San Jacinto, Texas
Battleground Monument and the USS Texas
March 2000
The San Jacinto Battleground and Monument is where the destiny of Texas
was said to be begun. At this battleground Sam Houston defeated Santa
Anna, and this led to the subsequent indpendence of Texas from Mexico in
1836. It took place about six weeks after the Alamo, so the victory
was an inspired one by the Texans. Charleston Heston narrated an
excellent historical slide presentation derived from paintings of the battle
and its participants. The monument itself is an obelisque topped
by a “Texas star” with a reflecting pool in front of it. If it sounds
like the Washington monument, that’s what we thought, but no mention of
any similarity was made anywhere.
The USS Texas was commissioned in 1914, served in both World Wars,
and was given to the state of Texas by the United States of America.
One of its 1914 guns launched a shell which was described as having the
same capacity as “launching a small compact car over 12 miles.” Quite
a ship for almost a century ago. |