[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 9]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 13096-13097]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




     SAN JACINTO MONUMENT: EVERYTHING IS BIGGER AND BETTER IN TEXAS

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, September 7, 2011

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, everything I know and love and about 
the State of Texas, including what we stand for, is due in part to 
General Sam Houston. We've celebrated his victory over Dictator Santa 
Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto for 175 years, and through the San 
Jacinto Monument, we celebrate his legacy as well.
  We get our Texas pride from Sam Houston. Houston refused to be 
overrun by a dictator and fought for freedom and independence even when 
he was outnumbered 2 to 1. Houston's army was an odd, terrifying-
looking bunch. They were all volunteers. Instead of regular uniforms, 
they were dressed in buckskins, with pistols in their belts, bowie 
knives, long muskets, and tomahawks. They came from numerous States and 
Mexico. The Tejanos were hungry for independence. So as not to confuse 
these Tejanos with Santa Anna's army, General Sam had Capitan Juan 
Sequin put a playing card in the head band of each Tejano so they could 
easily be recognized. The combat lasted but 18 minutes on April 21, 
1836, but the legacy is timeless: Texas became a free, independent 
nation that day.
  Houston and the Tejanos' legacy lives on through an obelisk soaring 
into the sky and crowned with a 34-foot star, the lone star of Texas. 
Built in 1936, one hundred years after the battle ended, the San 
Jacinto Monument looks like the Washington Monument, but of course, 
it's taller--15 feet to be exact. Just like the Texas State Capitol is 
bigger than the Capitol of the United States. As a child, I stood 
before the Monument, amazed at its size--a staggering 570 feet. It 
really felt like everything was bigger in Texas.
  165 men built the Monument. The crew completed 6 feet of wall every 
day--an amazing feat when you consider the weight and height of the 
monument. Each stone weighed 500 pounds. (I'm sure the Ford Tough F-150 
would have come in handy back then.) Weighing in at70,300,000 pounds, 
the Monument is fittingly Texas big. Thanks to the crew's hard labor, 
the San Jacinto Monument is now recognized as a National Historic Civil 
Engineering Landmark.
  This year, as we celebrate the 175th anniversary of Texas 
Independence, head east to those famous marshy banks of the San Jacinto 
to see the Monument and witness the telling story at the San Jacinto 
Day Festival and BattleReenactment. We remember our past, knowing we 
were a nation once; and we have to smile knowing that sometimes we 
still act like an independent country. The Texas that we know and love 
would not exist had General Sam Houston and his men been defeated in 
1836. They came from most of the States in the Union and many foreign 
countries--and they were all volunteers. Always remember Houston's 
Boys.
  And that's just the way it is.

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