[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 35 (Tuesday, February 27, 2018)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E235-E236]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 MARCH 2, 1836--TEXAS INDEPENDENCE DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, February 27, 2018

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, independence came to Texas differently 
than it did for the 13 colonies. Let me explain.
  Texas was a part of Spain for over 100 years when Mexico fought a 
successful revolution in 1820 against Spain to form a democracy, which 
included Texas. However, Santa Anna, the president of Mexico, declared 
himself Dictator of Mexico and he abolished the Mexican constitution. 
This was unacceptable to people living in Texas--both Anglos and 
Tejanos (Texas-born Mexicans). Dissention against the government spread 
through Texas.
  War broke out in 1835 in the small town of Gonzales when a detachment 
from the Mexican army tried to take a cannon from the townspeople. The 
cannon was for protection against hostile Indian raids on the 
community. Shots rang out between the Mexican army and the armed 
townspeople. There were a few wounded on both sides, and neither side 
claimed victory.
  Skirmishes continued between both sides. The Texians, as they were 
called, drove out the Mexican army from the town of Bexar--now called 
San Antonio. A small Texian army of volunteers occupied the Alamo in 
February 1836 in Bexar, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel William 
Barratt Travis--a 27-year-old lawyer from South Carolina. Other Texian 
volunteers took the town of Goliad under Texian Colonel James Fannin. 
General Sam Houston was the commander of all Texian forces in the 
struggle for independence.
  Meanwhile, on March 2, 1836 (ironically Sam Houston's birthdate), 
``officials''--both Anglos and Tejanos--from Texas gathered in a place 
called Washington on the Brazos, and declared independence from the 
Dictatorship of Mexico. The Republic of Texas was born.
  However, the defenders in the Alamo fell on March 6, 1836, and Fannin 
was defeated and he and his men were executed by the Mexican army.
  General Sam Houston continued to rebuild a Texas army and marched 
east towards the marches of San Jacinto (near present day Houston, 
Texas).

[[Page E236]]

  On April 21, 1836 the Texas army surprised and met the vastly larger 
army of Santa Anna, and defeated it in a brutal, but short, 18-minute 
battle. Santa Anna was captured along with half of his army. The rest 
were casualties of the battle. The Texian losses were minimal.
  The Texas war for independence and freedom was successful.
  Texas remained a Republic for nine years then was admitted to the 
Union in 1845, by the slim vote margin of one.
  The rest, they say, is Texas history.
  And that's just the way it is.

                          ____________________