Battle of San Jacinto Facts
Battle of San Jacinto Facts
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| Interesting Battle of San Jacinto Facts: |
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| Texas was originally part of Spain, and then Mexico, and had become quite successful, largely due to American immigration. |
| The original Mexican Constitution gave the Texans a great amount of autonomy, but when a new constitution was passed in 1824 it reduced many of the Texans' freedoms. |
| The Battle of the Alamo took place from February 23 to March 6, 1836. |
| The Texans proclaimed their independence on March 2, 1836. |
| Santa Anna believed that the revolution would end quickly if he scared the Texans. He had more than 400 Texan prisoners executed near Goliad on March 27, 1836. |
| During the Battle of San Jacinto, Texans yelled "Remember the Alamo!" and "Remember Goliad!" |
| The battle was named for the San Jacinto River, where the fighting took place along its banks |
| Houston's plan was to order a major withdrawal of all Texans, train whatever volunteers he could find, and acquire supplies and weapons from the United States. Only once those criteria could be met would he engage Santa Anna. |
| Juan Seguin led a company of Tejanos (Texans of Mexican descent) for the Texans. In order to keep the Texans from shooting their Tejano allies, Houston ordered the Tejanos to wear pieces of cardboard, which worked well. |
| Both sides arrived at a bend at the San Jacinto River on April 20. |
| The battle began 4:30 pm when the Texas cavalry charged the Mexican artillery. |
| The Texan infantry then attacked, charging over the Mexican defensive fortifications quite easily. |
| Although the Mexicans had the Texans outnumbered, about half of the Mexican forces were led by General Martin Cos. Cos' troops had marched for a day straight before the battle and were largely untested on the battlefield, unlike Santa Anna's men. |
| Although the battle was over in less than twenty minutes, the killing lasted for hours. The Texans took 300 prisoners, but killed many of the Mexican wounded and some who surrendered as retribution for Goliad and the Alamo. |
| General Santa Anna actually fled at the end of the battle, which damaged his reputation later in his life and historically. He was actually captured the next day. |
| Houston would go on the be the first and third President of Texas, Senator from Texas, and Texas' seventh governor. |
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