and less than a month after the Goliad massacre (the mass killing of unarmed Texan POWs by the Mexican army), an army of 900 Texans under the command of Sam Houston attacked and utterly defeated an army of 1,400 Mexicans under the command of Santa Anna just to the east of what is now Houston, TX. The Texans killed or wounded over 900 of the Mexicans while suffering only 39 casualties. Santa Anna fled and escaped, but he was captured several weeks later. He was forced to remove his soldiers from Texas and to lobby the Mexican government to recognize Texas as an independent nation. In short, Texas’s independence was won at San Jacinto. Mexico attempted to recapture Texas in 1846, but, once again, they were soundly defeated; Texas triumphed with the aid of the U.S. army, since Texas had joined the Union in 1845. Today, we are in the midst of the third Mexican invasion of Texas, yet this time, the U.S. and Texas governments are aiding the Mexicans. Is it any wonder that, under these circumstances, the public has so little knowledge about this battle? If we had a deeper understanding of our history and the struggles of our ancestors, who died to give us what we have today, then perhaps we would be less eager to simply hand it over to third-world invaders.
The San Jacinto Battlefield Monument
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