Today we made a trip out to see the San Jacinto Monument. This monument is taller than the Washington Monument in DC and is actually one of the tallest of its kind in the world. What it commemorates, if you read the inscription around the side of the star-tipped obelisk, is trifold- the victory in the battle, the successful conclusion of Texas' war for independence from Mexico, and the establishment of a path leading to the acquisition of the treaty of Hidalgo lands.
Looking at each part of the three, I am filled with disgust and shame. In the battle of San Jacinto, a sneak attack was launched and destroyed the Mexican's ability to fight within the first 18 minutes. Thereupon, there was a wholesale slaughter of Mexicans by the Texans as they were driven into the marshes and river. When only 9 Texans lost their lives to the 630 Mexicans who died, it's a unrestrained bloodbath of revenge.
I am not unmindful of the siege of the Alamo, or the massacre of 300+ Texan militiamen in cold blood by Santa Anna's troops at Goliad. However, there was not even an attempt made to restrain the troops here. 'Texans' as they aspired to be, were in fact Americans mixed with a few Europeans.
The second great victory, a free Republic of Texas, was in fact, not so free, and was so loaded by debts that the only solution for solvency was to be promptly annexed by the United States, which was incredibly convenient for all involved. It saved the US from having to steal Texas outright from Mexico.
The third commemoration is a tenuous one at best. Once Texas was free, it joined the US, and then the US was free to 'clarify' its position with Mexico via a war that the US provoked at the Rio Grande. After a truly quick war and occupation of the Mexican Capital, the US sat down with Santa Anna once again. Santa Anna, enemy of the US and traitor to Mexico, was compelled to give away half of Mexico in exchange for a tidy sum of money and a mansion in the Hamptons. The US achieved their 'Manifest Destiny' from coast to coast, and while its a bit of a stretch to say that the battle of San Jacinto led directly to it, I wonder why they would make that stretch to something that historically come to be seen as the theft of the century.
I'm making too big a deal out of it, I'm sure. I'm sure that most Texans probably revere San Jacinto as a battle which allowed them to be Texans and Americans, the political results, and quickly gloss over the less pleasant parts.
When you really get down to it, most monuments, with perhaps the exclusion of individual funerary monuments, are homages to bloodlust and domination.
Looking at each part of the three, I am filled with disgust and shame. In the battle of San Jacinto, a sneak attack was launched and destroyed the Mexican's ability to fight within the first 18 minutes. Thereupon, there was a wholesale slaughter of Mexicans by the Texans as they were driven into the marshes and river. When only 9 Texans lost their lives to the 630 Mexicans who died, it's a unrestrained bloodbath of revenge.
I am not unmindful of the siege of the Alamo, or the massacre of 300+ Texan militiamen in cold blood by Santa Anna's troops at Goliad. However, there was not even an attempt made to restrain the troops here. 'Texans' as they aspired to be, were in fact Americans mixed with a few Europeans.
The second great victory, a free Republic of Texas, was in fact, not so free, and was so loaded by debts that the only solution for solvency was to be promptly annexed by the United States, which was incredibly convenient for all involved. It saved the US from having to steal Texas outright from Mexico.
The third commemoration is a tenuous one at best. Once Texas was free, it joined the US, and then the US was free to 'clarify' its position with Mexico via a war that the US provoked at the Rio Grande. After a truly quick war and occupation of the Mexican Capital, the US sat down with Santa Anna once again. Santa Anna, enemy of the US and traitor to Mexico, was compelled to give away half of Mexico in exchange for a tidy sum of money and a mansion in the Hamptons. The US achieved their 'Manifest Destiny' from coast to coast, and while its a bit of a stretch to say that the battle of San Jacinto led directly to it, I wonder why they would make that stretch to something that historically come to be seen as the theft of the century.
I'm making too big a deal out of it, I'm sure. I'm sure that most Texans probably revere San Jacinto as a battle which allowed them to be Texans and Americans, the political results, and quickly gloss over the less pleasant parts.
When you really get down to it, most monuments, with perhaps the exclusion of individual funerary monuments, are homages to bloodlust and domination.
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