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April 21, 1836: Texas forces win at San Jacinto

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/daybyday/04-21-001.html

On this day in 1836, Texas forces won the battle of San Jacinto, the
concluding military event of the Texas Revolution.

Facing General Santa Anna's Mexican army of some 1,200 men encamped in
what is now southeastern Harris County, General Sam Houston disposed
his forces in battle order about 3:30 p.m., during siesta time. The
Texans' movements were screened by trees and the rising ground, and
evidently Santa Anna had no lookouts posted. The Texan line sprang
forward on the run with the cries "Remember the Alamo!" and "Remember
Goliad!" The battle lasted but eighteen minutes.

According to Houston's official report, the casualties were 630
Mexicans killed and 730 taken prisoner. Against this, only nine of the
910 Texans were killed or mortally wounded and thirty were wounded less
seriously.

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The Battle of San Jacinto

http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=general&month=10272956&day=10272986
http://tinyurl.com/pm7ue

During the Texan War for Independence, the Texas militia under Sam
Houston launches a surprise attack against the forces of Mexican
General Santa Anna along the San Jacinto River. The Mexicans were
thoroughly routed, and hundreds were taken prisoner, including General
Santa Anna himself.

After gaining independence from Spain in the 1820s, Mexico welcomed
foreign settlers to sparsely populated Texas, and a large group of
Americans led by Stephen F. Austin settled along the Brazos River. The
Americans soon outnumbered the resident Mexicans, and by the 1830s
attempts by the Mexican government to regulate these semi-autonomous
American communities led to rebellion. In March 1836, in the midst of
armed conflict with the Mexican government, Texas declared its
independence from Mexico.

The Texas volunteers initially suffered defeat against the forces of
Santa Anna--Sam Houston's troops were forced into an eastward retreat,
and the Alamo fell. However, in late April, Houston's army surprised a
Mexican force at San Jacinto, and Santa Anna was captured, bringing an
end to Mexico's effort to subdue Texas. In exchange for his freedom,
Santa Anna recognized Texas's independence; although the treaty was
later abrogated and tensions built up along the Texas-Mexico border.

The citizens of the so-called Lone Star Republic elected Sam Houston as
president and endorsed the entrance of Texas into the United States.
However, the likelihood of Texas joining the Union as a slave state
delayed any formal action by the U.S. Congress for more than a decade.
Finally, in 1845, President John Tyler orchestrated a compromise in
which Texas would join the United States as a slave state. On December
29, 1845, Texas entered the United States as the 28th state, broadening
the irrepressible differences in the U.S. over the issue of slavery and
igniting the Mexican-American War.