Battle of San Jacinto

Shortly before noon on April 21 Houston held a council of war with Burleson, Sherman, Millard, Alexander Somervell, Joseph L. Bennett and Lysander Wells; two favored attacking and the rest waiting for Santa Anna. Houston kept his own counsel, then had Rusk approve his plan. The Mexican camp was quiet in the afternoon siesta, apparently without lookouts. The Texans took muskets, sabers, horses, tents and $12,000 in silver. Santa Anna was found next morning hiding in the grass in a common soldier's clothes, and recognized only when other prisoners called him "el presidente" as he was brought in.

What the plaque says

Battle of San Jacinto 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. (1964)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site — 2.5 mi
  The 1,200 acres of coastal prairie and marsh where the Texas Revolution ended in eighteen minutes, and the 567-foot shaft of fossil-studded limestone that has stood over them since 1939.
• Space Center Houston — 11 mi
  The visitor center of NASA's Johnson Space Center at Clear Lake, with flown capsules, a shuttle replica riding a 747, and tram tours to Mission Control and a Saturn V.
• Emancipation Park — 17 mi
  The Third Ward park that freedpeople bought for Juneteenth in 1872, rebuilt in 2017 on Emancipation Avenue and still the center of the city's June 19 celebration.
• Sam Houston Park and the Heritage Society — 17 mi
  Ten historic buildings gathered in a downtown park below the skyscrapers, among them the 1870 house of the Reverend Jack Yates, built five years after emancipation.

More markers nearby

• Texas Army Attacked in Four Divisions — steps away
• Home of Mrs. Margaret McCormick — 1.2 mi
• Site of the Home in 1836 of Dr. George Moffit Patrick — 2.3 mi
• Deer Park — 2.3 mi