Heritage, 2007, Volume 1 Page: 6
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By Kelly A. Rushing
By the time you receive this issue of
HERITAGE, Texas Independence Day will
have passed. The readers of this piece almost
certainly know of this important date, but
maybe not. When asked, I have often told
people that it was March 3rd. For some reason,
I remember reading that most of the
signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence
signed on March 3rd. We do so
little to honor this important occasion in
our state's history, that the date has become
harder to remember.
Recording history is a difficult task. Historians
often take statistics that are widely
disputed, and write about them as fact.
With San Jacinto Day rapidly approaching
on April 21, the Battle of San Jacinto serves
as an excellent example of this. How many
troops did Santa Anna have and how many
did Sam Houston have? Clearly, the Texians
glory in victory is greater because they were
so greatly outnumbered. The Mexican forces
would take the opposing view, but there
is truth in the phrase, "History is written by
the victors." So when trying to arrive at an
estimate of troop strength, we should probably
adjust against the bias. It should also be
remembered that historians can have a bias.
There are those who would revise history
and reject earlier conclusions concerning the
importance of certain events and people.
So how many Mexican troops did Santa
Anna have? After his capture, Santa Anna,
in an effort to save himself and maintain
power, wrote eloquently to General Don
Vicente Filisola, second in command of the
Mexican army, " ...yesterday evening, with
the small division under my command, had
an encounter with the enemy which, notwithstanding
I had previously observed all
possible precautions, proved unfortunate, I
am, in consequence, a prisoner." Santa Anna
understood that Filisola might be hesitant
to accept orders from one in captivity, but
an order to withdraw to a neutral area mightwork. He wrote, "I recommend to you that
as soon as possible you carry out my order
to withdraw since this is conducive to the
safety of the prisoners, and in particular that
of your most affectionate friend and companion
who sends you his deepest regards."
A few years later Santa Anna tried to place
the blame of the loss of Texas on Filisola referring
to him as being "criminally disobedient."Houston had a much more generous estimate
of Santa Anna's troop strength. His
report after the battle was 630 Mexican
dead and 700 prisoners of war. Reliable estimates
put Santa Anna's division at 700 to
800, and General Cos is said to have arrived
with the support of 400 troops on the day
of the battle.
The troop strength of the Texians is even
harder to estimate. For one thing, the numbers
changed dramatically over short periods
of time. When Houston marched his
army in mid-March from Gonzales to San
Felipe, he had about 600 men. When he
camped at Jared Ellison Groce's plantations
in late March to train his men, he had about
1,400. Some years later in a speech about
the battle of San Jacinto, Houston said that
his effective force did not exceed 700. Official
records put the total at 910, but that
may include camp guards and noncombatant
support.
There are more important questions relating
to this story than how many soldierswere on each side. For example, why did
Sam Houston retreat for hundreds of miles
before he took a stand? His troops were deserting,
some in disgust and many because
they had families and farms to look after.
They had volunteered to fight, and if there
wasn't going to be a fight, then they had
more important things to do. David Burnet,
the president of our would-be republic wrote
to Houston, "Sir: The enemy are laughing
you to scorn. You must fight them. You
must retreat no farther." Houston paid no
attention to the command and wrote back
that he would seek his own counsel and accept
the blame if he failed.
Other questions about the San Jacinto
battle also come to mind. "Why was Mirabeau
B. Lamar promoted from private
to commander of our mounted forces in a
skirmish the day before the battle? And how
could 900 men walk across a mile of open
field in broad daylight to fire on the Mexican
troops without being seen?
The most important question concerning
this battle is its importance. Would history
have developed in a similar fashion if this
battle had a different outcome? We can only
speculate. However, it is interesting to note
the larger-than-life nature of the two commanders.
Santa Anna, was a Creole from
a poor village who became the emperor of
Mexico, and Houston was a man who left
home to live with Indians, and later became
governor of the state of Tennessee. It is remarkable
that these men even lived to their
maturity.
If these matters are of interest to you, celebrate
San Jacinto Day on April 21. And
visit the San Jacinto monument in La Porte,
outside of Houston. I understand it's taller
than the Washington monument, and that's
a fact worth remembering.
Send comments to Kelly Rushing, PO. Box
50314, Austin, TX78763.HERITAGE / Volume 1 2007
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Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, 2007, Volume 1, periodical, 2007; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45363/m1/6/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.