Texas Won Independence at the Battle of San Jacinto

On April 21, 1836, near the marshy banks of the San Jacinto River in present-day Texas, General Sam Houston turned his outnumbered army to face the forces of Mexican president Antonio López de Santa Anna. The Texans had spent weeks in retreat after the slaughters at the Alamo and Goliad, and many burned for revenge.

Houston attacked in the late afternoon, catching the Mexican camp off guard during a rest period. The assault was astonishingly brief, lasting roughly eighteen minutes, yet it became a total rout. Hundreds of Mexican soldiers were killed or captured while Texan losses numbered only a handful of dead.

The battle was over in minutes, but it decided the fate of a continent’s borders.

Santa Anna was captured the next day disguised as a common soldier. As a prisoner, he ordered his remaining troops to withdraw, effectively ending the Texas Revolution and securing independence for the new Republic of Texas, which would later join the United States.