[Amy Rogers:] Hello, good afternoon everyone!
We're going to go ahead and get started. We're happy to have you all here this afternoon, so
happy you could join us. Welcome to the Past, Present and Future of San Jacinto. I'm Amy Rogers,
I am the executive director here at San Jacinto, responsible for both the San Jacinto Battleground
State Historic Site and the San Jacinto Museum and Battlefield Association, and I have here with
me today my colleagues; I have Cait Johnson, who is our lead educator for the San Jacinto
Battleground, and I have Cecilia Abad, who is the curator at the San Jacinto Museum. So before
we get started with our presentation, I have just a few housekeeping things to go over. We do
welcome your questions! We hope that you'll have lots of questions for us, so please use the Q&A
feature that you will see on the Zoom. Depending on your device, the Zoom toolbar will be at either
the very top or the very bottom of your screen. Move your mouse there or tap your mobile device
and then click or tap on the icon that says "Q&A." If you don't see it, look for an icon that
has three dots—dot-dot-dot—and then look for something that says "More" and then you
should be able to see that Q&A feature. So with that, we are going to get started.
Again, put your questions in, we'll answer them at the end of the presentation. And we
are going to get started with Cait Johnson. [Cait Johnson:] Okay, I'm waiting for the
PowerPoint to pop back up. Thank you. So, like, like Amy said, my name is Cait Johnson,
I am the lead educator out here, and I'm going to be talking about the "past" portion of "Past,
Present, and Future," a bit about what happens out on the San Jacinto Battlefield, on this
peninsula, before the Battle of San Jacinto, and then what happens after the Battle of San
Jacinto but before we become a historic site. Which is a big old chunk of time, so I'm gonna
dive right in! The stories of San Jacinto usually start with the arrival of the first Anglo
Americans, Anglo American settlers out here, but that is obviously way too late in the actual
story of the history of San Jacinto. Long before the McCormicks or the Lynches or Houston or Santa
Anna had ever arrived to this bit of coastal prairie, Native Americans were calling it home.
The earliest known human occupation on the San Jacinto Peninsula dates to about 1700 BC. That's
the Middle Archaic period if you're familiar with Native American archeology and prehistory.
In fact one of the earliest shell middens on the upper Texas coast is located on the San
Jacinto Peninsula; it's just beyond the bounds of the battlefield itself. These Native Americans
were hunter-gatherers. They occupied the San Jacinto Peninsula seasonally; during the spring
and summer they would move inland to gather plants and to hunt for game, and then in the winter and
fall they would move back to the coast where they would harvest clams and oysters. Because there
is such an abundance of different ecosystems out here—we're close to the ocean and then there's
the estuaries and the marshes, there's the rivers, there's coastal prairie, there's the bottomland
forest, there's a lot going on in this area—that means there's a very diverse amount of flora and
fauna, which allowed fairly sizable populations to exist up in this, this part of the Texas
coast without existing on agriculture. There we go. Shell middens are the most common
archeological remains on the peninsula. Neither of these photos are from San Jacinto, but I wanted to
give you guys an idea of what a shell midden looks like. A shell midden is a collection of discarded
mollusk shells. It's essentially a trash heap, the remains from processing shellfish. Out at San
Jacinto, the shell middens are primarily clams and oyster shells, but they do include other things
such as pieces of pottery, projectile points, stone tools, other remains of other animals,
such as fish, turtle, bison, deer, raccoon, and snakes. So there's a pretty interesting look
at what was going on at that site. And then before I do go any further, I do want to remind people
that it is illegal to conduct an unauthorized archeological excavation on public land in Texas.
Please do not show up at the battlefield or any of the surrounding areas with a shovel and a metal
detector thinking you're going to find Native American artifacts, or artifacts from the battle.
Do not do that, you will get in trouble. So I want to talk about this, but I don't want to encourage
people to go with looking for it themselves. The presence of Native Americans in the general San
Jacinto area decreases significantly after around 1400 AD, and there are only minimal accounts from
the settlers in the San Jacinto area about their interactions with Native Americans once they
arrive. I know there are lots of accounts of Native— of Texians farther inland having all sorts
of interactions with Native Americans, but I am very specifically talking about just this small
part of the Texas coast. Most of the accounts we do have come from the Harrisburg area. Dilue Rose
Harris mentions in her diary that Native Americans would come to Harrisburg to sell buffalo,
bear, and deer skins, blankets and beadworks, beadwork, and then Rosa Kleberg, who immigrated
to Harrisburg in 1834, told a story about a Native American man who came into her home, actually, as
they were moving in, and he saw this loaf of bread on her table and he took it, and in its place he
put two large venison hams, told her "Swap," and then left. But the accounts that we get from the,
the Texians once they, once they arrive are pretty minimal. You'll notice that I have been saying
"Native American" and not referring to a specific tribe, and that's because many of the remains out
in San Jacinto specifically are so old that it's really difficult to associate them with a modern
tribe. The two Native American groups that we know lived in this area when Europeans began to arrive
were the Karankawa and the Akokisa. The border between their traditional homelands meet[s]
around Galveston Bay. The Akokisa homeland stretches north and northeast towards Louisiana,
while the Karankawa homeland stretches south along the coast towards Mexico. But because the, this,
the remains we find are so long ago, it's really hard to tell whether they belong to these two
groups or they belong to groups who lived here long before the Karankawa or Akokisa showed up
that might have not really left much of a record in the historical record, although obviously they
left some in the archeological record. The start of recorded history on the San Jacinto Peninsula
begins with the arrival of Austin's colonists. San Jacinto is at the eastern edge of Austin's first
colony. This map is from 1830, you can see the, the dot here [left]—I hope y'all can see my
mouse—is San Felipe de Austin, while this one over on the right-hand side is San Jacinto. So we are
part of that first colony. Many of the settlers in this area were part of Austin's Old Three Hundred.
The first of these settlers to officially get a land grant out here was William Scott; his land
grant was issued during the summer of 1824 and his property was located across the river and to the
south of the battlefield. The, the better known of the residents out here is the McCormick family.
They were issued their land grant on August 10, 1824, shortly before— shortly after Scott was,
and as an aside, all of these families likely were out here beforehand, but since Stephen F. Austin
hadn't arranged— hadn't finalized his arrangement with the Mexican government, which allowed him to
give out land grants, they would have technically been squatting, and we don't have a ton of details
and records about when exactly they arrived. The McCormick family consisted of Arthur McCormick;
his wife, Margaret, who was often called Peggy; and their two sons, John and Michael. They had
immigrated from Ireland to New Orleans in 1818 and then on to Texas in 1823 or 1824. They built
a log cabin near the southwest shore of a bay, a small bay on the San Antonio River, it's called
Peggy's Lake, you can see it here. It's referred to as Peggy's Lake and not Peggy's Bay because
the only opening to the river is this very narrow opening right here, so for most of the the bay
it actually looks like a, looks like a lake. You can see on this map, which is from the 1840s,
this is where the McCormicks' house was, this is where the battleground was here. And this would
have been right about where Lynch's Ferry was. The McCormicks raised cattle. In February of
1824 and December of 1824 or January 1825, Arthur McCormick had his land surveyed, and back before
there was precise maps or even, you know, most of the land was claimed by somebody, local landmarks
were used to mark the edge of a boundary. So the McCormicks' league was measured from a four-inch
persimmon tree near the San Jacinto River, because there was not a whole lot out here. The
McCormicks knew they wanted to, to, to raise cattle on the land, they came with that idea, and
so they requested that the surveyor focus on the, focus on the open prairie and not the, the marshy
land next to the rivers. In February of 1824, Arthur traveled, traveled to San Felipe
de Austin to discuss a plan to establish a colony of Irish immigrants in Texas, and
he was granted the credentials to do it, but he drowned on his return trip, trying to cross
Buffalo Bayou, and the project fell apart. His property passed to his widow, Peggy, who stayed on
the land; she continued to raise cattle to sell, along with her two sons, and they were still
living here in 1835 when the Texas Revolution broke out. A couple of the other notable
residents in this area include Nathaniel Lynch, who founded Lynch's Ferry; David G Burnet, who
was the first [interim] president of Texas; and Lorenzo de Zavala, who was the first vice
president of Texas. The nearest commercial city center was Harrisburg, which was located 10 or
11 miles to the east; it is marked here on this map with that little black dot. It was founded
sometime between 1825 by John Richardson Harris. It is actually, the Harrison family had founded
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania a couple generations before, which is how Harrisburg, Texas got its
name. And it quickly became an important depot center, since supplies could usually make it that
far up the Buffalo Bayou. Harrisburg was at the junction of Buffalo Bayou and Brays Bayou
in Houston, kind of in eastern Houston now, and the Buffalo Bayou was pretty navigable up
to that point, so smaller vessels could get in, and regular schooners ran between Harrisburg and
New Orleans. At the outbreak of the revolution, Harrisburg was a town of about 20 houses; it
had a sawmill, a tannery, and a general store, and records from that general store show that
most of the residents of the San Jacinto area, including Peggy McCormick, shopped
and traded at the store in Harrisburg. Well that brings us up to the, to the Battle of
San Jacinto. After the battle the, uh— San Jacinto was left just kind of— it was a very grisly
sight. In his memoir, William Zuber, a private in the Texas Army, recalled what the battlefield
looked like. He wrote: "After breakfast on the morning of the twenty-third, I walked alone to
the battlefield. The slain Mexicans were a ghastly sight. Exposed first to a drenching rain and then
to a burning sun, they were decaying rapidly and could not be moved without breaking into pieces.
They sent forth a sickening stench." When Peggy McCormick returned—she had left as part of the,
the Runaway Scrape along with most of the other civilians—she found that her, both armies had
slaughtered all of her cows for food, and that her land was covered with unburied bodies, so she
was understandably pretty upset. She wrote into the Texas camp to demand that General Houston bury
the bodies, and she told him the sight would haunt her for the rest of her life. However, he refused
to do this, to bury the bodies. He did try to calm her down by telling her, “Madam, your land will
be famed in history as the classic spot upon which the glorious victory of San Jacinto was gained!
Here was born, in the throes of revolution, and amid the strife of contending legions, the infant
of Texan independence!” Peggy was a good frontier lady, she was not going to be swayed by that sort
of flattery, and she responded, “To the devil with your glorious history!,” which is one of the great
quotes from the Texas Revolution, in my opinion. The bodies of the, the Texas soldiers laid
unburied throughout the summer and fall, both on the McCormicks' land and on some of the
other lands surrounding it—on her neighbors'. Vultures and coyotes ate the dead pack animals,
but they didn't really touch the human remains, likely because they were wearing clothing, but at
least some of the bodies were disturbed by human grazers. When John Jacob Audubon—John James
Audubon, the American naturalist who's best known for his book on birds, visited in 1837, he
acquired five skulls from the battleground to send home to a friend in Philadelphia who wanted
to study them, and there are other accounts of skulls being taken from the battleground as a
very grisly souvenir. Peggy appealed to the new Republic of Texas' government for help burying
the dead, but she didn't have any success, and eventually the cows, her cows and her
neighbors' cows, started to chew on the bones, which ruined the milk and the beef—it gave
them such a bad taste that it couldn't be sold. And so Peggy and her neighbors
finally buried the bones in a mass grave. I'm by the way having a little bit— I'm not
able to advance through the slides— oh yeah, there we go! Never mind— After the victory, San
Jacinto area was understandably receiving quite a lot of attention from Texans, so to capitalize
this, upon this, Nathaniel Lynch established the town of San Jacinto, which was at the very tip of
the San Jacinto Peninsula, so this is about where the modern site is. So here is where the town
of San Jacinto is. It was just at the tip of the peninsula across from the town of Lynchburg, which
Nathaniel Lynch had established about a decade earlier. It was laid out on a 100-acre tract with
29 blocks of eight lot, eight lots each, and uh, sorry— however, before sales of the lots could
really take off, Nathaniel Lynch died in February of 1837; at the time, only five of the 232 lots
had been sold. But despite this setback, the town continued to grow. Its economy was based on
shipping, shipbuilding, and ship repair, primarily for the ships that traveled between Houston—which
was also established in 1836 but grew far more rapidly than San Jacinto did—and Galveston.
So because Buffalo Bayou was pretty navigable— it was pretty navigable, it— sorry— Before,
because Buffalo Bayou was pretty navigable, Houston became an important trade center. It—
Farmers from the from the inland area would bring their agriculture, primarily cotton, there
so that it could be shipped onto the wider world. However Buffalo Bayou wasn't so navigable that
ocean-going ships could get in there, so instead, this cotton was brought to Houston, it was then
loaded onto steamboats or river barges, taken down the Buffalo Bayou, down San Jacinto River and to
Galveston, where it was then put on larger boats and sent out to other ports. And so towns like San
Jacinto and Lynchburg, which were right on Buffalo Bayou, right at the the merger of Buffalo Bayou
and the San Jacinto River were ideally situated to capitalize upon this trade. And by the 1840s,
San Jacinto was a small but busy industrial city that was focused on the New Hope Sawmill, the New
Hope Shipyard. It also had two other shipyards, so three in total, a wharf, a general store, two
blacksmith shops, and a population of over 200. The town reached its peak in the 1860s and 1870s,
at which point it was so large that residents' homes extended all the way to the battlefield, but
1875 was the beginning of the end for San Jacinto. In January a railroad opened up between Houston
and Galveston, allowing farmers to ship their goods by rail as opposed to by river, and then
on September 17, 1875, San Jacinto and the entire area was devastated by the Indianola hurricane.
A storm surge of at least 14 feet, and according to the Houston Daily Telegraph, all the houses
along Buffalo Bay from Lynchburg to the bay were swept off—not a home standing on the shores
of San Jacinto Bay. That's a bit hyperbolic, but there was quite a lot of devastation. And then
the following year, a project by Charles Morgan to widen the waterways between Houston and Galveston
was completed, and in September of 1876 the first ocean-going vessel sailed up the San Jacinto River
and Buffalo Bayou into Houston, so that is the start of the Houston Ship Channel, which still
runs right by the site today. So at this point, their economy was basically in shambles and their
town was destroyed—a really rough two years out here—and most of residents ended up leaving; they
either moved their homes further inland, where it was safer, to higher ground, or they left entirely
to find better economic opportunities somewhere else. The town was hit by further hurricanes,
and so by the second Indianola hurricane in 1886, the 1900 Galveston hurricane, and then finally a
hurricane in 1915 destroyed what few structures remained. The only thing that is above water from
the town today is the Town Cemetery. In 1883, the land of— the state began to purchase the
land that is now the San Jacinto Battleground, the San Jacinto State Park was founded in 1907 and
the rest is history, or maybe more accurately for this webinar, it is now the present, so I will
turn things over to Cecilia. [Cecilia Abad:] Hi! My name is Cecilia Abad and I am the curator
at the San Jacinto Museum. Let me, um... Okay I'm trying to get a hold of
the slides, hold on just a sec. So I'll just say "next slide" um when I need to go
to the next slide. This one's good for now. So hi, sorry about that. My name is Cecilia Abad, I am
the curator at the San Jacinto Museum. Currently the museum is working on a new exhibit titled
"After the Battle of San Jacinto." I chose this topic because I wanted to explore what happened
to the San Jacinto veterans and Texas Revolution veterans after the revolution ended. We know that
these men ended up participating and being active in the military after the San Jacinto battle.
They got involved in politics and they also got involved in establishing businesses throughout
the republic, so I wanted to look at their lives. The exhibit is organized with three overarching
themes: the first one is immediately after the battle of San Jacinto, the second is the Republic,
and the third is life under the Republic. These three items are focus— coincide with
the three spaces that we have for the special exhibit. Each section is an enhanced
with sub-themes and narratives to cut— to guide the visitors as they explore the exhibit
itself. The narratives throughout the the exhibit tell the human experience of that historical
moment, and I truly think that by providing these narratives, people can connect with these
historical figures and understand the historical moments within a better perspective. My point is,
it doesn't matter if you're from Texas, it doesn't matter if you're from New York or Florida, I
want you to connect to the history here. The fact that you're already in a historical site,
in a historical building, looking at historical artifacts, there is already a connection there,
and I want to basically read these stories and get something out of those stories. With that said,
throughout this presentation I'm going to look at some of the artifacts and some of the graphics
that I'm going to— that I use throughout the exhibit, and basically just tell you guys what I was
thinking and why I chose those artifacts. So this first artifact that you see is actually from
the Guerrero Battalion. The Guerrero Battalion was led by Colonel Manuel Cespedes. After the, after
24 hours of marching, the Guerrero Battalion, when they arrived at the camp, at the
campsite in the morning of April 21st, 1836, these men were exhausted. They ended up
going to sleep and they were, they ended up waking up by the surprise attack by the Texian
Army. Now I thought this was an important piece to put in the front because not only does it
tie in the battle itself, but these men were also part of the battle that, that eventually most
of them died in, in, after the, the battle ended. Another reason why I chose this artifact to
be at the forefront of the exhibit itself is because it was also found on the battle site.
We have two of these artifacts: one artifact was found through an archeological dig and another
one was actually picked up on the site itself. And I think it's important again, to kind of
reiterate— I think it's also important to kind of reiterate that we are in a historical place, and
kind of reminding the museum visitor that this was picked up here, the battle was fought here,
and these men died here. Again, we're trying to make that human connection, and we're trying
to have that overall experience with visitors. Okay. Next slide. Thank you. Now these are some other
artifacts. These were all owned by Santa Anna, they were all here during the Battle of
San Jacinto. To the left you have the knee, a knee buckle, and then to the right
you have a martingale. These artifacts, I'm choosing to talk about these because
I want to demonstrate how these artifacts have different stories that go with it, or you, or
depending on how you want to interpret that story, you can pull stories out of them. For instance,
the knee buckle was owned by Santa Anna, was— After the battle of San Jacinto happened and the Mexican
Army dispersed and the Texians won, the Texians went into the Mexican camp and they took the goods and
then they sold it in auction. So the sub-theme here is the spoils of war. So we have Texian
veterans that come together, they purchase this knee buckle, and then they give it to Sam Houston.
So that's a story there, you can pull a story from Santa Anna, the veterans, and Sam Houston. The
martingale [device related to horse's reins] also owned by Santa Anna was also here during the Battle of San Jacinto, was bought by
Sydney Sherman, another great San Jacinto veteran that we see here. And just depending on how you
want to talk about, it in this exhibit I'm putting it under the spoils of war, but that doesn't mean
that our educators can't go through it and talk about the different aspects and the different
stories that these artifacts can tell as well. Okay, next slide. Okay, so this one's an interesting perspective
here. This is a primary document, it's actually from a Mexican governor— oh, can you go back? — This
is from the Mexican governor from Nuevo Leon, it's a state in Mexico, and essentially this
primary source, you have the governor talking, trying to rally up the Mexican people, saying
that we need to go back and we need to recover Texas, and it's a very patriotic letter, and he's
trying to rally them up to invade Texas again and that he can't believe that the Texians won at the
Battle of San Jacinto, and he can't believe that Santa Anna is captured—how could
they, right? How could the Texians do this? So this is this patriotic, this very patriotic
letter, and I just thought it was an important, at an important aspect to, to, to show this so that
people could get an outside perspective, right, the Mexican reaction to the Texians winning.
And when you go into the exhibit, I have this this letter, it's translated and paraphrased
in English so, so that the English[-speaking] visitor can read it and understand the gist of the letter itself,
but beside it we also have the U.S. reaction to the Texans winning the Battle of San Jacinto,
which is totally, two different reactions, and I just thought that was an interesting primary
source to put there, and it also allows me to foreshadow the problems that the Republic will
face as Sam Houston and Mirabeau B. Lamar are governing the Republic itself and the choices that
they make while they're presidents. So, next slide. This artifact actually falls under the
overarching theme of the Republic itself. Within this theme I look and I compare, I compare and
contrast Lamar and Houston's policies and their views, and their long-term views for the Republic
itself. I look at how they were, they grew up, what their relationship with the Indigenous people
were when they were younger in their political careers, and this is why I have Sam
Houston dressed in Cherokee dress and I have his wool leggings, his Cherokee wool leggings. I
think when we're creating exhibits, we have to use graphics and images that can enhance the story
or kind of provide the visitor with an interesting an interesting little side note, right? If
you look at the bottom of Sam Houston's legs [in the image] you see that he has
two things tied underneath where his shins are. Well, wool leggings,
these leggings would have been worn on the bottom as well, and so you see the two handles on both
sides of the artifact, so they would have been tied at, to a certain point. We have two of them
and both of them would be showcased alongside this image so that the visitor can make that quick
connection and hopefully kind of take away that, take, at least take away this little interesting
fact about a different culture, about Sam Houston's high esteem and relationships with the
Cherokee and the Indigenous tribes here in Texas, as well as Lamar's relationships as well.
Within this section I also talk about a Mexican invasion, right? Previously I had mentioned that
I was foreshadowing that all many Texians had a real fear that there were, there might be a second
invasion from the Mexicans, and there was conflict with the Mexicans, and within this section of the
exhibit, I do talk about that, but I will not go into it because I want you guys to come out on, in
April and check out the exhibit! So, next slide. Now the last aspect of the exhibit itself is
life under the Republic, and this is where I really get to kind of dive into what happens,
what cities are established, women, what was the role of women, and things like that. So
one of the first things that we look at is the establishment of Houston. Many people don't
realize that Houston was actually established just a few months after the battle of San Jacinto,
right, that it was established in August, August 30th, 1836, by Augustus— Augustus and John Allen.
Both of them were brothers from New York. And so that's an interesting aspect to it, to,
to the story of, after the battle of San Jacinto. It's also said that, it's one of
the Allen brothers, Charlotte Baldwin Allen, the wife of Augustus Chapman Allen,
might have financed the Allen brothers, might have, might have—sorry—might have financed the money to purchase for the Allen brothers to purchase the land where the city of Houston
was established, and it's also rumored that she might have been the one that, to say hey, let's
call this new town Houston, because that's going to draw people in. So we'll see if that's true
or not, but at least we get to kind of jump into who Charlotte Baldwin is and what her role was
with the city of Houston itself. Next slide. Okay, so this here is a picture of Andrew Briscoe.
He's a San Jacinto veteran and he's also one of the first people who spearheaded a, the first
railroad in Texas itself, the Harrisburg Railroad, planned, it was being planned in 1839. Eventually
it was abandoned, but in 1853 the Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado River [Railway] was initiated, and
Sydney Sherman, another San Jacinto veteran, became involved in that as well. So here you show—
I'm showing basically someone who is involved in local politics in Harrisburg, but then he also
becomes involved in establishing one of the— or spearheading one of the first railroads in Texas,
which is quite remarkable. And the next slide— Here is Jane Harris. Jane Harris— I know Cait had
mentioned the Runaway Scrape—Jane Harris was also involved in the Runaway Scrape. She was married
to Richard Harris, who established Harrisburg. When his, when he died, eventually Jane
Harris and her son, they moved to Harrisburg. When the Rev— when the Rev— when the Battle
of San Jacinto happened, and when the Mexican Army was following Sam, Sam Houston, she
along with her sons and other women and other colonists ended up fleeing east to escape the
Mexican army. When she returned home, she found her her home burned down by the Mexican army, so she
and her son and others had to rebuild their own home. So there's artifacts about her. It's also
her daughter who ends up marrying Andrew Briscoe, so there's a nice kind of connection among the
family itself. And then we can go to the next slide. The next slide... There we go. Okay. And so as we're exploring
this last piece of the exhibit itself, we do look at Samuel McCulloch Jr.
and how he became involved in the Texas veteran associations, and many others,
and many other, and many other events. In this section, in this section of, this last
section I really wanted to explore the different lives, right, I wanted to bring out the women, I
wanted to bring out Andrew Briscoe, I wanted to bring out the Tejano community, as well as Samuel
McCulloch's life after the Texas Revolution ended, what did he do, what did he become involved in,
and when he remained in Texas and what other what other activities did he, was, was he a part of.
And so out of this exhibit I would really like for people to understand that although these
men were involved in the Battle of San Jacinto or the Texas Revolution, these men remained, and
remained in Texas and were proud Texans, and really wanted to bring the best in the Republic by
establishing businesses, or fighting for the Tejano community, or, or you know, rebuilding their
home and, and things like that. So I really hope you all can kind of get that out of the exhibit.
and, and that kind of concludes my, my talk. [Amy Rogers:] Thank you so much Cecilia, and to Kate. I'm
always in awe of my talented colleagues. So now I will attempt to take control of
these slides, bear with us, just a moment. I'm gonna go with my backup and I have the slides
advanced for me. The joys of technology, right? So I get the, the pleasure of kind of sharing
with you of, well, what's next for San Jacinto? San Jacinto means so much to so many people. It has
been a beloved destination for many of Texans and people from all over the world, and so where do
we see the, the future of San Jacinto? So before I kind of launch in and share with you some of the
images that I'm going to show you today, I do need to preface this with, that these are conceptual
drawings, we are in the early planning stages, things can change as we move along, so, so
don't hold us totally to these things. But we were excited to share with you the future,
and, and have, bring you along on this journey of what's next to come. So the image that you're
seeing here is an envisioned grand entry onto the grounds and to the monument. If you
have visited San Jacinto before, you are aware that you come down Independence Parkway to take
the straight shot into the monument, you go down a road that's called Vista Road. You also are aware
that as you're entering into the site that you are surrounded by chemical plants, lots of industry.
And so we have no way of doing away with all of the industry around us, but we thought we can at
least, once you have entered on to that entrance onto the historic site, we can do our best to
kind of block that out and let you fully immerse yourself into your entrance onto the grounds. We
want you to be very much aware that you are coming on to the sacred grounds of San Jacinto, and try
to take you back to 1836. So, next slide please. This here, you see kind of what the re-envisioned
area around the monument will be. The monument of course will remain a focal point for many to
visit the site, however you'll hear in some of my next slides how we plan to get visitors
out exploring all of the grounds. So this is a great image here that shows the way that buses
will come in to let out school groups; it shows that we have additional parking; also, if you've
visited San Jacinto on any of our big events, you know that parking is always a bit of a
challenge. You'll see that we have some great landscaping to really let the monument
shine, showcase, you know, what we have to offer, really bring the visitor into this
grant entry into this space. Next slide, please. This here shows you a little bit about how the circulation of a visit would go to,
to encourage people to go over the entire grounds. Many people aren't aware that San Jacinto actually sits on
a little over 1300 acres, and you'd be surprised how many visitors come into the site and go
straight to the monument and don't necessarily know that they can actually explore the grounds
where the Mexican camp was, where the Texian camp was, follow the flow of the the battle pattern,
and so the new planned site will make the, the the wayfinding, the, the way that you go
through the site, it's going to become very obvious, it's going to guide you, it's
going to encourage this exploration. And you'll see too that we plan to do more
restored areas of the natural landscape; again, we want to immerse this visitor into,
into the site, we want to bring it back to as close to its look that it would have been
during 1836 and after as possible. Next slide. We'll also have some improved site interpretation.
Our site interpreters, our curator, all of our staff does a great job of interpreting the site
and the things that we have here through programs, through exhibitions, through webinars such
as this, through lectures, but there are some people, we recognize, that would rather explore
these areas on their own, and so we want to give them different ways to do that. We'll have
immersive, we'll have apps that allow you to get immersive visuals, hear personal stories,
have interactive maps and also a way for you to easily find upcoming events or ways that you can
get involved. Next slide, please. This is an exterior view of the envisioned new visitor center.
This will be located, for those of you that know the monument well, there's an amphitheater space
outside of the doors closest to the gift shop; this visitor center would go in that site. This
site is chosen for a couple of different reasons, one because it has been archeologically
cleared already, so we are not putting in an additional structure that's going to, to cover
up a very historically rich area of the grounds. But you can see here that we're keeping in mind
that we want to create a space that allows a long visit, that lets you have leisure time here—you can
sit out on the rooftop decks and enjoy nature, you can have great views of the battleground, there
will be a café space—you can stay, have a snack, have a beverage, spend time with your family.
We want you to get the most out of your visit. Next slide. This is a proposed interior
view of one of the gallery spaces that would be located within the visitor center. We call
this the Converging Forces Gallery. We kind of envision the visitor center kind of being
broken down into a couple different areas: you will have what we call the 1836 Theater area
which gives you that introduct— introduction, excuse me, to the space, that gives you the history
that leads up to the battle, the history after, tells you about our other historic sites and how
they play into this, the Texas revolutionary story. This particular gallery that you see
here allows you to go up to these virtual soldiers or key people of the battle,
interact with them, hear their stories, hear how they— what role they played in the
battle. Again, very interactive for guests. And another area that would be within the
visitor center is what we call the Decisive Victory area, which talks about the, what this,
what this battle meant to Texas and the rest of the United States—why it was such a pivotal moment
in history. And then the, and within the monument, we talk about the legacy of the battle and turn
the monument more, more into what it was originally meant to be: a testament to these soldiers that
gave their lives for this battle. Next slide, please. Again you see here just a quick experience plan
layout of what, how the new visitor center will connect into the monument, how the monument will
play into the overall feel of the grounds. I think it's a great visual to see how they
would connect together: you have a land bridge that goes over, this makes it easy for guests
to explore both spaces when visiting the visitor center and it's also a great starting
point to then go out and explore the grounds. And that is the end of my visuals, but I do
want to say that we're extremely excited about the future of San Jacinto, we're
honored to get to tell the story of San Jacinto, whether we're talking about the past,
whether we're talking about what's happening here presently, or getting everyone excited
about what's to come in the future, and we thank you for being here today and we
definitely want to open it up for Q&A, So we're going to look through some
questions here, and I have one for Cait: Why did the other parts of the Mexican army
operating in Texas, the forces commanded by Urrea, not come to Santa Anna's rescue after the
April 21st battle? [Cait Johnson:] That's a great question, and it was a really conc— it was something that Houston
was very concerned about, because the Mexican army— even though we've had this really decisive victory
at San Jacinto, we only defeated about a third of the Mexican army and it had taken his
entire army to do it, so his forces were still significantly outnumbered, and that's why it was
so important that Santa Anna was captured the next day. And so he's captured, taken to, to Houston,
who was under the surrender tree, we all know the painting, and what Houston required him to do,
it wasn't actually the the treaties that ended the war weren't signed there; that would happen a
couple weeks later in Velasco—but Houston did get Santa Anna to write to his generals right then,
that day, and tell them to fall back, and that was in exchange for his life, essentially. So that's
why they didn't, and then why they didn't come out on the 22nd was they didn't know about the defeat yet,
they wouldn't figure that out until I believe the 23rd is when the, the one Mexican soldier
who manages to escape and make it back to to the Mexican camp at Fort Bend doesn't arrive
until after Santa Anna has already been captured. [Amy Rogers:] Thank you, Cait. I'm going to take a question here
that says, we are talking a lot about future visits and you're right, however they've never
visited before; what is currently available for visitors now? So that's a great question.
So the battleground, the grounds themselves are open seven days a week, outside of some holidays
which you can find listed on our website, so you can explore the grounds; we have some wayfinding
signage, some interpretive panels throughout the grounds, we have a map that you can pick up
or we also have an app that allows you to to use on your mobile device to help you explore the
grounds. The museum is open Wednesdays through Sundays, 9 to 6, and within the museum
you can see our permanent exhibit, you can see our film "Texas Forever," which is a great,
great film, and you can also participate in any of our programs that are going on on any
given weekend. And you will not be able to see the special exhibit just yet and that'll
roll into another question that we had which was, when does the special exhibit open? And it
will be opening the week of San Jacinto Day, so we hope to have you here to see the new exhibit
and participate in our San Jacinto Day event. What next question do we want? [Cait Johnson:] There's a question I wanted to answer about the
Audubon skulls that I mentioned. Cynthia asked, were they ever tracked down or recovered? Yes,
they were. In 2009, they were rediscovered in the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archeology
and Anthropology, which is in Philadelphia, and a forensic artist named Amanda Danning has done
some really cool work with them; if you ever get a chance to hear her speak, I would really
recommend it, she does a fantastic job. [Amy Rogers:] Good! Okay, let's see. So we have a question about timeline for
the new facilities, I'm assuming is what they're referring to. So when, like I said we're in the
very early stages of kind of the conceptual ideas, and we're just at a 50% on those. The timeline
for the actual construction is going to be pretty dependent on this legislative session and the
hopeful money that is rewarded to the site to do that, but all in, all said and done,
it's likely a three- to five-year process. Let's see. Cecilia, there's a question
for you if you want to take it live: Will the new exhibit features that were pictured
be touchscreen interactive displays? [Cecilia Abad:] I wish they were! They will be displayed, but they
will be behind acrylic cases, but we will, we will have very— we're gonna have great visuals
and great graphics, so that can kind of engage the visitors through, but that's something that I
think in the future we may want to move towards. [Amy Rogers:] Okay. let's see... Yeah, there's a question here: Are there any
plans to acquire additional land surrounding the park? The answer to that is always yes.
It's, it's of course a complicated process, we have to wait for something to come up, if one of the
plants has abandoned it or is looking to sell, or a parcel comes up for sale, we have to,
you know, decide what significance that will play into the site, secure funding. We are happy to
report that we have recently secured a piece of land that through archeology work and surveys
is determined to, to be the Almonte surrender site, and so that will be incorporated into
the, into the site through the new planning; we will likely be conducting more archeology
work on that site and eventually putting an archeology center there for students to
continue to learn and practice that trade. So the answer is always yes, we're always looking to, to
add more parcels of land back into the grounds. Hm, see any others... [Cait Johnson:] There's a question about where the
casualties are buried: The Texian soldiers who died are buried over in the
Texian camp, which is the part of the site that is closest to the, the ship channel,
and they are under an obelisk that was originally, when it was put here in the 1880s,
called the San Jacinto Monument and then had to get a name change when the current
San Jacinto Monument was built; it's now called Brigham's Monument. As for the Mexican
dead, we do not know where they are buried. We know they were buried in a mass grave, but
we don't know the exact location for that, and we don't want to disturb them any
further—it's considered a final resting place. [Amy Rogers:] Let's see... Do you guys see any others that you want to take? I see a question here: Will the Battleship
Texas slip and the reflecting pond be filled in or restored? So that's great question.
That is certainly up for discussion, has been discussed, remains in discussion. We don't yet
have answers to that. I know that the ultimate goal is to restore the grounds back as much as
possible, and that would certainly require both of those areas being filled in; I know that the
Battleship slip is still a bit up in the air, the reflection pool likely will be filled
in, however, the structure will not be removed, so let's say a hundred years down the road,
the reflection pool is something that needs to be, is, is deemed to be an important aspect of the, the
site in that time period, it can be easily, the fill can be removed and the, the pool will
still be, the structure will still be there. Any other questions? I see here: Was there, is there an exhibit
planned on the construction of the monument? You're not gonna like my answer to that, but yes,
we did have an exhibit on the construction of the monument that was up for a little over two years
here in the museum, that's actually the exhibit that's currently being removed. However, the good
side of that answer is that you didn't totally miss it, because there will be a portion of the
exhibits that are shown in the monument when we get the new exhibits center, ex— visitor center,
sorry—that will speak to the construction of the monument, because it's such a fascinating story
that so many people love to hear about it. That, that will be incorporated into the permanent
exhibit once the visitor center is, is built. Did you want to take the one that just came
in, Cait? [Cait Johnson:] Yeah, so Larry asked: Who buried the dead Mexican soldiers and who paid for
that? It was the McCormicks and a couple of their neighbors. Eventually the people on the
peninsula banded together and said something had to be done, and so they paid for a couple
of local guys to dig the, the grave. [Amy Rogers:] Good. I also see a question, question or two here about, is the elevator working?
That's also been the question of the year. We have been diligently acquiring parts
and, and working on restoring the elevator. It, it could be working as soon as San Jacinto Day.
Things are looking really great, things have been going well, we've had several testing,
tests done just this week that say we may have finally found all of the kinks, but don't
hold me to that, but I'm, this is me being cautiously, cautiously optimistic that we have
finally sorted out the puzzle that is a very old pieced-together elevator, and it's basically
brand new at this point, so we're getting there. They want to know: Is there a book
describing the construction of the monument? [Cait Johnson:] Not to my knowledge; there are a handful of
articles written about it, but I don't think there is a kind of comprehensive summary
about how the monument was constructed. They're wanting to know: Did we discuss the
ferry access to the monument and will there be changes to that? I assume you're referring to
the current Lynchburg Ferry that the Harris County operates, and as far as I am aware
that, that will not change, that will remain, that will stay here as another
access point to get to, to San Jacinto. I think we might have time for one more— Oh,
this is a great question: What, what events are coming up at the site? Pick a day and
we can give you an event! Our team has done a great job, they've got lots and lots of things
happening at all times. Of course the biggest one that's on our mind, San Jacinto Day event
of course, which this year is on April 22nd. We'd love to have you out—living
history demonstrations, reenactment, vendors, food, lots of fun. Maybe
the most recent that Cait's thinking, just this Friday and Saturday, our spring break
"Join the Texian Army" program will happen, and what else after, what do we talk about,
for San Jacinto Day, we have lecture series, lots and lots of programs that you can find on
our, both our website and the THC website. Do you have something, Cait? [Cait Johnson:] Yeah, I wanted to bring up the
San Jacinto Family Day, which is a new initiative we're doing this year, the first Saturday of every
month, which in April will be April 1st, kids are free into the museum with the purchase of
an adult ticket and we will have a special living history hands-on activity from 11 to 3,
in April it's going to be making bullets out of crayon wax, but demonstrating the way that it would
have been done during the Texas Revolution, and then in May we will have, we're making candy
cartridges, so we are going to make traditional bullet cartridges, but using candy instead of
gunpowder and bullets, to make it a little bit more family-friendly that way. So do check our
website, we have a number of our upcoming family days already on there and it's a really great
way to, to share this history with your family. [Amy Rogers:] Definitely! And so with that, we're just about
running out of time, so I will end with of course thanking you all for being here today,
everyone is incredibly busy and we're happy that you decided to spend an hour with us. Thank you
to my colleagues Cait Johnson, our lead educator, Cecilia Abad, our curator at the San Jacinto Museum.
I work with some very talented individuals which makes my job a lot easier. I also want to say,
aside from the programs here at San Jacinto, within THC and our other sites, at any given
time there's a program that you can participate in whether it's in person— in person or virtual,
so watch out for those programs by going to the THC website, their social media accounts,
or subscribing to the email newsletter, which the newsletter is a great way to get information on
all of the things going on from all the different departments, and you can find that at thc.texas.gov. So again, thank you so much, we're happy that you were here, and thank you so much for your
participation and all of your great questions.
