1836 The Tough Year

Texan Military  Sam Houston was named commander-in-chief of the Texas Army  the Texas Navy was created to protect the coast and to attack Mexican ships..

Meanwhile … President Santa Anna and 6,000 Mexican soldiers marched north towards Texas, bent on revenge

The Mexican Army advances  By February 1836, Santa Anna was crossing the Rio Grande marching towards San Antonio  General José de Urrea approached from  Matamoros towards Goliad

The Battle of the Alamo  On February 24, 1836 Santa Anna ordered his forces to begin firing on the Alamo.  That day William Travis wrote a famous letter “To the People of Texas and All Americans” to plea for help. Juan Seguin delivered Travis’ letter to Houston asking for reeinforcement.

The Battle of the Alamo On March 6, 1836, Santa Anna launched his assault on the Alamo after 13 days of siege. Texas artillery, under the command of Col. William B. Travis, held the advancing Mexicans off briefly, but they regrouped and eventually overwhelmed the Alamo defenders and poured into the mission by the hundreds.

After a few hours, all the 189 defenders and 600Mexicans were dead..Santa Anna spared the women, children, and a slave named Joe. Santa Anna felt that the defeat of the Alamo would end the Texas Revolution, but it only convinced the Texans to fight harder.

Goliad Massacre  General Urrea was moving up the coastline and defeated many Texan troops on his march to Refugio and Goliad.  While General Urrea fought with Fannin’s troops stationed in Refugio, Fannin received orders from Sam Houston to retreat to Victoria.

 Fannin decided to wait for his troops in Refugio to return before obeying Houston, but those soldiers had been either killed or captured by General Urrea FanUrrea finally met at the battle of Coleto, where Fannin was wounded.

Goliad Massacre, cont.  The Texan prisoners were marched back to Goliad where they stayed for a week.  General Urrea wanted to keep them as prisoners of war, but Santa Anna ordered him to execute them all.

Convention of 1836 The Convention of 1836 was held at Washington-on- the-Brazos to vote on Independence. George Childress was the main author who drafted the Declaration of Independence. Lorenzo de Zavala, a former Mexican official who fled to Texas, also signed the Declaration, designed the

The Texas Army  Sam Houston was the leader of the Texas Army – 800 soldiers  He led his men east in a retreat starting on March 11, 1836 – He used this time to train his soldiers  On April 20 his army camped at the San Jacinto River

The Mexican Army  Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was the leader of the Mexican Army – 1300 soldiers  After the Alamo Santa Anna divided the Mexican Army and chased the Texas Army east  Santa Anna finally caught up with Houston at the San Jacinto River near Harrisburg

The Day Before the Battle  There was a cavalry skirmish on April 20, between Texas and Mexican soldiers  Disaster was avoided when Mirabeau B. Lamar heroically saved the Texas commander  Lamar was promoted to commander of the Texas Cavalry

The Morning of April 21  Sam Houston sent Erastus “Deaf” Smith, a scout for the Texas Army, to destroy Vince’s Bridge  This trapped the two armies at San Jacinto

The Battle of San Jacinto  At 3:00 on the afternoon of April 21, while Santa Anna’s troops are resting, Houston orders the attack  The Texas battle cry was “Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!”

The Battle of San Jacinto

The Outcome of the Battle  The battle lasted about 18 minutes  2 Texans were killed and 30 were wounded (7 later died of their wounds)  630 Mexicans were killed and 730 were captured including Santa Anna