The World's Tallest Monument

When I was a little girl, my grandma would take my cousin and I out to the Houston Ship Channel, where we would get to enjoy a picnic lunch at the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site. Our time was usually spent listening to my grandma teach us some history of the battleground where the Battle of San Jacinto was fought during the Texas Revolution. After we ate, if we were lucky, we would be able to convince her to take us to see the giant San Jacinto monument and take a tour of the battleship, the USS Texas which were both located on the battleground site. The battleship however was recently moved from the San Jacinto battlegrounds to Galveston in 2022 for repairs. The USS Texas was commissioned in 1914 as the most powerful weapon in the world and is the last surviving Dreadnought as well as the only battleship in existence today that fought in both World Wars I & II.

The Battle of San Jacinto, the final battle of the Texas Revolution, was fought on April 21, 1836 in present-day La Porte and Pasadena, Texas. The battle was led by General Sam Houston, where the Texan Army defeated General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's Mexican army in fight that only last whopping 18 minutes. General Santa Anna, the president of Mexico at the time, escaped during the battle but was captured the following day on April 22 where he would go on to be held as a prisoner of war for the next 3 weeks. Santa Anna eventually signed the peace treaty that required that the Mexican army leave the region, paving the way for the Republic of Texas to become an independent country.

Located at the San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site, stands a giant 567.31 feet high column that is topped with a 220-ton star commemorating the site of the Battle of San Jacinto. It was built between 1936 and 1939 and finally dedicated on April 21, 1939, 103 years to the date of when the actual battle took place. The San Jacinto monument is the world's tallest masonry column, even coming in ahead of the Washington monument which only measures a height of 554.612 feet. It features a history museum in the base of the monument as well as an observation deck that allows visitors to get a one-of-a-kind view of Houston and the entire San Jacinto battlefield.

The monument was built by W.S. Bellows Construction and cost a total of $1.5 million dollars to complete. It is mostly constructed with reinforced concrete, however its exterior is faced with Texas limestone from a quarry near The Texas State Capitol in Austin. The monument also features a 1,750 x 200 feet reflecting pool, making a beautiful site for visitors to see.

It was designated a National Historic Landmark on December 19,1960, a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1992, and is currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

More information about visiting the San Jacinto monument can be found online at https://www.sanjacinto-museum.org

Make time to come out and experience a piece of Texas history located right in Houston's backyard!

An inscription on the monument tells the story of the birth of Texas:

The early policies of Mexico toward her Texas colonists had been extremely liberal. Large grants of land were made to them, and no taxes or duties imposed. The relationship between the Anglo-Americans and Mexicans was cordial. But, following a series of revolutions begun in 1829, unscrupulous rulers successively seized power in Mexico. Their unjust acts and despotic decrees led to the revolution in Texas.

In June, 1832, the colonists forced the Mexican authorities at Anahuac to release Wm. B. Travis and others from unjust imprisonment. The Battle of Velasco, June 26, and the Battle of Nacogdoches, August 2, followed; in both the Texans were victorious. Stephen Fuller Austin, Father of Texas, was arrested January 3, 1834, and held in Mexico without trial until July, 1835. The Texans formed an army, and on November 12, 1835, established a provisional government.

The first shot of the Revolution of 1835-36 was fired by the Texans at Gonzales, October 2, 1835, in resistance to a demand by Mexican soldiers for a small cannon held by the colonists. The Mexican garrison at Goliad fell October 9; the Battle of Concepcion was won by the Texans, October 28. San Antonio was captured December 10, 1835 after five days of fighting in which the indomitable Benjamin R. Milam died a hero, and the Mexican Army evacuated Texas.

Texas declared her independence at Washington-on-the-Brazos March 2. For nearly two months her armies met disaster and defeat: Dr. James Grant's men were killed on the Aguadulce March 2; William Barret Travis and his men sacrificed their lives at the Alamo, March 6; William Ward was defeated at Refugio, March 14; Amos B. King's men were executed near Refugio, March 16; and James Walker Fannin and his army were put to death near Goliad March 27, 1836.

On this field on April 21, 1836 the Army of Texas commanded by General Sam Houston, and accompanied by the Secretary of War, Thomas J. Rusk, attacked the larger invading army of Mexicans under General Santa Anna. The battle line from left to right was formed by Sidney Sherman's regiment, Edward Burleson's regiment, the artillery commanded by George W. Hockley, Henry Millard's infantry and the cavalry under Mirabeau B. Lamar. Sam Houston led the infantry charge.

With the battle cry, Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad! the Texans charged. The enemy, taken by surprise, rallied for a few minutes then fled in disorder. The Texans had asked no quarter and gave none. The slaughter was appalling, victory complete, and Texas free! On the following day General Antonio Lopez De Santa Anna, self-styled Napoleon of the West, received from a generous foe the mercy he had denied Travis at the Alamo and Fannin at Goliad.

Citizens of Texas and immigrant soldiers in the Army of Texas at San Jacinto were natives of Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Austria, Canada, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Poland, Portugal and Scotland.

Measured by its results, San Jacinto was one of the decisive battles of the world. The freedom of Texas from Mexico won here led to annexation and to the MexicanAmerican War, resulting in the acquisition by the United States of the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, Utah and parts of Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas and Oklahoma. Almost one-third of the present area of the American Nation, nearly a million square miles of territory, changed sovereignty.

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Blog information sourced from San Jacinto Monument - Wikipedia