The hopes of defeating the Mexicans to win Texas independence was not looking good.  General Sam Houston had been avoiding the enemy trying to gain time to train and organize his army.  His men were farmers, businessmen, frontiersmen, immigrants, drifters and family men who came as volunteers to help the cause for independence.  Few of the men were trained in military matters.  General Houston had a couple of pockets of resistance in areas of importance.  One was the Alamo in San Antonio, the other was in the small town of Goliad further to the south.  Both places resulted in battles and became a focus of rage for the Texans who had heard of the slaughter of men by the Mexican army.  However, General Houston was not ready for his troops to face the enemy and continued retreating, gaining time for training.  His men became disgruntled and were hungry for action.  Many men left to return to their families and farms that lay in the path of Santa Anna's march.

        On one retreating march near the Brazos River, the road forked.  The north fork would lead to safety and all the time Houston needed.  The south fork would take the Texans towards the enemy.    Armed with new information on the plans of Santa Anna, Houston marched... planning.  As the turn to the south was taken, the men realized that, ready or not, Houston was moving for confrontation.

    Santa Anna and his troops were in a small town south of Harrisburg.  Houston arrived in Harrisburg and made camp.  Here he sent out scouts to determine the strength and movements of the mexican army.  A close friend and scout of Houston was "Deaf" Smith who is credited with capturing a mexican courier with documents showing the intent and strength of the enemy.  Houston made his plans to intercept Santa Anna's movement..

        A rear guard of Texans was left behind in Harrisburg to guard the supplies and sick troops and keep open a route of retreat if needed.  Houston took about 1,000 men and headed east to the ferry on the San Jacinto River.

        It was a determined army of Texans, hungry for battle that arrived at a point of land near the ferry.  They arrived ahead of General Santa Anna's troops.  The Texan's  made their camp nearby and waited.  The camp was in a grove of oak trees bordered on the northwest by the Buffalo Bayou and on the northeast by the San Jacinto River.  The road west led to Harrisburg, present day Houston.  The road to the south led over a small rise and to the Mexican army.

        When Santa Ana arrived at the point of land with about 1,400 men, he, too, made camp but his choice of sites was poorly made.  Though important to the pending battle, he ignored high ground between his troops and the Texans and chose a lower ground with a grove of shade oak trees near the water of San Jacinto River.  Once camp was chosen, orders were given to place cannon near the front facing the Texans camped to the northwest.  The Texans had only two small cannon, known as the Twin Sisters, a gift to the Texans from the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. The Mexicans only had one cannon. Tents were pitched and the mexican army settled in waiting orders.

        About 10 AM on the morning of April 20, 1836, an attempt to capture the Mexican cannon was made by a small group of calvary led by Sidney Sherman.  The attempt failed and the Texans were driven back.  General Houston called his officers together for advice on weather they should attack the enemy or wait for the mexicans to attack their camp.  The consensus of opinion was that the Texan army should wait for an attack by the Mexicans.  General Houston took the advice into consideration but made no commitment.

        On April 21, 1836 General Houston slept comfortably in his tent well past dawn.  He arose and went about his day making plans and considering options.  He decided to attack the enemy in their camp.  To assure that the battle would be decisive, Houston sent a small group of me to destroy Vince's Bridge to cut off any retreat of the Mexican's.  By doing this, he also cut off any retreat of his own men.

        The tradition of the time was for advancing the line of battle was a drum and bugle beating out the rhythm of the advance.  However, the Texans had only a four piece band who did not know marches.  The only song they all knew was a popular love song "Will you come to the Bower".  The Texans marched forward and perhaps the mexicans, who were relaxing and napping for siesta mistook the music as entertainment in the Texas camp.  The battle suddenly broke the still afternoon about 4 PM with frenzied Texans, armed only with rifles, tomahawks and Bowie knives, charged the Mexican camp crying loudly "Remember the Alamo ... Remember Goliad !"   The first shots were fired my Mexican canon but the aim was high and the shot went over the heads of the charging line.

       Poor decisions and leadership on the part of the Mexican army and surprise with fierce determination by the Texans were the key factors in the outcome of the battle.  No Mexican guards were posted and the Texans were able to advance unseen because of the high ground between the two camps and the brush and trees.  By the time the music began the march forward, the Texans were close.  The Texans held their fire until the last minute.
 
      General Santa Anna was in his tent preoccupied with a young mulatto servant girl named Emilie, a servant slave of local Texan Col. James Morgan.  Morgan provided her as a servant to Santa Anna.  This young lady is credited by history with detaining Santa Anna long enough after the initial cries of battle and it is she who inspired the popular song "The Yellow Rose of Texas".  Once the Texans made their charge, the front line of Mexican army was thrown in disarray and began running away through the camp.  This confusion led to more as mexican troops saw their comrades fleeing in terror.  The fright was contagious and the furious Texans fell upon the bewildered mexican troops.  Officers were unable to call their men to an organized battle line and they were not trained for hand to hand combat such as the Texans were bringing to them.  The mexican officers  tried and failed to bring organization and Santa Anna emerged from his tent to late to be effective.

        The battle lasted only 18 minutes but the fighting and killing continued for over an hour within and upon the retreating ground behind the Mexican camp.  The Texans followed to find and destroy any remaining enemy who had will to fight.  When fighting stopped, the Texans lost only two men killed in battle but seven more had mortal wounds that would soon take their lives.  Another 30 had less serious wounds including General Sam Houston who had his ankle shattered by a rifle bullet.  The Mexican army lost over 630 men killed and 730 captured.  A few escaped.  The next morning it was discovered that Santa Anna was among the captives.  General Houston had him brought to him and there, beneath a shade oak tree, had the treaty signed which gave Texas her independence.

The Battle field

The Park :  How to get there

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OTHER at the Park (coming soon)
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BATTLESHIP TEXAS
Picnic and Concessions