Battle of San Jacinto

Background

Relations between the Texian settlers and the Centralist government in Mexico City broke down after President Antonio López de Santa Anna abolished the federal Constitution of 1824. Texian volunteers drove the Mexican garrisons out of Texas by December 1835, and Santa Anna marched north with an army of some 6,000, declaring that the rebels would be treated as pirates. The Alamo fell on 6 March 1836 and its defenders were killed; Fannin's command was defeated and its prisoners executed at Goliad (La Bahía). On 2 March a convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos had declared independence and named Sam Houston commander.

Houston, who had about 1,200 men at Columbus on 20 March, retreated east before the Mexican columns, losing men as the news of Goliad came in, while settlers fled ahead of the armies in the Runaway Scrape. Santa Anna, impatient, pushed ahead of his main body with a small division, reaching Harrisburg on 15 April with about 700 men and then pressing on to New Washington.

On 18 April the scouts Erastus "Deaf" Smith and Henry Karnes captured a Mexican courier that told him where Santa Anna was. Houston crossed Buffalo Bayou and told his men, in THC's quotation, "The army will cross and we will meet the enemy. Some of us may be killed and must be killed; but, soldiers, remember the Alamo, the Alamo! the Alamo!" He marched for Lynch's Ferry on the San Jacinto River and reached it in mid-morning on 20 April. Santa Anna arrived a few hours later.

The armies

Houston's army was entirely volunteer: Anglo-American settlers, Tejanos and volunteers from the United States. Accounts of its size run from the 783 of Houston's report to about 910 on the later roster. It was organised in two regiments, Burleson's 1st and Sherman's 2nd, with four infantry companies under Henry Millard, a cavalry corps of 61 men given to Mirabeau Lamar, a private until the 20th, and the "Twin Sisters", two cannon donated from Cincinnati that reached the army on 11 April and were served under George Hockley.

Santa Anna had about 700 men of his own division, with Castrillón and Almonte on his staff, cavalry under Aguirre and a single gun. On the morning of the 21st Cos brought about 500 more; Moore describes them as mostly raw recruits who had marched more than 24 hours without rest or food. The total was some 1,200 to 1,400. They were tired, far from the rest of the army under Filisola, and camped, against the advice of their own officers, on ground with woods, marsh and water at their backs.

The battle

20 April, the approach. The Texians camped in the oak woods along Buffalo Bayou, with the bayou behind them. Santa Anna's column came up in the early afternoon; Delgado, his staff officer, describes it forming "amid trepidation and confusion". The Mexican gun opened fire and the Twin Sisters answered with grape, wounding Captain Urrizza and forcing the Mexican artillery back. Santa Anna camped on a plain by the San Jacinto River, woods on one flank and marsh and Peggy Lake behind. Late in the afternoon a Texian mounted reconnaissance, led by Sherman, charged the Mexican cavalry and was driven back; Rusk was nearly taken and was rescued by Lamar, who was given command of the cavalry next day. One Texian was mortally wounded.

21 April, morning. At daybreak Santa Anna had a barricade built of pack-saddles, sacks of hard bread and baggage, with brushwood on the right. Delgado thought the site "in all respects against rules". At about 09:00 Cos arrived with some 500 men, who were told to stack arms and sleep. Houston sent Deaf Smith to destroy Vince's Bridge, eight miles off, cutting the only road to the Brazos for both armies. A council of war met shortly before noon. When midday passed without an attack, Santa Anna let his men rest, and by most accounts no sentries were posted; TPWD says the troops had been told to expect an attack the next day.

15:30, the advance. Houston paraded his army and advanced across the grassy rise that hid the two camps from each other, some 500 yards apart. Sherman's regiment moved on the left through the trees by the marsh; Burleson's held the centre with the Twin Sisters on his right, then Millard's companies and Lamar's cavalry on the extreme right. The guns were run forward to about 200 yards and opened with grape and canister.

About 16:30, the assault (CDB90 engagement San Jacinto, 16:30–16:48). Delgado says Santa Anna and his staff were asleep, many men were eating or sleeping, others were gathering brush, and the cavalry were watering their horses bareback. He saw the Texians in a single extended rank with a flag in the centre and a gun on each wing. The infantry fired one volley and charged the barricade shouting "Remember the Alamo!" and "Remember Goliad!" Castrillón, one of the few officers to stand his ground, was killed, and Aguirre was badly wounded. Houston's ankle was shattered by a musket ball. By his report the fighting lasted about eighteen minutes from close action until the Texians held the camp.

Until dusk, the rout. The Mexican army broke, Delgado writes, into men "flying in small groups, terrified", most towards the bayou and the marsh round Peggy Lake. There, he says, "the greatest carnage took place". Sergeant William Swearingen wrote next day that "it was nothing but a slaughter": men were shot as they tried to swim. Hardin records Mexican soldiers crying "Me no Alamo!" and Texian officers failing to stop the killing, which went on until dark. Almonte surrendered. Delgado was among about 150 taken by Captain Allen, who he says protected them from "drunken and infuriated volunteers", though wounded men were shot or bayoneted on the march to the Texian camp.

22 April. A search party found Santa Anna hiding in the grass in a private's clothes. He was recognised only when Mexican prisoners hailed him in camp, and was brought before the wounded Houston. Cos was taken on the 24th.

Aftermath

Houston reported 630 Mexicans killed and 730 prisoners, against a Texian loss of between nine and eleven killed or mortally wounded and about thirty wounded. William C. Davis calls it one of the most one-sided victories in history. Captured were the army's only gun, about 600 muskets, several hundred mules and horses and nearly $12,000 in specie.

To save his life Santa Anna ordered the rest of the army out of Texas. Filisola, now in command, fell back over roads turned to mud by rain, with ammunition spoiled and sickness spreading, against Urrea's advice to fight on; the army was across the Nueces by late May. On 14 May Santa Anna and President David Burnet signed the Treaties of Velasco: publicly, Mexican troops would withdraw beyond the Rio Grande, property would be restored and prisoners released; secretly, Santa Anna would work for recognition of Texas. Mexico later refused to honour them. Santa Anna was eventually allowed home, and eleven years later fought Zachary Taylor at Buena Vista, in the war that the annexation of Texas by the United States had brought on.

San Jacinto is a founding myth of Texas, marked by the 567-foot monument built for the centenary. The killing of fugitives in the marsh, which Texian witnesses as well as Mexican ones describe, is usually explained as revenge for the Alamo and Goliad; how far it should temper the celebration remains a question.

Wargaming it

San Jacinto is a small, sharp action, about 900 Texians against 1,200 to 1,400 Mexicans, and a good one-evening game at skirmish or company scale, perhaps one figure to ten men with each company a unit. The table is simple: the Texian woods along Buffalo Bayou, a low grassy rise between the camps, the Mexican barricade of baggage and saddles, and behind it the marsh, Peggy Lake and the San Jacinto River. Vince's Bridge, off-table, closes both armies in.

Played historically, it is a surprise attack, and the interest lies in the Mexican player's struggle to react: units asleep, arms stacked, cavalry unsaddled, and the commander missing. Random activation, with each Mexican unit rolling to wake, form and find its officers, suits it well. The Texian player has fragile command and must hold the line together long enough to reach the barricade; the two light guns need to be pushed close to matter. After the barricade falls the game becomes a pursuit into the marsh, which may be better treated as an aftermath roll than played.

The "what ifs" make it more balanced: Santa Anna posting pickets and standing to arms after noon; Houston attacking on the 20th, before Cos arrives; or Cos's tired recruits counted as rested. A larger campaign game can ask whether Filisola's divisions could have reached the field had Houston waited.

Maps and pictures