Bill Text: TX HR860 | 2013-2014 | 83rd Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Commemorating the 177th anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Republican 1)
Status: (Passed) 2013-03-28 - Reported enrolled [HR860 Detail]
Download: Texas-2013-HR860-Enrolled.html
| H.R. No. 860 | ||
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| WHEREAS, April 21, 2013, marks the 177th anniversary of the | ||
| Battle of San Jacinto, the culminating engagement of the Texas | ||
| Revolution; and | ||
| WHEREAS, After a decade of sporadic clashes between Texas | ||
| colonists and Mexican officials, the movement toward rebellion | ||
| picked up increasing momentum in the fall of 1835; Antonio Lopez de | ||
| Santa Anna, the president of Mexico, having abrogated the | ||
| federalist Constitution of 1824 and assumed autocratic power, | ||
| decided to reestablish troops at posts in Texas that had been | ||
| evacuated in 1832; as part of that plan, General Martin Perfecto de | ||
| Cos arrived in San Antonio with a battalion of infantry on October | ||
| 9, 1835; an army of Texas volunteers quickly moved to lay siege to | ||
| San Antonio, in what became the first major campaign of the | ||
| revolution; General Cos finally capitulated on December 9, 1835, | ||
| and he and his troops were allowed to withdraw to Mexico; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Determined to suppress the rebellion, General Santa | ||
| Anna led an army of some 6,000 men into Texas in early 1836, | ||
| crossing the Rio Grande near present-day Eagle Pass; at the same | ||
| time, a second Mexican force, under General Jose de Urrea, advanced | ||
| into Texas farther to the east; while General Santa Anna besieged | ||
| some 180 Texas troops at the Alamo, a convention of Texas delegates | ||
| convened at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 1, 1836, and on March | ||
| 2 adopted a declaration of independence; two days later, the | ||
| convention appointed Sam Houston, one of the delegates, to take | ||
| command of the Texas army; and | ||
| WHEREAS, General Houston left immediately to join Texas | ||
| troops gathered in Gonzales; when he reached that town, he learned | ||
| that the Alamo had fallen and that a division of General Santa | ||
| Anna's army was marching in his direction; given that the effective | ||
| strength of his own force numbered only 374, as well as the fact | ||
| that his men were poorly provisioned and largely untrained, he | ||
| began a withdrawal toward the northeast, playing for time; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Elsewhere, the Texans were meeting with successive | ||
| defeats; the most shocking of those was the loss of James W. Fannin | ||
| and some 400 men, who were captured and then executed on March 27 in | ||
| what became known as the Goliad Massacre; and | ||
| WHEREAS, In April, General Houston halted his retreat at the | ||
| Brazos River and spent two weeks drilling his troops; a short time | ||
| later, on April 20, calculating that the time for battle had come at | ||
| last, he staked out a position near the confluence of Buffalo Bayou | ||
| and the San Jacinto River; later that same day, General Santa Anna | ||
| and his army caught up to the Texans and established their own | ||
| position; the following morning, General Cos arrived with an | ||
| additional body of soldiers, bringing the total strength of the | ||
| Mexican army to perhaps 1,200 or more, as opposed to the | ||
| approximately 900 men under General Houston's command; and | ||
| WHEREAS, Confident that he had the Texans on the defensive, | ||
| General Santa Anna planned to launch an attack on April 22; on the | ||
| afternoon of the 21st, however, while the Mexican army was resting, | ||
| General Houston drew up his troops in battle formation; General | ||
| Santa Anna had apparently posted no sentries, and a swell of land | ||
| between the two armies hid the Texans from view; and | ||
| WHEREAS, At the given signal, the Texans advanced across a | ||
| mile of open prairie toward the Mexican army, becoming visible only | ||
| when they reached within about 200 yards of the Mexican camp; crying | ||
| "Remember the Alamo" and "Remember Goliad," they took General Santa | ||
| Anna's troops completely by surprise; the battle lasted 18 minutes, | ||
| according to Sam Houston's report, but the killing continued for | ||
| about an hour afterward; in the end, Texan losses stood at 9 dead | ||
| and mortally wounded, with 630 Mexican soldiers killed and 730 | ||
| taken prisoner; General Santa Anna himself was captured the | ||
| following day; and | ||
| WHEREAS, With the Battle of San Jacinto, the long colonial | ||
| period of Texas history, stretching as far back as the 16th century, | ||
| came to an end; Texas would subsequently go on to be an independent | ||
| republic for nine years before joining the Union in 1845; and | ||
| WHEREAS, The Battle of San Jacinto dramatically changed the | ||
| course of Texas history, and the story of how an outnumbered army of | ||
| volunteers ultimately prevailed against General Santa Anna and his | ||
| troops continues to inspire a special sense of pride among Texans to | ||
| this day; now, therefore, be it | ||
| RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 83rd Texas | ||
| Legislature hereby commemorate the 177th anniversary of the Battle | ||
| of San Jacinto and pay tribute to all those whose courage and | ||
| tenacity brought ultimate victory to the Texan cause. | ||
| Branch | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Speaker of the House | ||
| I certify that H.R. No. 860 was adopted by the House on March | ||
| 27, 2013, by a non-record vote. | ||
| ______________________________ | ||
| Chief Clerk of the House | ||
