The West Texas San Jacinto

[♪ sentimental music ♪]

-[Burnet] General Houston, sir,
the enemy are laughing you to scorn.

You must fight them.

You must retreat no further.

The country
expects you to fight.

The salvation of the country
depends on your doing so.

-David Burnet,
President of Texas

-[Yarborough]
After the Alamo fell,

and Santa Anna ordered
all prisoners shot,

he had said he was
going to kill everybody

that's opposing the
Mexican government.

There's a terrific panic
over the country,

and uh, every family that could
got their belongings together

in a buggy or a wagon or
whatever they had-- horseback--

some didn't have
any vehicle.

Walk and carry what you could,
drag it, put it on a mule,

and then the families
just abandoned their homes.

And that was called
the Runaway Scrape,

and they were trying to
get across the Sabine River

to get into New Orleans
before they got killed.

-[narrator] The fledgling
government of Texas

retreated to the
little town of Harrisburg.

There, they demanded that
Sam Houston stand and fight,

but Houston kept
his own counsel,

poring over Caesar's
commentaries on war,

gnawing on the raw ears of corn
with which he filled his saddlebags.

-[Houston] Had I consulted
the wishes of all,

I should have been like the ass
between two stacks of hay.

I consulted no one.

I held no counsels of war.

If I err, the blame is mine.

[military drumming]

-[narrator] Houston
and his small army

were in full retreat,
zig-zagging across Texas,

keeping just out of range
of the advancing Mexicans.

Rumors spread that alcohol
had undercut his courage.

Settlers jeered him
from the roadside.

-[Yarborough] The men under him
said he was a coward,

and Sidney Sherman, the colonel,
tried to replace him.

Sam Houston said, "Anybody that tries
to remove me from this command,

"I'll execute him
on the spot."

[drumming]

-[narrator]
For more than a month,

Santa Anna pursued
Houston's elusive army.

Then the Mexican general
made a mistake.

He divided his troops
and veered off

in hopes of capturing
the provisional government.

Houston slipped up
behind him

in a bend in a river
called the San Jacinto.

-[man] April 21, 1836.

We are in preparation
to meet Santa Anna.

It's the only chance
of saving Texas.

We go to conquer.

It is wisdom growing out of necessity
to meet the enemy now.

-[narrator] Santa Anna's army was
surrounded by water on three sides.

Houston's 800 men moved
into position on the fourth.

-[Yarborough]
There were trees there.

Houston had men up in
those trees watching him,

and calling down
to him what to do,

and he says the cavalry over there
have taken their saddles off;

they're taking their
horses to drink.

This is siesta time.
It's about 3:30,

and most of the Mexicans
is having their siesta.

Houston immediately
ordered them to line up.

[horse neighing]

[military drumming]

-[narrator] "Trust in God and fear not,"
he told his men.

"Remember Goliad.
Remember the Alamo."

[cannonfire]

-[narrator] Houston led the charge
himself, swinging his saber.

His horse fell,
hit five times.

Houston climbed onto
another horse.

It too was killed,

and this time Houston's right leg
was splintered by a musketball.

[gunfire,
horse neighing]

But Santa Anna's army
was on the run.

The Texans and the company
of Tejanos under Juan Seguín

were right behind them.

The fighting lasted
just 18 minutes,

[horse neighs,
gunfire]

but the slaughter went on
for another hour.

[♪ sentimental music ♪]

When it was all over,
600 Mexican soldiers lay dead.

Nearly 700 more
had surrendered.

The surprise had been so complete,
the blow so sudden,

that only six Texans died
during the Battle of San Jacinto.

Santa Anna himself
was made Sam Houston's prisoner,

and forced to sign a piece of paper
ceding Texan independence.

Now there were three independent
republics in North America:

Mexico,

the United States,

and, under President Sam Houston,
the new Republic of Texas.