Commemorating the 190th anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto.

89(R) HR 105 - Enrolled version - Bill Text

H.R. No. 105

R E S O L U T I O N

WHEREAS, April 21, 2026, marks the 190th 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 nine 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 89th Texas

Legislature hereby commemorate the 190th 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. 105 was adopted by the House on May

23, 2025, by a non-record vote.

______________________________

Chief Clerk of the House