DUANE
Duane's take
Here's the story as the official marker tells it, and friend, this one deserves every word it gets. There's a tune — 'Will You Come to the Bower' — and if you ever heard it played slow and sweet, you might picture something gentle. A garden, maybe.
A quiet afternoon. But on the day the Texans advanced at San Jacinto, that tune meant something else entirely. It meant they were coming.
And they came with a cry. 'Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!' Those weren't just words. That was the weight of everything that had happened, everything that had been lost, carried forward in a single roar across that field.
They fought with cannons. They fought with gunshot. When the guns ran dry or the distance closed, they fought with clubs and Bowie knives.
This was not a battle at arm's length. This was close, and it was terrible, and no quarter was given. The marker doesn't soften it.
The rout was complete. The slaughter — and the marker uses that word plainly — was terrific. A melody meant for a bower.
A cry meant for the fallen. And an ending that left no doubt about the outcome. That's what the marker says, and that's what happened.
What the marker says
To the tune of "Will You Come to the Bower" the Texans advanced, "Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad" was their cry, with cannons and gunshot, clubs and Bowie knives they fought. No quarter was given, the route was complete -- the slaughter terrific.