The Battle of San Jacinto

The Battle of San Jacinto was a decisive moment in both Texas and American history. Lasting only 18 minutes, it marked the successful culmination of the Texas Revolution, securing Texas’ independence from Mexico. General Sam Houston’s strategic surprise attack led to a resounding victory over the Mexican forces, and the capture of General Santa Anna effectively ended Mexican control over Texas. This pivotal battle not only shaped the future of Texas as an independent republic but also set the stage for its eventual annexation into the United States, influencing the broader course of North American history.

San Jacinto: Mexico’s Big Loss

Introduction

The Battle of San Jacinto lasted only 18 minutes and involved barely more than 2,000 men on both sides. Compared to many famous battles of history, it would hardly qualify as a minor skirmish, yet the long-term effects of this little clash along the banks of the San Jacinto River were significant, involving, among other things, the transfer of a portion of land larger than the mainland of Western Europe. Even more so than usual, the course of the campaign leading up this battle, as well as its outcome, hinged on the personalities of the opposing commanders, Sam Houston and Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.

The Opponents

• (1) Sam Houston was one of those remarkable figures of the American frontier whose biography seems too improbable to be true. He was born in Virginia, but his family moved to Tennessee. As a boy, he combined an enthusiasm for adventuring in the woods with adoration of the epics of Homer and Virgil. Despite this love of classical literature, he was a rebellious and indifferent student.
• (2) Enrolling in the U.S. army, he served in the war against the Creek Indians under Andrew Jackson, where his accomplishments included gaining fame for his bravery, attaining the rank of lieutenant, becoming Jackson’s protégé, and putting down a mutiny by aiming a cannon at his own men.
• (3) After stints as an Indian agent and a lawyer, Houston embarked on a political career. With Jackson’s patronage, he was highly successful, first winning an election to Congress, then becoming governor of Tennessee, during which time he shot a man in a duel.
• (4) In 1832, at the age of 39, Houston moved to Texas, gained Mexican citizenship, and became enamored of the region. He soon fell in with the faction agitating for Texan independence and assumed a leadership role among them.
• (5) The commander of the Mexican army at San Jacinto was Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, a fascinating character who dominated nearly five decades of Mexican history. Daring but vain, gifted but easily bored, capable of manic energy but prone to wallowing in self-indulgence, Santa Anna was obviously a complex individual and continues to be controversial today.
• (6) In 1810, at the age of 16, he enrolled as a cadet in the army. Two months after his enlistment, the Mexican War of Independence began, and Santa Anna spent the next decade variously fighting Indians, insurgents, and royalists and rising to the rank of colonel. He was wounded at least once and cited for bravery and elevated to the rank of general.
• (7) Perhaps his moment of greatest popularity came when Spain made a rather feeble attempt to retake Mexico in 1829 and Santa Anna led the Mexican army in defeating the invading force at the Battle of Tampico. Tampico was a significant victory that solidified permanent Mexican independence from Spain, but Santa Anna reveled excessively in honors resulting from his success.
• (8) In 1833, after several more coups, he became president for the first of what would be more than a half dozen stints in office. Over the next three years, he was in and out of the presidency three times, eventually dissolving the government and declaring himself dictator.

The Campaign

• (1) New Spain encompassed not only modern Mexico but also extended as far north as Colorado and as far west as the Pacific coastline, including all of California. When Mexico gained independence from Spain in the early 1800s, it inherited this vast, sparsely populated region.
• (2) A section roughly equivalent to modern Texas and the state of Coahuila in Mexico was administratively organized into a region known as the province of Coahuila and Texas. The Mexican government was eager to increase population in this province and, thus, encouraged immigrants from the United States to settle there, even granting them Mexican citizenship. This policy proved so successful that 20,000 new American immigrants soon poured into the province, heavily outnumbering the Mexicans settled there.
• (3) In October 1832, the Texan leaders met in a convention and drafted a series of demands to be sent to the Mexican government. The main ones were that the law closing the border to American immigration should be repealed and that the status of Texas within Mexico should be upgraded to full statehood.
• (4) Stephen Austin was dispatched to Mexico City to carry the convention’s demands to the Mexican government. By now, Santa Anna was trying to consolidate his dictatorship and suppress revolts against his seizure of power. Austin was accused of treason and thrown into prison. Released three years later in 1835, the former pacifist made his way back to Texas, declaring that war was the Texans’ only option.
• (5) These feelings were strengthened when it was announced that Santa Anna planned to personally lead a military force into Texas to punish any rebels. Up to this point, Houston had not played much of a role in politics in Texas, but the threat from Mexico prompted him to call for volunteers to fight Santa Anna, and he offered himself as the commander of this force.
• (6) The next phase of the campaign is well-known. Santa Anna marched an army of about 6,000 men into Texas, toward San Antonio. Rather than withdrawing—as they probably should have done— the local commanders, William Travis and Jim Bowie, decided to stay and oppose the Mexicans, basing their forces in a decrepit Spanish mission called the Alamo. There a group of around 180 men managed to resist Santa Anna’s attacks for nearly two weeks before the garrison was overrun and slaughtered.
• (7) Now, the only remaining opposition to Santa Anna in Texas was Sam Houston and his army of volunteers, numbering around 300. Over the next month, Houston and his men repeatedly retreated, abandoning position after position, as Santa Anna pursued them across Texas. They marched more than 200 miles backward during this period, and Houston turned down a number of opportunities to engage Santa Anna in battle.
• (8) But Houston may have been following a deliberate strategy the whole time. The further Houston went, the longer Santa Anna’s lines of communication stretched and the more troops Santa Anna had to detach from his army to garrison key points along the way. Also, the longer Houston delayed, the more time he had to organize and drill his volunteers into a fighting force, and the more volunteers showed up to join the Texan army.

The Battle

• (1) When Houston reached Lynchburg, he apparently decided that the time was right to stop and face Santa Anna. He encamped his army in a line of woods along the shores of Buffalo Bayou. This bayou ran into the San Jacinto River, and the two waterways formed a horseshoe shape, enclosing a small plain covered in high grass. The Texans settled down in the tree line on one side to await the arrival of the Mexicans. It has been calculated that Houston’s army numbered 930 men, although Houston believed he had only around 780.
• (2) Santa Anna deployed his army on the opposite side of the field. Depleted by disease, marching, and the need to leave men in garrisons, the Mexican army was down to around 950 men and one large cannon, either a 9- or 12-pounder. Santa Anna ordered this gun to be brought up and fired at the Texans, and Houston countered with his cannons; thus, the opening stage of the battle took the form of an artillery duel.
• (3) Houston held a council of war that evening, deciding to wait for the Mexicans to attack first. Santa Anna spent a sleepless night organizing his men and making sure that the sentries were alert against a possible surprise nocturnal assault by the Texans. He had sent orders to his brother-in-law, General Cos, to meet him and to bring along 500 elite soldiers to reinforce his army, and he did not want to engage until these troops arrived.
• (4) To Santa Anna’s displeasure, however, Cos brought with him about 400 new recruits, rather than the highly trained, experienced men that had been requested. To get them in fighting shape, Santa Anna ordered the exhausted men to get some food, then take a nap. Tired from being up all night himself, Santa Anna lay down beneath a tree, having given orders that a strict watch be maintained on the Texans and that he himself should be awakened at any sign of movement. Unfortunately, these orders either were not carried out, or the designated sentries failed to perform their duties.
• (5) The Texans grew increasingly restless, and by midafternoon, their frustration reached the boiling point. Houston ordered his men to deploy for battle and took his position at their head. The Texans trotted quickly forward through the tall grass in a long line, dragging the cannon on leather straps. First to reach the Mexican encampment was the left side of the Texan line. They opened fire and were soon joined by the cannon and the rest of the line. The Mexicans finally began to fire back, getting off several shots with their cannon.
• (6) The Texas line swept over the low defensive wall erected by the Mexicans and spread through the camp. Caught totally by surprise, most of the Mexican troops panicked and ran. Santa Anna briefly attempted to rally his men, but realizing it was hopeless, he mounted a horse and fled into the swamps. In just 18 minutes, the camp was overrun and the fighting was over.

Outcomes

• (1) Santa Anna was caught and, in exchange for his freedom, signed two treaties in which he promised to withdraw his troops and work for Texan independence. Texas spent nine years as an independent nation, then joined the United States in 1845. Ongoing disagreement over where the Texas border was located then sparked the Mexican-American War, which ended with the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Mexico agreed to cede to the United States a further chunk of territory that included modern California, Utah, Nevada, and New Mexico.
• (2) Bitter debates in Congress over whether such new states as Texas and those formed out of the territory gained from Mexico should be slave-owning or not became one of the main issues leading to the secession of the southern states and the American Civil War.

Conclusion

The Battle of San Jacinto was a decisive moment in both Texas and American history. Lasting only 18 minutes, it marked the successful culmination of the Texas Revolution, securing Texas’ independence from Mexico. General Sam Houston’s strategic surprise attack led to a resounding victory over the Mexican forces, and the capture of General Santa Anna effectively ended Mexican control over Texas. This pivotal battle not only shaped the future of Texas as an independent republic but also set the stage for its eventual annexation into the United States, influencing the broader course of North American history.

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