Texas Almanac, 1939-1940 Page: 67
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HISTORY OF TEXAS. 67
tunity the Texans attacked suddenly
during the afternoon of April 21 while
the "Napoleon of the West," as Santa
Anna is reputed to have called himself,
took his siesta. The Texans charged
with the battlecry, "Remember the
Alamo; remember Goliad." The Mexi-
can army was routed with a loss, accord-
ing to Houston's report, of 630 killed,
280 wounded, and 730 captured. Practi-
cally the entire Mexican force was killed,
wounded or taken prisoner. The Tex-
ans sustained a loss of two killed and
twenty-three wounded. Among the
Mexicans captured was General Santa
Anna.
Significance of San Jacinto.
The sweeping victory assured for Tex-
as the independence it had declared on
March 2, and eventually changed the his-
tory of the entire western part of the
United States. Had San Jacinto been lost
Texas would not have been annexed by
treaty to the United States nine years
later, and there would have been no
Mexican War, which resulted in the ac-
cession by the United States of most of
its present Rocky Mountain and Pacific
Coast area.
Treaty of Velasco.
On May 14 the treaty of Velasco was
signed at Velasco, temporary capital of
the Republic, by which the Mexicans
were bound to retreat beyond the Rio
Grande and Santa Anna was to be re-
leased on promise to return to Mexico
and intercede with his government on be-
half of Texas independence. President
Burnet found himself unable to carry
out the last part of the treaty, however,
because of popular sentiment against
Santa Anna, and the Mexican President
was held prisoner for about six months
before he was released.
The Texas Navy.
The foregoing brief account of the
Texas Revolution omits one colorful
chapter, that of the navy. Four small
vessels, the Invincible, the Brutus, the
Independence and the Liberty consti-
tuted the Texas Navy during the Revolu-
tion. It- harassed Mexican commerce
and made partly ineffective the Magxi
cans' attempt to blockade Texas ports
and prevent the bringing in of supplies
from the United States. The Independ-
ence was captured and two other ships
were wrecked shortly after the close of
the Revolution.
Because of threat of blockade of Tex-
as ports by Mexico's navy, after the
founding of the Texas Republic, the gov-
ernment of the republic purchased some
five or six vessels from the United States
and sent them out to harass the Mex-
ican coast and prey on its commerce.
Under the command of Commodore Edwin
W. Moore, a former officer in the United
States Navy, the navy attacked and cap-
tured Tabasco, Yucatan, and other Mex-ican coastal towns. The navy operated
until the middle of 1843 when it returned
to Galveston from its last expedition. It
had been effective in keeping open Tex-
as ports, operating part of the time un-
der orders and part of the time so fla-
grantly in disobedience of orders that
at one time President Houston officially
declared Commodore Moore and his lit-
tle fleet to be pirates. At the time of
the annexation of Texas three or four of
the vessels were in sufficiently good con-
dition to be incorporated into the navy of
the United States.
THE REPUBLIC OF TEXAS.
With the dying down of the first en-
thusiasm over the victory at San Ja-
cinto, Texans settled down to a realiza-
tion that their task of establishing a
free and independent country had only
begun. The threat of renewed military
offensive by Mexico, which had promptly
repudiated the Treaty of Velasco, was
a source of constant alarm. Mexico con-
tinued the threat of invasion of Texas
until the end of the Republic although
the new country succeeded m getting
the recognition of the United States, Bel-
gium, France, Great Britain, Holland
and some of the German states.
The Indians who were held in re-
straint by the tactfulness of Houston
during the Revolution and the first two
or three disordered years thereafter be-
came an increasing problem, especially
as the expanding population of the state
thrust the frontier westward encroach-
ing upon the lands of the powerful Co-
manches.
The little Republic was beset by finan-
cial difficulties, being without resources
except its vast public domain which was
not readily convertible into cash. Fur-
thermore, there was bitter political
strife, and the constitutional provision
which prevented a President from hold-
ing two successive terms several times
upset administration policies about the
time they had become established.
David G. Burnet had been named
Provisional President of the Rpubhic,
whiCh was set up at Washington-on-the-
Brazos in March, 1836. Fleeing before
the advancing army of Santa Anna civil
headquarters were removed to Harris-
burg, then to Galveston and later to
Velasco and finally to Columbia. The
chief issue of Burnet's administration,
after the Battle of San Jacinto, was the
Treaty of Velasco and disposition of
General Santa Anna. Many Texans
wished to turn him over to the army for
court-martial and possible execution.
The army itself was cause for concern
by civil authorities. Refusing to accept
the Cabinet's appointment of Mirabeau
B. Lamar as Major General it chose
Gen. Felix Houston by election. The
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Texas Almanac, 1939-1940, book, 1939; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117163/m1/69/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.