Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!

"When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people, from whom its legitimate powers are derived, and for the advancement of whose happiness it was instituted, and, so far from being a guarantee for the enjoyment of those inestimable and inalienable rights, becomes an instrument in the hands of evil rulers for their oppression:..."


THE BEGINNING OF THE TEXAS DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, MARCH 2, 1836





March 3, 1836 -- Sam Houston is made Commander in Chief of the Texian Army of Independence





March 6, 1836 -- The Alamo falls to overwhelming numbers.





March 11, 1836 -- Houston reaches Gonzales where the assembled volunteers are waiting. There are 374 "effectives". He dispatches a courier to Fannin at Goliad to blow up the powder, abandon his position, and proceed to join him. Fannin ignores the order.





March 16, 1836 -- The Constitution of Texas is adopted.





March 17, 1836 -- The newly formed government prudently withdraws to Galveston Island.





March 20, 1836 -- Fannin surrenders Goliad.





March 27, 1836 -- Palm Sunday -- The Goliad captives are executed.





March 28, 1836 -- Houston and the volunteers reach Groce's Plantation at San Felipe where they spend 10 days drilling and training. The army swells to approximately 1400 men.





April 7, 1836 -- Due to the approaching Mexican army, Houston determines that he must withdraw to the east while continuing to drill his men in preparation for battle.





April 20, 1836 -- Houston allows himself to be cornered beyond Buffalo Bayou against the San Jacinto River. He burns the bridge across the bayou effectively cutting Santa Anna's avenue of retreat. Santa Anna and his approximately 1200 men contemptuously go into camp to rest with anticipation of capturing Houston at their leisure.





April 21, 1836 -- Houston assembles a Counsel of War at Noon. The officers wish to attack the next morning, but the men overwhelmingly vote to proceed with the attack on that afternoon. At 3:00 p.m. the advance is ordered under covering fire of the Twin Sisters, a pair of cannon provided by the state of Ohio. Houston and his 918 volunteers advance across an open field while the army of Santa Anna enjoys their afternoon siesta. At the center of the Texian line flies the Republic's flag:

The motto on the flag reads: Ubi Libertas Habitat Ibi Nostra Patria Est -- "where liberty lives, there is our homeland."

Beside the flag, Houston rode his huge white stallion, Saracen. Houston drew his sword for the attack and the screech of the field music filled the air with "Come to the Bower".

Will you come to the bow'r I have shaded for you?

Our bed shall be roses all spangled with dew.

There under the bow'r on roses you'll lie

With a blush on your cheek but a smile in your eye!

Colonel Sidney Sherman, commanding the 2D Texas Regiment, raised the cry: "Remember the Alamo!, Remember Goliad! Remember the alamo!" The battle lasted only a few minutes. The slaughter lasted into the night. The Texians could not forgive the treatment received at the Alamo or at Goliad.

April 21, 1836, Texas was won.