San Jacinto Day
Today is San Jacinto Day. The phrase "Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!" was forever etched into Texas history (although "Remember the Alamo!" seems to have "stuck" more than the full phrase). I stopped in Goliad while traveling one day and read about the massacre. Of course, every good Texan has been to San Antonio and toured the Alamo. It's sobering to ponder what men were willing to go through to secure freedom from tyranny.
Of course, San Jacinto Day is a celebration of victory, not of martyrdom. There were soldiers as young as 15 and as old as 60 fighting in the battle for Texas freedom. I don't know the exact statistics, but I think I remember over 600 Mexican soldiers died and over 700 were taken prisoner. Only 9 Texians (as they were called then) died and a small number (maybe in the 30s) were wounded. This is what a panel on the side of the monument at San Jacinto says:
"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 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."
Of course, San Jacinto Day is a celebration of victory, not of martyrdom. There were soldiers as young as 15 and as old as 60 fighting in the battle for Texas freedom. I don't know the exact statistics, but I think I remember over 600 Mexican soldiers died and over 700 were taken prisoner. Only 9 Texians (as they were called then) died and a small number (maybe in the 30s) were wounded. This is what a panel on the side of the monument at San Jacinto says:
"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 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."
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