After suffering crushing defeats in previous battles, and while many Texian rebels were running away from Santa Anna’s massive army — the largest and best trained in North America — Sam Houston’s ragtag band of rebels got the drop on Santa Anna at San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836. Most accounts say the routing of Santa Anna’s fighting machine took just 18 minutes.
San Jacinto Day is April 21. Texas history classes at Texas middle schools should be leading ceremonies marking the occasion — but probably won’t since it’s coming at the end of a week of federally-requested, state required testing.
Surrender of Santa Anna, painting by William Henry Huddle (1890); property of Texas State Preservation Board. The painting depicts Santa Anna being brought before a wounded Sam Houston, to surrender.
The San Jacinto Monument is 15 feet taller than the Washington Monument
How could Houston’s group have been so effective against a general who modeled himself after Napoleon, with a large, well-running army? In the 1950s a story came out that Santa Anna was distracted from battle. Even as he aged he regarded himself as a great ladies’ man — and it was a woman who detained the Mexican general in his tent, until it was too late to do anything but steal an enlisted man’s uniform and run.
That woman was mulatto, a “yellow rose,” and about whom the song, “The Yellow Rose of Texas” was written, according story pieced together in the 1950s.
Could such a story be true? Many historians in the 1950s scoffed at the idea. (More below the fold.) Careful sleuthing then, and since, has failed to poke holes in the story, and has instead turned up a fair amount of corroboration. Historian Kent Biffle wrote a column about the story in the Dallas Morning News on April 8:
The Yellow Rose of Texas is fancifully famous for bedazzling Santa Anna out of his fancy pants at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836.
Increasing evidence suggests the story may be true.
On San Jacinto Day, her believers in Texas saloons will lift their glasses to the star of the battle’s sideshow – a mixed-race woman named “Emily” who distracted the tyrant in his tent while Gen. Sam Houston’s grim-eyed skirmishers advanced on the Mexican camp.
Hollering “Remember the Alamo,” the avengers charged across the breastworks, stampeding the nodding Mexicans. The outnumbered Texans, at the cost of nine lives, killed more than 600 soldados and overran the rest.
More than a century after the battle that won Texas independence, pop historians learned about Emily from a long buried footnote and divined that she was a gorgeous seductress.
The story escaped historians for more than a century. In 1956 the University of Oklahoma Press published an account of Texas and its independence written by an English scientist named William Bollaert, sort of a precursor to Michael Palin and Rick Steeves. In his 1842 essay, Bollaert had a footnote on how Houston’s group emerged victorious at San Jacinto, over a much more powerful army:
“The battle of San Jacinto was probably lost to the Mexicans, owing to the influence of a Mulatta Girl (Emily) belonging to Col. Morgan who was closeted in the Tent with G’l Santana, at the time the cry was made ‘the Enemy! They come! They come!’ & detained Santana so long, that order could not be restored readily again.”
Adding to the titillating properties of the story, the song, “The Yellow Rose of Texas” had been rescued from archives about a decade before, and rose to great popularity in the 1950s. Emily, the woman who detained Santa Anna and handed Houston’s forces a battlefield victory, was said to be that “yellow rose.”
Biffle’s column offers details of the work to confirm or refute the story. As it stands, most evidence lends great credence to the story. Today the story is generally accepted by historians, details continue to surface corroborating the key points, and Emily West is celebrated on San Jacinto Day and in museums across Texas.
The story, and the work done to unearth it and corroborate it, demonstrate how historians work, and how history is written even long after the events recorded took place. 
A brave Texas history teacher could put together a very good lesson plan, providing the TEKS required history factoids, the Sons of Texas-desired reverence for Houston and the veterans of San Jacinto, a story of frontier music made into Top 40 hits in the 1950s, and a little bit of sex thrown in for spice. If the lesson was done well, students may well recall the events, years later.
The battlefield at San Jacinto is today the site of the San Jacinto Monument, a towering monolith 15 feet taller than the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.
How will your classes mark San Jacinto Day?
Lesson plan note: The San Jacinto Monument and Museum publish a teachers’ guide, with lesson plans, to accompany a visit to the Monument, but certainly also useful for Texas history classes that will not visit the site. They also provide a very useful list of organizations that support and honor Texas history, complete with web addresses.
Clearly, Santa Anna had not benefited from the “abstinence only” education that current Texas middle schoolers get — had he had such a course and taken it to heart, might Texas be part of a Greater Mexico today?
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
The History channel miniseries Texas Rising tells a (fictionalization) story of Emily West.
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Thanks, Rose. That’s one of the key purposes of this site.
And I originally drafted this piece when I was teaching 7th grade Texas History, and the text didn’t cover this topic well at all.
Now if I could just find a good, online source for that 2007 story by Kent Biffle, I’d be happier.
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I have this portfolio for school about the Yellow Rose and I have been looking for 2 days now and I looked at this site and I found my answers here this is a great site If you want to to find something in History!!
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Dear Joey, (If you are still reading this)
Emily West is Emily Morgan.
Emily was her first name, but since she was a “slave” of Mr.James Morgan they called her Emily Morgan. It say’s right here in another article:
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Reblogged this on macressler.
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The Battle of the Alamo was over slavery. The Mexicans killed some psychopathic racists. Thank you General Antonio López de Santa Ana.
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I’ve heard this story before and heard from the doubters. Regardless of the facts I love the story!
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Joey Allen wrote this column http://joeyallen.suite101.com/texas-history-update-the-odd-case-of-the-yellow-rose-of-texas-a328713 with this
Source:
Denise McVea, Making Myth of Emily: Emily West De Zavala and the Yellow Rose of Texas Legend (Auris Books, 2006)
Here’s a link to part of an argument involving McVea; i don’t know what to make of it.
http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/mcvea-dunnresponse.pdf
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Joey — got a link to your article? How about posting it here.
Thanks.
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Sorry Ed
After reading the article more carefully…you are essentially right. There is no stating exactly which Emily West was actually the Yellow Rose. My contention is she could very well have been the Vice President’s wife Emily West De Zavala. Many Texas Historians claim she was Emily West Morgan. Mr. Morgan and Lorenzo De Zavala were friends and business partners. In other words Emily West and Emily West were close to Morgan.
Please read my article: “Texas History Update: The Strange Case of The Yellow Rose of Texas”
Joey
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Joey, isn’t that what the post says?
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The author of this article needs to read the internet article entitled, “The Odd Case of The Yellow Rose of Texas”…
How can this article be titled “true” when many Texas historians are suspecting Emily West De Zavala was the legendary Yellow Rose of Texas.
Read and discover a whole new popular theory as to who the Yellow Rose really was.
Joey Allen.
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This does nt pertain directly to this article, but it seems there are alot of knowledgable people on this site and I have been looking everywhere for this…Any info is helpful. Thank you.
Has anyone heard the song about San Jacinto? I sang it in elementary school but cannot find it any where. The first 2 stanzas go like this…
“On the 21st of Aprl 1836 Santa Anna and his army find themselves in one bad fix.
San Jacinto, San Jacinto echoed long ago with the freedom cry of Remember the Alamo
They were taking their Siesta underneath the live oak tree when the battle cry of Texas chilled thier heart and shook their knees.”
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[…] This is mostly an encore post, for the 175th anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto. […]
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[…] Borrowed with express permission from Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub. […]
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[…] True story: Yellow Rose of Texas, and the Battle of San Jacinto […]
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[…] “Yellow Rose of Texas” and the Battle of San Jacinto (true story, really) […]
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[…] “Yellow Rose of Texas” and the Battle of San Jacinto (true story, really) […]
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georgia has her peaches texas has its yellow roses think about it
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Excellent! If I could write like this I would be well chuffed. The more I see articles of such quality as this (which is rare), the more I think there could be a future for the Net. Keep it up, as it were.
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“As soon as I have more power over my brush, I shall work even harder than I do now … it will not be long before you need not send me money any more.” Van Gogh
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[…] “True Story: ‘Yellow Rose of Texas’ and the Battle of San Jacinto” Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Texas Statehood, December 29, 1845Reinvest in Our Economy-Buy Texas!texas independence day!Texas Recruit Party Story Criticized by Public Editor […]
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If the story is true, and if that phallic symbol is the San Jacinto Battle memorial, shouldn’t it be a bit more ….. um, limp?
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[…] a time to remember — or puzzle about — the true story of the Yellow Rose of Texas, a woman to whom Texans owe a great deal, or one of the bette…. It’s a time to fume over the way Anglo Texians pronounced the J as J in […]
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Question, How could Santa Anna with his huge army have lost at San Jacinto?
Answer: Sant Anna, in my opinion was the worst leader in the history of the world. He chose the absolutely worse time to come to Texas, he was furious when his Brother in Law, Cos and his Army was run out of theALAMO in 1835 by Ben Milam, Louis Moses Rose and that small group of Texians and came charging, furious, in to Texas when the Spring rains were beginning…..muttering to one of his Officers the water was coming off of the Mountains…..Mountains, there are no mountains….a lot of his personal items are in the Sam Houston Museum in Huntsville, Texas, he sword was given to the City of Cincinnatti, Ohio for their magnanomous donation to the Twin Sister Cannons, Caisons, powder and bullets……at Christmas time, but I understand it is in a museum in Waterloo, oops Austin, Texas…….
I am on a roll…..Santa Anna’s Wooden leg, which is available on line for your perusal, can be seen easily by typing in Santa Anna’s Wooden leg. This cork leg was very expensive and Santa Anna lost his real leg in 1838 over an argument with the French over a donut bill “Pastry War” from 1828……..for those long years, the French tried to collect for thos donuts, see “Pastry Wars”….. the leg now resides in the Military Museum in Springfield, Illinois.
continuing:
The flooding creeksand rivers, no convienant base of operation and his division of his Huge Army into four parts, thus weakening his army and his severe drug use……..the day of April 21st he thought the day was over, see the McArdle Notes, there are 159 inputs available to Mc Ardle before he started the paintings…..he painted THE YELLOW ROSE of Texas in Santa Anna’s Tent, and item number 10 of 159 where the 13 of the Heroes of San Jacinto testify in writing about the Yellow Rose of Texas being in Santa Anna’s Tent when they testify to McArdle’s painting being absolute historic truth.
See item #96 where E. Crew writes from what Mr. James McGayHay says: Hempstead Sept 18/85
Mr. McArdle
Dear Sir
Your Circular
Letter recd by Mr. McGahey of this place
and he is aged & infirm. [H]e requested me
to answer it for him[,] he giving[,] as near
as his memory Serves him[,] the answers
to the Several questions asked in the
Circular.
1st The Mexican Breast works was a little
west of south from the point we made the
attack. The Ground was but slightly rolling
with [the] Mexican Breast works on the heighest [sic]
ground Facing north. The Breast works
were made by the scraping of earth & grass
for a space of 12 feet in front of them which
made the Breast works over three feet high on
top of this earth & grass comfort they had all
kinds of plunder such as Pack saddles & rops [ropes]
used in transportation on the backs of horses.
There was no Timber in sight on the west side
of [the] Breast works & that on the east over a
mile off, but immediately in front & 200
yards Back of the Mexican Breast works was
timber on the bay Shore of San Jacinto River.
Dress of Mexican officers was of Blue Trimmed
in Red stripes in military order. [T]he Dress of
Privates on Mexican Side was poor[.] [W]here
they had coats they were blue but over half were
without coats. All wore a high Cap bound around
with red. Officers all had good swords &
Pistols. Privates Carried a scopet [escopeta] a kind
of Gun. Some Carried spears, mostly Cavalry
Carried spears. Horses [were] of various colors
but were mostly good Kentucky horses that
had been stolen from our side at
Goliad, San Antonio & other Posts & the
Battle of Conception [Concepcion]. [T]hey captured every
horse we had.
Deaf Smith rode a white
horse & just before the surrender Deaf
Smith on his white horse created a
Terror & sensation in the Mexican Cavalry
by Dashing after general Coss[,] Chasing
him Directly through his own Cavalry
[and] Capturing him [and] bringing him in Roped[.]
[T]his occured [sic] During the fight near the close
and just before the sun went Down &
about the time of surrender. (Coss was not
captured until the 24th!! McArdle)
I think the Twin Sisters were of Iron
& kept very bright[.] [T]he wheels to [the] carriage
were Light & trim in appearance But I
did not give them a close examination.
I do not know where escopet [escopeta] or other
Mexican arms can be obtained. I did
not see any flags on either side during
the engagement which only lasted as
it seemed to me about 20 minutes except the
white flag at Elmontes surrender.
They surrendered in Squads [and] would
come running to our men & throw
themselves on their knees & beg for
mercy. The Sun was Setting on our
right as we advanced on [the] Mexicans.
Our Cavalry was to the right & west
of us.
This is about the substance
of Mr. McGaheys replies to the several
inquiries. He seems anxious to Contribute
all the information he can on the
subject.
(James says the Twin Sisters were kept bright(LIKE CHROME????) (probably to see cracking, should it occur)
Be careful, someone tries to hide the truth from us…..the McArdle Paintin, when you put your cursor in one of the people, it identifies each one except for Santa Anna, with his sword drawn on a magnificent horse, the system in an effort to deceive us identifies a soldier further over as Santa Anna, to get our eyys off the fact his is right beside the Yellow Rose of Texas.
In the book: Digging Up Texas: A Guide to the Archeology of the State by Robert Marcom (Paperback – April 25, 2007) it appears to me that there is a possibility that the Bowie Knife removed from Jim Bowie’s body at the Alamo could have been dug up….I can not find the book to give you the page number……
The Wostenholm Knife Company claims that it was a Wostenholm, Bowie was carrying, I wrote them and told them to prove it and never heard from them and it has been years now……and it possibly was a Wostenholm, they had better iron at that point in time……The James Black Story and the Bowie knife and James Black putting his Meteorite in it in the Novel, The Iron Mistress, by Paul I. Wellman tells that story and there is a movie available starring Alan Ladd (amazon.com)
The Life of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna: Savior, Emperor, President, and Dictator
by Randy L. Sible
In 1821 the old authoritarian system of Spain collapsed in Mexico leaving no group of citizens trained to assume the responsibility of government. “The Mexicans tried every form of government: an empire with a self made emperor, a federal republic, a centralist republic, and a dictatorship. The results were always disastrous. … The dominant feature in the history of early Mexico were rebellions of generals who pronounced themselves against the government and proclaimed a “plan” denouncing existing abuses and promising reforms.”
“The leading actor in this tragicomedy was Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna Perez de Lebron. Born in Jalapa on February 21, 1794, to a family of indifferent social standing, he had a gift for concocting plans and instigating pronunciamientos that remains unmatched to this day. A talented commander, revered as a hero for his battle victories, and a clever politician who was able to shift his allegiance when public opinion changed, he was in turn the champion of the liberals, the defender of the conservatives, and the promoter of dictatorship.”
Santa Anna’s military career began on June 10, 1810, despite his father’s objections, he became an infantry cadet fighting for the Spanish against the insurgents. He quickly climbed up the ranks becoming a lieutenant by the age of 18. “He first appeared on the political scene at Veracruz in 1821 when he switched his allegiance away from Spain and pronounced for “El Libertador,” Agustin de Iturbide.”
Santa Anna decided to secure his place in history as a outstanding military leader in Mexico’s war of independence by liberating the city of Veracruz from Spanish control. Veracruz’s defenses were considered impregnable, but this did not deter Santa Anna. On July 21, 1821, he led a vigorous assault on the city. He continued the battle until October 21, when the Spanish retreated to the harbor island fortress of San Juan de Ulua. Santa Anna proclaimed Veracruz liberated. He was emerging as a revolutionary hero.
On May 19, 1822, Agustin de Iturbide was named the first emperor of Mexico, but his reign would be short-lived. Iturbide’s obsessive vanity and his neglect of his duties drove the country’s economy to ruin. Within ten months his empire had collapsed. In December of 1822 Santa Anna pronounced Veracruz, were he was governor, against the empire and proclaimed a republic. Santa Anna prepared his forces in Veracruz for Iturbide’s attack, but the assault never materialized. Instead, other generals joined Santa Anna in rejecting Iturbide as emperor. In February 1823 virtually all military and political leaders signed the Plan of Casa Mata. This declaration called for an end to Iturbide’s rule.
On July 27 1829, the Spanish made their last desperate bid to regain control of Mexico. They sent a small expedition of three thousand soldiers to Tampico, Mexico to reconquer her former colony. Drawing upon his authority as governor of the state of Veracruz, Santa Anna recruited and armed two thousand men. It was a small force, but it was large enough to be a formidable military threat. “The new general rushed to Tampico to beat off the Spaniards, who had already been defeated by heat and yellow fever. After a short but bloody action, the Spanish troops surrendered, and Santa Anna began to be known throughout Mexico as the “Savior of the Country” and the “Victor of Tampico.” Santa Anna himself retired to his hacienda and was quoted as saying, “that I would not have to answer another call to arms.”
Santa Anna’s retirement would not be a long one. In the early 1830 Vice-president Anastasio Bustamante took over the president’s office from Vincente Guerrero. “Bustamante’s administration improved government finances, but ruled Mexico through terror, imprisonment, and assassination. One victim of the firing squad was Guerrero.” The execution of Guerrero angered many Mexicans and triggered another military revolt. Santa Anna was one of the first to pronounce against Bustamante. By the end of that year Bustamante was removed from office. On April 1, 1833, Santa Anna was elected president of the republic.
Santa Anna assumed the office of president, but he did not actually run the government. This task he delegated to his vice-president Valentin Gomez Farias, an ardent liberal. “Gomez Farias indeed cleaned house from attic to basement. He sponsored many good measures, though his reforms displeased the clergy and the army (Olivera 1991,10).” When the colonels and generals began to rebel Santa Anna “ousted Gomez Farias, dissolved congress, discharged all officials suspected of liberalism, repealed the anticlerical legislation of his predecessor, and repressed rebellions with merciless brutality.” He used his authority to promote a strong central government and to protect the power of the church, wealthy land owners, and the military. This pleased the conservatives, but liberal politicians were dismayed and led rebellions against Santa Anna.
The strongest opposition came from the providence of Texas, where many Americans had settled. The reason for this was that the Mexican government had encouraged Americans in the past to settle in Texas, but after finding they were losing control of the providence changed their immigration policy. Doing this prompted Texas on November 3, 1835 to declare the providence independent. Santa Anna interpreted this action as traitorous. He quickly raised and equipped an army of 6,000 men to march to San Antonio. There he met his first organized resistance at a historic mission called The Alamo. There William Travis, Jim Bowie, and another 180 men were slaughtered fighting off the Mexicans. Even Santa Anna’s officers could not justify his actions at the Alamo.
“A month later Sam Houston’s Texans, with blood-curdling shouts of “Remember the Alamo,” pounced on Santa Anna’s unwary troops and defeated them in thirty minutes. Santa Anna fled for safety. Two days later he was captured by one of Houston’s patrols.” In return for his release Santa Anna agree to recognize the independence of Texas. This never happened, once Santa Anna returned to Mexico the government repudiated the treaty. Humiliated and discredited, Santa Anna once again retires to his hacienda.
In 1838 Santa Anna once again was allowed to regain his prestige as a national hero in a dispute between France and Mexico later called the Pastry War. King Louis Philippe of France demanded that Mexico pay the French government 600,000 pesos. The money was to be used to compensate French citizens for property they had lost in Mexico’s war of independence. The French started by blockading Veracruz harbor in April 1838. Shortly after, a French naval artillery barrage demonstrated just how obsolete Mexico’s coastal fortifications were by demolishing several sections of the walls surrounding the crucial island fortress of San Juan de Ulua.
On December 1, rather than pay the damages Mexico officially declares war on France. Once it was decided to go to war, President Bustamante concluded that there was only one man in Mexico who could organize an effective defense against the now widely anticipated French invasion–Santa Anna. “When the French admiral Charles Baudin landed 3,000 troops in Veracruz, the flamboyant Santa Anna hastened to the port. As the French forces were in retreat to their boats, a cannonball shattered his leg, and it was clumsily amputated the following day. The accident proved to be a blessing in disguise for Santa Anna. He would forever be the martyred hero bleeding for his beloved homeland.” British mediation resolved the French dispute the following spring. In return for the promise of the Mexican government to pay the demanded 600,000 pesos over a period of years, the French lifted the blockade.
While Santa Anna recovered from his wounds in Manga de Clavo, the political situation in Mexico deteriorated. Rebel uprisings increased during the early months of 1839. President Bustamante proved unable to defeat the rebel forces, so Santa Anna sent out his own forces. On May 3 they virtually wiped out the rebel army and its leaders. After this victory Santa Anna knew the presidency was his for the taking. It would simply be a matter of timing.
On October 10, 1841, Santa Anna took the oath of office, beginning the longest uninterrupted period–three years–which he would ever serve. Shortly after he assumed the presidency, Santa Anna began establishing a military dictatorship. “He proved to be remarkable in collecting money–taxes and more taxes. He imposed “voluntary” contributions on all householders of the capital, increased duties by 20 percent, exacted forced loans from the church, and sold mining concessions to the British. But the money was spent for the glory and the pleasure of the dictator, not for the welfare of the general population or the good of the republic.”
Santa Anna’s popularity continued to decline rapidly in the fall of 1844 as a result of the deteriorating financial condition of the country. On December 2, Congress formally declared his dictatorial conduct as president unacceptable. His presidency was officially over. Santa Anna was offered a deal: he would be allowed to keep his three properties–El Encero (88,000 acres), Manga de Clavo (220,000 acres), and Paso de Varas (175,000 acres); and he would be paid half a general salary if he would agree to renounce all claims to the presidency and accept exile to Venezuela. Because the most likely alternative was execution, Santa Anna accepted.
Santa Anna instead went to Cuba were he continued to monitor events in Mexico. He watched Mariano Paredes, a federalist, overthrow the government and take over the presidency from his replacement, Jose Joaquin Herrera, in December 1845. But Paredes was no more successful that Herrera in coping with the collapse of the economy, the inability to obtain foreign loans, suppressing rebellions, and negotiating a solution to the annexation of Texas by the United States on March 1, 1845. His inability to obtain funds to pay the army along with the outbreak of war between Mexico and the United States in May 1846 led to the overthrow of the government on August 6.
The third man to control Mexico within slightly more than a year of Santa Anna’s exile was Valentin Gomez Farias, who assumed control of a politically unstable nation at war with no money. Only one man had a history of being able to defend Mexico’s independence in such circumstances–Santa Anna. Gomez Farias knew Santa Anna could not be trusted, but he felt that he had no choice but invite him back to assume command of Mexico’s defenses. Santa Anna assured Gomez Farias that he had no political ambitions and all he wanted to do was to lead the efforts to protect Mexico.
While Santa Anna was making promises to Gomez Farias, he was secretly negotiating with the United States in Cuba. He told them that if he was allowed to pass through the United State’s blockade at Veracruz, he would do everything he could to end the war along the terms they sought–recognition of the Rio Grande as the southern boundary of Texas and the purchase of California. The naïve Americans agreed and allowed the former dictator to land in Veracruz. On August 16, 1846 Santa Anna returned to accept command of Mexico’s military forces. Ironically, the United States assisted to return the one man capable of organizing and leading an effective national resistance campaign against it.
Santa Anna’s strategy for repelling the American attack was simple: defeat the invasion force of General Zachary Taylor in northern Mexico and then counter an expected U.S. landing at Veracruz. To accomplish this he recruited and organized an army of 20,000 men and marched them to the Battle of Buena Vista. During the two day battle, February 22 and 23, 1847, the two armies fought one another to a standstill. After the second day Santa Anna’s officers told him his men were exhausted and had almost run out of food and water. Instead of being routed the next day by a U.S. offensive, Santa Anna decided to withdraw his troops from the battlefield and fall back to Mexico City.
As the Mexican army marched back to Mexico City, Santa Anna shrewdly snatched victory from defeat by racing ahead of his army with two captured American flags captured during the fighting and proclaiming that a glorious victory had been achieved. “Shortly thereafter he took to the field to meet Winfield Scott’s army, who had landed at Veracruz. Attacked from the front and flank and back, the Mexican army was cut to pieces at Cerro Gordo.” The rout was so complete that to escape capture, Santa Anna was forced to flee without both his extra wooden leg and a chest containing 50,000 pesos. By August the U.S. forces had reached the suburbs of Mexico City and were ready to attack, and on September 14 the city fell. Santa Anna retired once more into exile.
“Mexico City could have been defended. As Lesley Byrd Simpson puts it, “The Mexicans were defeated in advance by hatred, jealousies, poverty, despair, indifference, and apathy.” Some Mexicans, however, fought with great courage and obstinacy. On February 2, 1848, a peace treaty was signed between the United States and Mexico at Guadalupe Hidalgo, just outside the capital. The effects of the war in Mexico were to reduce its size considerably, because of the loss of what are now the states of California, Nevada, and Utah and parts of Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming, but to fill up the Mexican treasury by $15 million.”
“The moderates remained in power a few years and the country enjoyed the most honest government it had ever had. But their reforms displeased the army. More pronunciamientos followed. The conservatives returned to power, and Santa Anna was called back from exile. Reluctantly he abandoned his happy retirement because he felt it was his duty to heed the call of the country.”
The disastrous conditions of the nation called for drastic action, but this did not mean Conservative political leaders were foolish enough to trust Santa Anna. Before he was allowed to return on April 1, 1853, he agreed to certain stipulations: His term was to be for one year, and Lucas Alaman was to receive the most important post in his cabinet. The other cabinet posts were to be filled with other Conservatives, but it was Alaman’s responsibility to monitor Santa Anna’s actions.
On April 20, 1853, Santa Anna took the presidential oath of office for the fifth and last time. He immediately set out implementing the Conservative agenda: Congress and the state legislatures were adjourned; state tax revenue administration and collection was transferred to the central government; freedom of the press was suspended; and a new constitution authorizing a highly centralized government was drafted. To ensure the support of the army, Santa Anna increased military funding. The total number of soldiers almost doubled to 90,000 men.
If Santa Anna had only served a year in office and remained merely a figurehead for Alaman he might be remembered today in Mexico as one of the country’s great political leaders. Unfortunately on June 2, 1853 Alaman died and influence shifted to a corrupt group around Santa Anna. The government was soon run solely for the enrichment of Santa Anna and his cronies. On December 16 Santa Anna declared himself “Most Serene Highness” and “Perpetual Dictator.”
The first act of His Serene Highness may have been the thing that paved the way for his fall. “To replenish his coffers he sold the Mesilla Valley, now part of southern Arizona and New Mexico, to the United States for $10 million, in what is know as the Gadsden Purchase.” The United States wanted the area along its southern border for a proposed southern transcontinental railroad.
Santa Anna claimed that he had no choice: “The United States would had taken the area by force if he had not agree to the sale.” A rebellion slowly gathered strength. On March 1, 1854, a new revolt began with the announcement of the Plan of Ayutla by Liberal leaders. It called for an end to Santa Anna’s regime and the convening of a national congress to write a new liberal constitution.
Two weeks later, Santa Anna led a large army out of Mexico City to crush the rebellion centered at Acapulco. His policy of shooting captured rebels and burning every village suspected of furnishing supplies to the rebels cost him much more political support than it gained. When Santa Anna’s first attempt to storm the well fortified rebel position was repulsed, he declared victory and marched back to Mexico City.
Santa Anna realized that he could not save the situation and in August 9, 1855 he slipped out of Mexico City. A week later, he and his family boarded a vessel at Antigua for a third journey into “permanent” exile. “A tumultuous chapter in Mexican history had ended. The former perpetual dictator was allowed to return to his homeland seventeen years later. He spent his last four years in solitude and died destitute and forgotten on June 1, 1876.”
Continuing my roll………Louis “Moses” Rose……. A hero with Napoleon before he ever came to the North American Continent, Lieutenant Rose, fought in the Battle of Nacogdoches of 1835, the Battle of the Alamo of 1835 and the Battle of the Alamo of 1836 for at least 10 days until Travis drew his famous line in the floor of the Alamo and invited those inside to die for Texas…….Louis had had enough, he could look inside the Alamo and see less than 200 soldiers, fighters…….he could look over the walls of the Alamo and see thousands of mad Mexicans……real trained warriors…….not farmers……”Moses”, being the oldest man in the Alamo until the BRAVE 32 arrived from Gonzales……..slipped over the walls of the Alamo and ran for his life in the dark, running into horrible cactus after cactus as he mnade his escape……….to Nacogdoches…..and told his stories…..he later testified in court over and over as to who were inside the walls of the Alamo. Hero, Lieutenant Louis Rose went to French Louisianna to be buried, just across the Sabine River in Logansport……..The Boy Scouts of America have adopted Louis, they have signs directing one to his grave, north and east of Logansport. They have put a huge headstone on his grave……keep it mowed…..for a HERO……
Sincerely,
James Dixon Graves Jr.
Lone Star, Texas 75668
Indianrocks@Att.net
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The Yellow Rose of Texas: Wikapedia:
The song is based on a Texas legend from the days of the Texas War of Independence. According to the legend, a free African American woman named Emily D. West, seized by Mexican forces during the looting of Galveston, seduced General Antonio López de Santa Ana, President of Mexico and commander of the Mexican forces. The legend credits her supposed seduction with lowering the guard of the Mexican army and facilitating the Texan victory in the battle of San Jacinto waged in 1836 near present-day Houston. Santa Anna’s opponent was General Sam Houston, who won the battle literally in minutes, and with almost no casualties.
The last word about whether there was a woman at the Battle of San Jacinto entertaining Santa Anna is done by the San Jacinto soldiers themselves and in writing when they viewed the famous McArdle Paintings and there she is in Santa Anna’s Tent. He is already out of the tent preparing to leave the battle on Allen Vince’s Horse. This is indisputable testimony that there was a woman in Santa Anna’s tent………one good barking dog would have changed everything or if Allen Vince’s horse had not known where his food bag hung and had not wallowed Santa Anna in the Buffalo Bayou to get away from him to go home, eat and go to bed in his barn. Go to the McArdle Paintings and information on line and you shall discover what I say to be true. The Mc Ardle notes explain beyond a shadow of a doubt the presensce of a woman distracting him. They voted that the painting was a true representation of what happened on the San Jacinto Battleground the afternoon of 21 April 1836. They voted TRUE…..
The Twin Sister Cannons were dug up at Presidio La Bahia in 1935 or 1936 by midnight pirates and reside on James Waker Fannin and his brave men’s grave beside Presidio La Bahia. I measured these two cannons and they are within .015 inches of being identical……Presidio La Bahia is on the San Antonio River, just like the Alamo is….
The Golden Standard, Santa Anna’s Cannon at San Jacinto was damaged in the skirmish of 20 April 1836 at San Jacinto. It was taken to the Alamo and is in a picture in a book (THE ALAMO) inside the Alamo in circa 1910….now stolen or missing…..I hear stories it is on a Patio.
The cannons of Nacogdoches are missing also……..
The best story of the Texas Revolution in my opinion, is told by the Great Sam Houston in his farewell adress to the United States Senate and can sometimes be found in the Texas Almanac on line. Use the word WELKIN as a key word to get you there.
James Dixon Graves Jr.
324 South Shore Drive
Lone Star, Texas 75668
903-656-3240
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The Yellow Rose of Texas: Wikapedia:
The song is based on a Texas legend from the days of the Texas War of Independence. According to the legend, a free African American woman named Emily D. West, seized by Mexican forces during the looting of Galveston, seduced General Antonio López de Santa Ana, President of Mexico and commander of the Mexican forces. The legend credits her supposed seduction with lowering the guard of the Mexican army and facilitating the Texan victory in the battle of San Jacinto waged in 1836 near present-day Houston. Santa Anna’s opponent was General Sam Houston, who won the battle literally in minutes, and with almost no casualties.
The last word about whether there was a woman at the Battle of San Jacinto entertaining Santa Anna is done by the San Jacinto soldiers themselves and in writing when they viewed the famous McArdle Paintings and there she is in Santa Anna’s Tent. He is already out of the tent preparing to leave the battle on Allen Vince’s Horse. This is indisputable testimony that there was a woman in Santa Anna’s tent………one good barking dog would have changed everything or if Allen Vince’s horse had not known where his food bag hung and had not wallowed Santa Anna in the Buffalo Bayou to get away from him to go home, eat and go to bed in his barn. Go to the McArdle Paintings and information on line and you shall discover what I say to be true.
The Twin Sister Cannons were dug up at Presidio La Bahia in 1935 or 1936 by midnight pirates and reside on James Waker Fannin and his brave men’s grave beside Presidio La Bahia. I measured these two cannons and they are within .015 inches of being identical……Presidio La Bahia is on the San Antonio River, just like the Alamo is….
The Golden Standard, Santa Anna’s Cannon at San Jacinto was damaged in the skirmish of 20 April 1836 at San Jacinto. It was taken to the Alamo and is in a picture in a book (THE ALAMO) inside the Alamo in circa 1910….now stolen or missing…..I hear stories it is on a Patio.
The cannons of Nacogdoches are missing also……..
The best story of the Texas Revolution in my opinion, is told by the Great Sam Houston in his farewell adress to the United States Senate and can sometimes be found in the Texas Almanac on line. Use the word WELKIN as a key woord to get you there.
James Dixon Graves Jr.
324 South Shore Drive
Lone Star, Texas 75668
903-656-3240
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I have two questions… Were there any mistakes in this picture? If any, what were they?
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Operative clause there: ” . . . and taken it to heart . . .”
There are two serious questions there, really. First is, can we make history come alive for kids? Texas history is taught in 7th grade, when hormones are starting to rage in most of the kids. Some of them can appreciate the passions that drove the Texians and Mexicans of 1836, when we tell it straight.
The second question is this: If we are straight with the kids about sex, and we note that this great leader of a nation lost his cause in an unwise dalliance, might that not make a greater impression on them about the fickle ways of love and lust, and how careless behaviors can have great consequences?
Thanks for the citation. Maybe Santa Anna did have the course . . .
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Clearly, Santa Anna had not benefited from the “abstinence only” education that current Texas middle schoolers get — had he had such a course and taken it to heart, might Texas be part of a Greater Mexico today?
According to the most recent study, probably not.
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2007/04/study_abstinenc.html
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