HCR163 - Commemorating the 190th anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto.

  89R20816 KSM-D     By: Lowe H.C.R. No. 163       CONCURRENT RESOLUTION          WHEREAS, On April 21, 2026, Texans will commemorate the 190th   anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto, the decisive   confrontation of the Texas Revolution; and          WHEREAS, Following their defeats at the Alamo and the Battle   of Goliad, the "Texian," as Anglo residents were called at the time,   army retreated in March 1836, and Texas President David G. Burnet's   provisional government was forced to flee from General Antonio   López de Santa Anna's advancing Mexican combatants; General Santa   Anna's pursuit shifted his focus away from the troops led by Major   General Sam Houston, and after General Santa Anna's soldiers   reached Harrisburg--now part of the present-day city of   Houston--General Houston directed his men to press forward to face   them, delivering an eloquent speech in which he called upon them to   "Remember the Alamo!" and "Remember Goliad!"; while en route, they   intercepted Mexican couriers, who informed them of the location and   strength of General Santa Anna's forces; and          WHEREAS, On April 20, 1836, the Texians and Tejanos--as   Hispanic supporters of Texas independence were known--engaged   General Santa Anna's army in a brief skirmish, but the Mexican   leader, surprised by the rebels' presence, opted to delay a full   battle in favor of waiting for reinforcements; the following   afternoon, General Houston issued orders to attack; although the   approximately 900 Texians and Tejanos faced a numerically superior   force of around 1,300 Mexican troops, General Santa Anna had made   the ultimately disastrous decision to allow his soldiers to rest as   he expected that fighting would commence the next day; and          WHEREAS, The Texians and Tejanos capitalized on that   miscalculation, catching their adversaries off-guard and clinching   victory in just 18 minutes; virtually the entire Mexican army was   conquered in the aftermath, with 630 of their troops killed, 730   captured, and 280 wounded; by contrast, only 9 colonists lost their   lives in the battle, and 34 were left wounded; once he had been   located, General Santa Anna was compelled to order his troops to   withdraw completely from Texas and to never return; and          WHEREAS, The two Treaties of Velasco ended the hostilities   and brought about the formal recognition of Texas as an independent   territory; the era of the Republic of Texas drew to a close nearly a   decade later with Texas' annexation by the United States in 1845,   and the ensuing war between the U.S. and Mexico resulted in the   Texas borders expanding to the Rio Grande River and the subsequent   U.S. acquisition of present-day California, Arizona, New Mexico,   and portions of Utah, Nevada, and Colorado; and          WHEREAS, As the culminating engagement of the Texas   Revolution, the Battle of San Jacinto marked the conclusive defeat   of Mexican forces and paved the way for the birth of a sovereign   Texas, and it remains a symbol of the indomitable spirit that has   defined and shaped the destiny of the Lone Star State throughout the   nearly two centuries that followed; now, therefore, be it          RESOLVED, That the 89th Legislature of the State of Texas   hereby commemorate the 190th anniversary of the Battle of San   Jacinto and honor the sacrifices of all those who took up arms to   secure Texas independence in 1836.