Sam Houston bivouacked his men along the river. The next afternoon, Houston assembled his men and after reminding them that Santa Anna was taking no prisoners, quietly led them across the mile of tall grass, up the hill and to the edge of the Mexican camp. To their surprise, there were no pickets, and the camp was in state of relaxation with Santa Anna having retired to his tent for a siesta. Half crazed with anger over the previous atrocities that had befallen their comrades and driven by the fear that winning was the only way any of them would survive, the Texans attacked in four columns. The poorly trained militia quickly turned into a screaming, howling mob of knife and hatchet wheeling attackers. They charged through the Mexican camp cutting and slicing Mexicans where they stood. Santa Anna, who's men could only fight in the rigid formations demanded by their General were routed as the Texan's pushed on. The confused Mexicans fled southeast hoping to escape but ran into a marsh where a systematic elimination of their ranks finally brought about a complete surrender. The battle lasted about 20 minutes. At the end some 650 Mexicans lay dead or dying on the hillside. 750 had been taken prisoner. Santa Anna was not among either group. Sam Houston attempted to count his dead but was unable, as there didn't seem to be any. At final tally, he had lost only 2 men. Several more would die over the next few days but the count would remain under 10. The next day, having rounded up a few Mexican stragglers, the Texans noted that one particular infantryman in a private's uniform was causing a stir among the other Mexican prisoners. He was removed from the group and identified as Santa Anna. After some negotiations, in exchange for his life and the lives of his men, Santa Anna issued written orders to his other commanders to turn their columns west and gather at San Antonio where he met them, and led them back to Mexico. Texas was free.
From the theater, we entered the museum which contained many artifacts found in the area. The museum covers the development of Texas well past the battle of San Jacinto. Many old portraits of the leaders of Texas are also presented. In the art gallery are displayed a dozen or so of the 30 paintings, created by Charles Shaw, specifically done to illustrate the theater production "Texas Forever". A series of dioramas which were built in the 1930s are mounted under the paintings. There is an elevator that will take you to the top of the monolith, but we elected to view the grounds instead. It's a good long walk along the reflection pool as we proceeded toward the location of the Texan encampment. A well designed park with poles in the ground identifying each place where something happened. An added attraction is the U.S. Battleship "Texas" which is moored on the North Side. This behemoth was the last of the "dreadnoughts". Built in 1914 it was the only American combat vessel to see action in both World Wars. In 1948 she was scheduled to be used as a bombing target until the citizens of Texas organized and arranged for the vessel to be the nation's first memorial battleship. So it was that we found Sam Houston and the reason behind the name of one of the biggest cities in Texas.