“Texas has four seasons: Drought, Flood, Blizzard, and Twister” Unknown
The 1836 season was off to a bad start; slaughtered in San Antonio on March 6 and massacred March 27 at Goliad. Upstarts are known to get off to a slow start, but one more loss and there may not be a ’37 season. Critics will look back and say they were underfunded, undermanned, and the facilities were over a hundred years old. The spectators had all but given up and were leaving in record numbers. The writers were not even covering the action anymore. One match left and it had to be a decisive win.
1835 had been such a great start. After being a part of the Mexican Provisional league since 1824, the Texans thought it was time to move up. In fact, the Mexican President thought so little of the Texans that they were combined with Coahila. It had been no more than a couple of scrimmages against a “B” team, but wins at Gonzales and San Antonio late in the year had gotten the Texans believing they could fight it out with the big boys. Sam Houston was in charge of the Texans and saw things differently. He wanted no part of the Mexican Nationals and began gauging interest in Washington DC to see if the American League was interested in expansion. The American League had been a British minor league for a long time, but 60 years ago they had their own break out season and had firmly established themselves as a true world power. The problem with the Americans 1836 was that they played by different rules within their league. The Southern Division used the Designated Worker, whereas the Northern Division did not. Although not unanimous, most of the Texans liked the Designated Worker rule. The governing body had decided in 1820 that the two divisions had to be balanced. So for the Texans to join the American league, another team in the northern minors had to be invited up. It was deemed too early for expansion, so Texas had to either stay in the Mexican Provisional League or form their own.
All of this was viewed differently by the Mexican Nationals. They had been a part of the Spanish League for a couple of hundred years and were just getting comfortable with the rest of the world leagues. They viewed Texas as a key feeder to the mother team and had absolutely no interest in allowing another league to form in their backyard. After the “B” team was embarrassed, Santa Ana who was the National’s owner called home the entire management, pulled a Jerry Jones and installed himself as general manager. He declared that he would play all road games and completely destroy the Texan team. So in January 1836, off to Texas Santa Ana went. At San Antonio, Santa Ana took on the Travis Texans. It was looking bleak for the Texans until some veteran free agents from Tennessee known as the Crocketts came to town. Santa Ana had a real fight on his hand and for 12 days they fought to a draw. But although Travis’s first team was as good as they came, he just had no depth. And depth was something that Santa Ana had plenty of. On the 13th day the match ended in a total victory for the Mexican Nationals. Exhausted and hungry, every Texan wound up on the permanently unable to compete list that day. The Travis team would never take the field again. Three weeks later the Mexicans caught up with the Fannin Texans and the results were the same. Unlike the Travis bunch, the Fannin team fell quickly and went away quietly and permanently. There was only one Texas team left and that was the Sam Houston Texans. A victory over Sam and it was adios to this talk of a new league.
It had been over three weeks since Goliad. Sam Houston thought his best plan would be to force the American league to take him, so he headed for Louisiana and would demand support from the Americans. But Santa Ana wanted no part of the Americans and was determined to have the third and decisive match in Texas. By mid-April, both squads had arrived in the vicinity of Harrisburg and Sam now knew Plan A was not going to happen. So it was on to Plan B. The only problem was that there was no Plan B. So he gathered his staff together and tried to determine a course of action. Meanwhile, Santa Ana was in great spirits. His hombres needed a little rest after the long hike across Texas, but within a couple of days, they would be rested and victory would be his. So what should he do to pass the time? It was April 21 and having a Bobby Petrino moment, Santa Ana invited a young local woman named Emily Morgan for an afternoon ride. One thing led to another and Santa Ana’s tent seemed to be a nice place to rest that April afternoon. Ms. Morgan would go on to be known as “The Yellow Rose of Texas.” You will have to listen to the song to get the details. So while Santa Ana dallied, Sam Houston decided that this day would be the day. The retreat was over. The Plain of San Jacinto near the Lynchburg ferry on the banks of the Buffalo River, later to be downsized to a bayou, then even later upsized to a Ship Channel with its own battleship, would be the battleground. He sent his trusted scout Deaf Smith to destroy the only bridge over Vince’s Bayou to prevent Mexican reinforcements. At 3:30 in the afternoon during the Mexican siesta, Sam Houston ordered the attack. With cheerleaders screaming “Remember the Alamo” and “Remember Goliad” the Texans initiated the attack. The match lasted on 18 minutes and it was a total rout. The results were that the Mexicans lost 630 soldiers, had 730 soldiers captured and lost $12,000 (in 1836 dollars) in silver. The Texans lost 9 soldiers. Sam Houston took a rifle ball in the ankle, but recovered from the wound. Even if the Battleship Texas had been there that day, it would not have been needed. Not only did Texas win this battle, they also won the war. Before the sun set on the 21st, Texas was a free and independent nation. The Texans only won once in 1836, but they won the one that mattered.
I hope you all have enjoyed this recounting of Texas History as much as I have had in writing it. I have been fortunate to have the chance to visit Washington-on-the-Brazos twice during these two months. Julie and I also had a trip to Goliad scheduled, but the funeral for the father of a dear friend of hers prevented us from making that trip. We will try again in the future, hopefully soon. I encourage you to visit the Alamo, the San Jacinto Battleground and Monument, and Washington-on-the-Brazos. Try especially to schedule your visit to Washington in bluebonnet season. It is a beautiful drive and has a wonderful museum. The building that housed the convention is on the grounds also. 1836 was a long time ago and what happened then seems to get lost a little more each year. But the Texas Revolution absolutely changed American History. The British and French were very supportive of a new nation in North America that was not under the influence of the United States. The British very much wanted to limit the growth of the US and the French as we would later learn wanted a chance to colonize some of Mexico. The Americans desperately wanted to bring Texas into the US, but slavery complicated the matter. In 1845 when Texas does finally join the Union, a war with Mexico breaks out; and having Texas on board in 1861 only added to the belief in the south that the Confederacy could become a country of its own. Heck, Texas lasted over nine years by itself; surely the south would live forever. And as I pointed out in an earlier writing, when oil blew out at Spindletop, everything changed. So just remember, from Howdy to the Eyes of Texas, we all know that “The stars at night are big and bright, Deep in the Heart of Texas”.
All you have to do is Win the Last One
By Dave Roberson
