The Battle of San Jacinto was fought
on April 21, 1836, near the present city of Houston. Santa Anna's entire force
of 1,600 men was killed or captured by Gen. Sam Houston's army of 800 Texans;
only nine Texans died. This decisive battle resulted in Texas' independence
from Mexico.
Sam
Houston, a native of Virginia, was president of the Republic of Texas for two
separate terms, 1836-1838 and 1841-1844. He also was governor of the state of
Texas from 1859 to 1861.
José
Antonio Navarro, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and one of
the framers of the Constitution of the Republic, was a Texas native, born in
San Antonio in 1795. He also served in the Republic of Texas Congress and the
Constitutional Convention in 1845. Navarro County was named in his honor.
The
first Congress of the Republic of Texas convened October 1836 at Columbia (now
West Columbia).
Stephen F. Austin,
known as the "Father of Texas," died Dec. 27, 1836, after serving two months
as secretary of state for the new Republic.
In
1836, five sites served as temporary capitals of Texas (Washington-on-the-Brazos,
Harrisburg, Galveston, Velasco and Columbia) before Sam Houston moved the capital
to Houston in 1837. In 1839, the capital was moved to the new town of Austin.
Battle flag at San Jacinto. Stephen F. Austin monument, State Cemetery, Austin.
Texas
was annexed to the United States as the 28th state on Dec. 29, 1845.
Texas
seceded from the United States and joined the Confederate States of America
on Jan. 28, 1861.
Texas
officially was readmitted to the Union on March 30, 1870, following the period
of Reconstruction.
The
present Texas Constitution was ratified on Feb. 15, 1876.
In
1936, Texas celebrated its centennial. Historical markers, placed by the Centennial
Commission, later were the basis for the historical marker program of the Texas
Historical Commission.
On Nov. 22, 1963, President John F.
Kennedy was assassinated during a motorcade through downtown Dallas. Vice-President
Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas was sworn in as president aboard the presidential
airplane at Dallas' Love Field airport that same day.