DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now settle in, because what happened two miles north of this very spot on April 21, 1836 — well, it was over almost before it began, and yet the whole map of North America turned on it. Mid-afternoon.
A spring day. General Sam Houston had about 1,000 Texans. On the other side: Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, President of Mexico, with an army of 1,400 men.
You do the arithmetic on those odds and you don't like Houston's chances. But here's the thing about Sam Houston's men — they weren't calculating odds that afternoon. They were remembering.
They formed up quiet and careful, screened by trees and rising ground so the Mexican forces couldn't see what was coming. Edward Burleson's regiment took the center. Sidney Sherman's men held the left wing.
The artillery under George W. Hockley posted to Burleson's right. The infantry under Henry Millard took position on the right of the artillery.
And on the extreme right — the very edge of the line, positioned to cut off any chance of flight — the cavalry under M. B. Lamar, a man who would one day be president of Texas himself.
Every piece in place. Every man coiled. And then — you couldn't write this — their 4-piece band struck up a tune.
Not a battle hymn. Not a march. A popular love song called 'Will You Come to the Bower.' That melody drifting through the trees, and then those Texans attacked at a run, crying, 'Remember the Alamo!
Remember Goliad!' Eighteen minutes. That's all it took. Eighteen minutes and it was done.
Six hundred and thirty of the enemy killed. Seven hundred and thirty captured. Enemy lead shattered General Houston's ankle — the man was wounded leading his own charge — and yet he lost only 9 men killed or mortally wounded, and 30 wounded less seriously.
Against a force of 1,400. In eighteen minutes. The marker calls San Jacinto one of the world's greatest victories, and it doesn't reach for that phrase carelessly.
Because what fell into place after that afternoon is staggering. Texas won her independence. And nine years later, with her annexation, she brought into the Union all or parts of Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Utah, and Wyoming.
Nine states — or pieces of nine states — tracing back to eighteen minutes and a love song on an April afternoon in 1836. That's the kind of story that earns its marker.
What the marker says
At mid-afternoon April 21, 1836, two miles to the north, General Sam Houston with about 1,000 Texans in 18 minutes annihilated the 1,400-man army of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, President of Mexico. Screened by trees and rising ground, Houston's men formed with Edward Burleson's regiment at center, Sidney Sherman's on the left wing, artillery under George W. Hockley on Burleson's right, the infantry under Henry Millard on the right of the artillery. Under M. B. Lamar, a future president of Texas, the cavalry took the extreme right, to cut off possible flight of Mexican troops. Their 4-piece band playing a popular love song, "Will You Come to the Bower," the Texans attacked at a run, crying, "Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! "Such was their fury that 630 of the enemy were killed, 730 captured. enemy lead shattered Gen. Houston's ankle, but he lost only 9 men killed or mortally wounded and 30 wounded less seriously. San Jacinto stands as one of the world's greatest victories It gave Texas independence, and with her annexation 9 years later brought into the Union all or parts of Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Nevada, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming.