“_Then already, I saw our men; flying in small groups, terrified, and sheltering themselves behind large trees. I endeavored to force some of them to fight, but all efforts were in vain—the evil was beyond remedy; they were a bewildered and panic-stricken herd._
“_The enemy kept up a brisk cross-fire of grape on the woods. Presently we heard, in close proximity, the unpleasant noise of their clamor. Meeting no resistance they dashed, lightning-like upon our deserted camp._
“_Then I saw His Excellency running about in the utmost excitement, wringing his hands, and unable to give an order. General Castrillon was stretched on the ground, wounded in the leg. Colonel Trevino was killed, and Colonel Marcial Aguirre was severely injured. I saw also, the enemy reaching the ordnance train, and killing a corporal and two gunners who had been detailed to repair cartridges which had been damaged on the previous evening._”
In a grove on the bayshore, Colonel Delgado said, the Texans wrought the worst carnage of the battle.
“_There they killed Colonel Batres; and it would have been all over with us had not Providence placed us in the hands of the noble and generous captain of cavalry, Allen, who by great exertion, saved us repeatedly from being slaughtered by the drunken and infuriated volunteers._”
San Jacinto Museum of History Association
George A. Hill, Jr., _President_ L. W. Kemp, _Vice President_ W. B. Bates, _Secretary-Treasurer_ A. C. Finn Mrs. Madge W. Hearne Dorothy W. Estes, _Director_
J. Perry Moore, _Chairman_ Mary Tod W. E. Kendall
The great shaft of San Jacinto, piercing the sky from the scene of the historic conflict between Sam Houston’s pioneers and Santa Anna’s Mexican invaders, was erected as a memorial to the Texas heroes, commemorating the Centennial of 1836. Appropriations aggregating $1,866,148 were made by the State of Texas and the Federal Government for the construction of the monument and improvement of San Jacinto State Park. Of this amount approximately $1,200,000 was used in building the monument.
On April 21, 1936, the one hundredth anniversary of the battle of San Jacinto, with impressive ceremonies, the ground was broken for the monument. Among the participants was General Andrew Jackson Houston, only surviving child of the Commander-in-Chief of the Texas Army at San Jacinto. The monument, 570 feet high, was officially dedicated April 21, 1939.