Bill Text: TX HR549 | 2023-2024 | 88th Legislature | Enrolled
Bill Title: Commemorating the 188th anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2023-03-30 - Reported enrolled [HR549 Detail]
Download: Texas-2023-HR549-Enrolled.html
H.R. No. 549 |
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WHEREAS, April 21, 2024, marks the 188th 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 remain 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 88th Texas | ||
Legislature hereby commemorate the 188th anniversary of the Battle | ||
of San Jacinto and pay tribute to all those whose courage and | ||
tenacity brought ultimate victory to the Texan cause. | ||
Cain | ||
______________________________ | ||
Speaker of the House | ||
I certify that H.R. No. 549 was adopted by the House on March | ||
30, 2023, by a non-record vote. | ||
______________________________ | ||
Chief Clerk of the House | ||