Battleship Texas and San Jacinto Battleground

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January 18 Battleship Texas and San Jacinto Battleground
It was gray and overcast but not raining so I went to see the battleship Texas and the San Jacinto Battleground. I started not to go look at the ship because it was $10 per adult but then found out that it was free using my State Parks Pass ( for up to 15 people). So was happy about that. The ship was HUGE and I explored from end to end top deck and below deck. It really was an awesome ship.
After visiting the ship I visited the battleground. Most people just take into consideration that the Mexican army was resting and not prepared to fight when the Texans attacked. The fact that the battle took place while the sun was setting and so since the Texans attacked from the west the Mexicans had the sun square in their face and so were literally "blinded by the sun" had a great deal to do with the victory as well. The battle lasted only 18 minutes but the Texans continued killing Mexicans for an hour and a half, taking full vengence for the Alamo and Goliad.
There are some good paintings of events of the Texas war of independence at the San Jacinto monument as well as a free museum. I could have paid to see another photo museum of Houston, a trip to the top of the monument in an elevator or for a short movie but chose not to.

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Photos

The Battleship Texas
The Battleship Texas was HUGE.

Restrooms
First stop. No restrooms on ship.

No waiting
6 on one wall and 6 more on the other. No Waiting.

No escape
This is the water behind the Mexican camp. At the time of the battle this was flooding at 10 ft deep !

Mexican camp was here
The Mexican camp was here with the flooding water behind it. Perhaps Santa Anna wanted to stiffen his troops resolve by allowing no avenue of escape. Sam Houston did the same by destroying the only bridge over the flooded bayou which was the only avenue of escape for his army. So for both armies it was victory or death !

Comments

[Angela Bowman]

[e-mail]
Hi William I am really enjoying your blog posts (read them all). We visited Houston and the Battleship Texas in 2006, I think we parked in the exact same spot by the look of your truck with battleship in background. My then, 14 yr old son loved the ship and spent ages on board exploring. We travel to US often as we have family in Abilene Tx. We are headed back this year (Aug) for another driving adventure starting in Dallas heading up to Iowa State Fair and driving in a loop around for 5 weeks finishing back in Abilene for a week before flying home. Keep up the great posts. I have a travelblog but don't post as often as I should... http://cabowman.blogspot.com/ Regards Ange