The drive east from Houston, past seemingly endless refineries in a vast expanse of petrochemical plants, isn’t a pretty one. But while visitors to these parts jockey with tanker trucks along Independence Parkway, their eyes are drawn to an unexpected sight: massive murals depicting a brief but decisive battle 180 years ago. They’re painted on even bigger storage tanks.
At 30 by 90 feet, these oversized works of art are vivid reminders of the Battle of San Jacinto. It was fought just down the road, where the San Jacinto Battle Monument and Museum recalls a momentous spring day in 1836.
As any Texas fourth-grader can tell you — they rightly study this stuff — San Jacinto is where Texas won its independence from Mexico. The monument, a giant limestone obelisk, marks the spot. In true Texas style, it’s 15 feet taller than the Washington Monument.
On April 21, 1836 — amid rallying cries of “Remember the Alamo!” — Gen. Sam Houston and his men surprised troops led by Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. The battle, in bottomland alongside Buffalo Bayou (now the Houston Ship Channel), lasted a mere 18 minutes. But Santa Anna’s surrender led to the creation of the Republic of Texas.
To truly understand and appreciate the history of Texas requires visits both to the green oasis of San Jacinto, surrounded by that unsightly industrial sprawl, and to Washington-on-the-Brazos, a historic site in pastoral countryside 100 miles to the northwest. It is where the republic’s fundamental Declaration of Independence was signed seven weeks before the bloody fight at San Jacinto.
Sixty years after America’s Founding Fathers signed their Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, 59 men gathered on the banks of the Brazos River at a different Independence Hall, this one a wood-plank structure built as a general store. Here they affixed their names to the treasonous document declaring freedom from Mexico.
“Sam Houston argued that we must have a legitimate government if we have any hope for the future,” explained Adam Arnold, a park interpreter dressed in 19th-century clothing.
While the declaration was signed March 2, the delegates spent two weeks drafting both it and a constitution.
“The hall that greeted the delegates would have looked very much like this,” Arnold, a seventh-generation Texan, said while seated inside a replica of the original building. “The doors and windows were nothing but big holes. …The building was miserably cold.”
Temperatures flirted with the freezing mark during the gathering. But 175 miles away in San Antonio, conditions were much worse as Texas rebels fought unsuccessfully to hold the Alamo, a mission-turned-fortress.
Amid the 13-day siege, William Barret Travis, the commander of the Texas troops, wrote a forceful letter to those gathered along the Brazos, urging them to “… make a declaration of independence and we will then understand and the world will understand what we are fighting for.” Three days later, he was shot and killed by a Mexican soldier.
“You could probably make the argument that they held the Alamo as long as they could so the delegates could complete their work,” said Houston McGaugh, director of the Star of the Republic Museum at Washington-on-the-Brazos. McGaugh assumes he was named after Sam Houston, who became the first president of Texas.
The museum’s exhibits and an 18-minute film, “Once A Nation,” share Texas history from the days of its early settlers to its annexation to the United States. Texas became the 28th state in December 1845.
A short distance from the museum, Independence Hall and a visitor center, you’ll find the home of the Republic’s fourth and final president, Anson Jones, preserved at the Barrington Living History Farm. This small, working farm, also located within the state park, still uses 19th-century methods when practical. Visitors are encouraged to pitch in with the chores.
“Our tractor’s kind of old, so these oxen are more reliable,” interpreter Bruce Wardlow said as he tilled a field using oxen named Slim and Shorty.
Back at San Jacinto, archaeologists have uncovered a number of relics from the important battle. The museum’s holdings include Sam Houston’s compass and the bit from Santa Anna’s horse. There are also firearms, such as derringers and oversized flintlock rifles.
No firearms are involved these days, but scholars still skirmish over just where and when Texas gained its independence.
“If we had not gotten the declaration and the constitution drafted and signed, then the battle at San Jacinto would just have been a battle,” said Jim Kolkhorst, president of the Washington-on-the-Brazos State Park Association. “And even if we had won that battle, we would not have been the nation of Texas.”
It’s no surprise that Kolkhorst’s nonprofit association uses a logo that reads “Where Texas Became Texas.”
The president of the San Jacinto museum obviously has a different opinion.
“It was just a declaration,” Larry Spasic said of the events at Washington-on-the-Brazos. “Had the Texan army lost at San Jacinto, it would have been nothing but an aspiration and a piece of paper.”
Jay Jones is a freelance reporter.
If you go
The San Jacinto Battle Monument and Museum (1 Monument Circle, La Porte, Texas; 281-479-2421) www.sanjacinto-museum.org) is open daily. Admission is free. A 220-ton star tops the 570-foot tower. From the observation deck, there are views west toward Houston and east toward the Gulf of Mexico. A re-enactment of the battle will be staged April 23.
Washington-on-the-Brazos State Historic Site (23400 Park Road 12, Washington, Texas; 936-878-2214; http://tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks/washington-on-the-brazos), about 20 miles north of Brenham, is open daily. The Brazos Pass, priced at $9 for adults and $6 for students, covers admission to Independence Hall, the living history farm and the museum. The park will host the 180th Texas Independence Day Celebration March 5-6.
