The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 45, July 1941 - April, 1942 Page: 323

THE SOUTHWESTERN HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
VOL. XLV APRIL, 1942 No. 4
THREE TYPES OF
HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION'
EUGENE C. BARKER
This monument and this Library and Museum which are the
occasion of our celebration today commemorate a great event.
Whether or not the battle of San Jacinto was precisely the
"Sixteenth Decisive Battle of the World," it was decisive, and
it had momentous consequences. Immediately, it restored the
fleeing colonists to their homes and 'relieved Texas of a ruthless
invading army. More remotely, if we follow the chain of suc-
ceeding events, it carried Texas into the United States, and led,
in part, to the Mexican War and the expansion of the United
States over California and all the rest of the Great Southwest.
It would be beside the mark to ask whether another chain of
circumstances welded at the forge of time might not have
brought similar results to pass, had victory been reversed at
San Jacinto. Such speculation lies in the realm of fiction or of
philosophy. Historically, it was the battle fought here, and not
some other event, that started the succession of happenings
that ended in the addition of nearly one-third its present area
to the continental territory of the United States.
So this beautiful and awe-inspiring monument is appropriate;
not only to the men who won victory here, but to the results
which victory brought to pass.
But I am most grateful for the Library and the Museum that
shall grow at the base of this majestic shaft. They will become
the storehouse of books and manuscripts and artifacts, an ever-
increasing body of material for the accurate writing and in-
terpretation of history.
'Read at the dedication of the San Jacinto Museum of History, April,
1939.
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