The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 63, July 1959 - April, 1960 Page: 290

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Charles Drake cerris
UHkNowN Veteram of San facdito
WALTER McCAUSLAN D
THE STORY of the battle of San Jacinto has been told and
retold many times. Waged late in the afternoon of Thurs-
day, April 21, 1836, the fierce engagement lasted only
eighteen minutes, although pursuit of fugitives of Santa Anna's
shattered Mexican forces continued until dark. The battle-weary
Texans who returned that night to their encampment had suf-
fered amazingly light casualties; but they had routed with heavy
slaughter a numerically superior opposing force, and they had
captured its leader. They had saved their homes from destruction;
they had broken for all time Mexican control of a vast, rich
territory. They had avenged the ruthless, bloody massacres of
Travis and his men at the Alamo, and of Fannin and his army at
Goliad.
In the fittingly impressive and inspiring San Jacinto Monu-
ment, present-day Texans commemorate the heroes of San Jacinto
and others who helped to win independence for Texas. Focal
points in the architectural design of the two main exhibition
halls at the base of the monument are two massive bronze plaques,
topped with the laurel-wreathed Lone Star. On one are the names
of 899 officers and men of the Texan Army who took part in the
battle of April 21, 1836, or in the skirmish of the previous day.
On the other are the names of 237 of their comrades who, by
order of General Sam Houston, remained at the camp opposite
Harrisburg to care for the sick and the baggage, and to act as
rear guard.
Houston's official muster rolls, which were published a short
time after the engagement, stated that he had 845 men who
took part in the action.1 In recent years, painstaking study has
'Sam Houston Dixon and Louis W. Kemp, The Heroes of San Jacinto (Hous-
ton, 1932), 31; List of Officers and Men Who Took Part in the Battle of San
Jacinto (Sylvester Papers, Rosenberg Library, Galveston).

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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 63, July 1959 - April, 1960, periodical, 1960; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101186/m1/364/ocr/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.

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