From Wikipedia:
The Battle of San Jacinto, fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day Harris County, Texas, was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Sam Houston, the Texian Army engaged and defeated General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's Mexican forces in a fight that lasted just eighteen minutes. About 630 of the Mexican soldiers were killed and 730 captured, while only nine Texans died.
Santa Anna, the President of Mexico, was captured the following day and held as a prisoner of war. Three weeks later, he signed the peace treaty that dictated that the Mexican army leave the region, paving the way for the Republic of Texas to become an independent country. These treaties did not specifically recognize Texas as a sovereign nation, but stipulated that Santa Anna was to lobby for such recognition in Mexico City. Sam Houston became a national celebrity.
Today, the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site commemorates the battle and includes the San Jacinto Monument, the world's tallest memorial column, at 570 feet (170 m). The park is located in La Porte, about 25 miles (40 km) east of downtown Houston. The monument contains an inscription, part of which reads:
"Measured by its results, San Jacinto was one of the decisive battles of the world. The freedom of Texas from Mexico won here led to annexation and to the Mexican-American War resulting in the acquisition by the United States of the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah and parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma. Almost one-third of the present area of the American Nation, nearly a million square miles of territory, changed sovereignty."
An annual San Jacinto Day festival and battle reenactment is held in the month of April at the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site and is supposedly the biggest re-enactment in Texas.
Considering Opa Kees the History buf was in town we decided it was a good time to go and scratch the ‘attendance of a war / battle re-enactment’ of our bucket lists.
The San Jacinto site is only 30 min drive from our house. We appropriately showed up in the truck to find two camps build on either side of a battle field marked out on the field. The reenacters had actually already camped for the night in those camps - also in traditional authentic style. i.e. the tents & all gear in and around was as per the original era (apart from some modern day cell phones). The Mexican army was decked out and organized in a manner comparable to Napoleon's army.
The Texans though where more a mix of all sorts of locals such as farmers, doctors, land owners etc etc
Considering the nature of the event and the fact that the sie is so close by we had expected a much bigger audience then was actually there. We easily could find some front row seats on a bank to the side of the battle field.
Really quite close to a lot of the action. You should imagine that a narrater is actually telling us the story through a speaker system and that very short sections of the battle are in a somewhat slow tempo re-enacted during some 60 min or so. There was no major battle going on for hours on end. The whole time span of the days leading up to the battle as well as the day after (the capture of St Anna) was covered.
As per the original battle the Mexican's had 1 cannon and the Texian's two which also actually got fired.
Much to the dismay of Rick who hates fireworks and thunder.
Fortnately the battleground is in the midst of what is now the refinery corridor of the Houston Port (next to Texas City & Deer Park Refinery) and so plenty of folks around with earplugs on them and papa is big strong & safe.
We managed to avoid Kaat crawling onto the battle field (or rolling down hill) and joining in. She appeared oblivious to what was going on and played contently on the hill happy having all of us near.
Most reenacters are pretty fanatic about their hobby and so no difficulty at all to get some pictures with them - as well as conversations about their visits to Apeldoorn(?) or some unsolicited information or tidbits about the era of the battle and their costumes & gear.
Rick re-found happiness the minute the cannons stopped firing
And apart from many Mexican Texans Kaat was one of much fewer white Texans wanting a picture with the Mexican hot shots but the fluff on their hats and their big smiles proved irresistible.
All in all a very successful day out.
