Ted Poe: “growing up in Houston, Texas, I always liked April 21 because it was a school holiday. I believed there was no school on…”

“growing up in Houston, Texas, I always liked April 21 because it was a school holiday. I believed there was no school on that day because it was my mother's birthday and she never really told me differently. I was proud to be the only kid that had a mom with a school holiday. It was only later that I came to find out the holiday also represented the most important day and most important military victory in Texas history, one that is studied in military schools throughout the world. It occurred near what is now Houston, Texas. It was a unique holiday for southeast Texas called ``San Jacinto Day.'' After Santa Anna, the Dictator of Mexico, invaded Texas with his massive army, and then stormed over the Alamo walls, killing William Travis, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and the other Texas Volunteers on March 6, 1836, he went looking for the rest of the Texans that wanted independence from Mexico. General Sam Houston had been building the Texas Army, and Santa Anna's three armies were giving chase. The Texas army and their families fled east in what historians call the ``runaway scrape.'' Finally, near the San Jacinto River and the Buffalo Bayou at Lynch's Ferry, Sam Houston stopped to fight. He and his army of 700 faced Santa Anna and his army of over 1,600 on the marshy plains of San Jacinto, Texas. Scout Deaf Smith was ordered to burn the only escape bridge, thus trapping both armies between the river and the marshes. It was April 21, 1836.…”