Eighteen Minutes at San Jacinto

April 21, 1836, 4:00 p.m. General Sam Houston trotted his big horse Saracen in front of the paraded companies. Farmers, Merchants, Lawyers, old men and boys, and just plain renegades, they heard the order they’d waited for: “Trail arms.” The Army of the Republic of Texas began a slow march across the plain of San Jacinto, toward the camp of Mexican General Santa Anna. Tall grass shielded their progress. Colonel Sherman’s Second Regiment began the firefight, chasing a small group of soldados back to their camp.

The Texicans raised their iconic battle cry, “Remember the Alamo,” for the first time.

The Mexican camp was overrun. It was a slaughter.

We learned the story from the Texas History Movies, the comic books read in school. And from Francis X. Tolbert’s “The Day of San Jacinto.” And more recently from Stephen L. Moore’s volume, “Eighteen Minutes.”

That’s what it took. Eighteen minutes, that changed the course of history.

It seems likely that Sam Houston didn’t intend to fight. His army was outnumbered and poorly supplied, untrained, although eager for battle. Houston never said it, but his actions suggest that he was moving his band towards Louisiana, an escape to the US. When Santa Anna divided his forces, hoping to catch up with the Texicans, he gave Houston his opportunity. The Texican soldiers wanted to fight; so did their officers. Houston paraded his regiments and led them forward. Like a good general officer, he led from the front, not the rear.

Neither Houston nor his officers could stop the slaughter. "Remember the Alamo!" "Remember Goliad!" The bottled-up rage, the bloodlust, finally exhausted the Texicans. Santa Anna, attempting to escape in disguise, was unwittingly betrayed by one of his own soldiers. He surrendered and recognized the Republic of Texas. The war was over.

However --

Suppose Deaf Smith hadn’t destroyed the bridge over Vince’s Bayou, and the Mexican army had been reinforced.

Suppose Santa Anna had escaped capture. Or had been killed in the battle. The war would have continued, and Houston’s little army (maybe 960 men) would have been overrun. (Colonel Mirabeau Lamar wanted to execute Santa Anna).

Suppose the Mexican Generals had ignored Santa Anna’s written orders to return to Mexico, and decided to fight anyway? (check my earlier blog on the “Sea of Mud.”).

The march of History slipped by these chances, and a fateful ten years later, the southwest – Texas to California – was won from Mexico by the United States in a war of national expansion.

One more footnote: Who shot Sam Houston? When the horse Saracen was shot from beneath him, Houston’s left ankle was shattered. His political enemies later suggested that the shot had come from the Texas army. Someone wanted to be sure that Houston wouldn’t begin a last-minute retreat.

Nobody believed that!

Comments

[Mike Draney]

Dac, I think you have the subject for your next novel. You really brought the event to life in the blog, why not add a few interesting characters of your own and expand a little?

Cheers,

Mike D.

[Marj]

I searched the San Antonio Express-News this morning for any closings in honor of the day but, in fact, I found no mention of the historic significance of the day. Most schools and businesses in the area will be closed Friday for the Battle of Flowers Parade.

Anyone trying to find out the history of Fiesta here would find that it occurs from the weekend before until the weekend after the Battle of Jacinto. Tonight is the Cavaliers' River Parade. It is nationally telecast if you want to search listings in your area.