Honoring Texas Heroes: the San Jacinto Monument and Its Cornerstone by Sally Anne S
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Honoring Texas Heroes: The San Jacinto Monument and its Cornerstone by Sally Anne S. Gutting On April 21, 1937, construction work- its overseeing state agency, the Board of Control, held a third ers eased the cornerstone of the San Ja- and somewhat broader view of the centennial celebration. cinto Monument into place. The place- The Commission worked to supervise all centennial projects, ment was the climactic act in a political including the Centennial Exposition in Dallas, the restoration drama that had played itself out in Texas of the Alamo and Goliad, the construction of local history almost since the battle itself in 1836. The monuments around the state, and the building of the story of how this cornerstone and the San grand San Jacinto Monument, a memorial they believed Jacinto Monument were created and fi- would serve as a permanent reminder of the Centennial, nanced represents a fascinating confluence the Texas Revolution, and the struggles of the Texans. of three distinct views of what the memo- THE DRT : PERPETUATING THE MEMORY OF THE HEROES rialization of Texas history should be. Although men fought the Battle of San Jacinto, women The statewide patriotic hereditary orga- have figured prominently in its commemoration. On Novem- nization, the Daughters of the Republic of ber 6, 1891, a group of seventeen women from Galveston, Texas (DRT), worked from its inception in Brazoria County, and Houston met at the Houston home of 1891 to promote state history and the mem- Mrs. Mary Jane Briscoe to found the Daughters of the Lone ory of Texas’ war heroes. DRT’s vision for Star Republic (later changed to the Daughters of the Repub- the San Jacinto Battlefield, the sacred space lic of Texas at the first state convention in April 1892). The they lobbied the state to purchase and im- women who met were the Texas elite — the wives, daughters, prove since the group’s launch, focused on and granddaughters of the founders of the Republic. Inspired perpetuating the memory of the heroes who by the 1891 reunion of the Texas Veterans’ Association, they actually fought for Texas’ independence. sought to memorialize their venerated ancestors and create Jesse H. Jones, Houston financier and a place of honor for them in public memory. As women and head of the federal Reconstruction Finance direct descendants of Texas heroes, the “Daughters,” as they Corporation, wanted to use the one hun- would come to be known, recognized it as their primary duty dredth anniversary of Texas’ victory over to preserve the history and culture of their state. In their Mexico to create a statewide celebration constitution they made specific claim to their duty “to secure of grand proportions that all Texans could and hallow historic spots erecting monuments thereon.”1 enjoy and celebrate their state’s great his- Later in the month of November 1891, the women of tory, especially victory in a battle that Galveston and Houston organized themselves into two chap- Jones believed fundamentally affected ters. Eight Houston women, headed by Mrs. John R. Fenn, the history of the United made the care of the San Jacinto battlefield States and the world. their top priority. They adopted the name, the The state-level Texas “San Jacinto Chapter,” and began to work (and Centennial Commission and continue to work) tirelessly for the preserva- San Jacinto Monument, as it stands today. About the author: Sally Anne S. Gutting received a B.A. Photo: Sally Anne S. Gutting from the Johns Hopkins University and an M.A. from Rice University. She is currently a Ph. D. candidate at Rice. 6010845_UofH_Text.indd 20 10/13/10 6:12:49 AM tion of the battle site. Through their Culberson signed a bill appropriating drinking water. But the legislature re- efforts and the cooperation of the Texas $10,000 for the purchase of 250 acres sponded by appropriating only $1000, Veterans’ Association and the state gov- at the location for the creation of a an insufficient amount that was left ernment in the late nineteenth and early public park.6 Unfortunately, by 1900, unused. Following a 1903 investiga- twentieth centuries, the women secured when prices had been agreed upon with tion of the site by two state senators the state’s purchases of various parcels the numerous fractional owners of the and three state representatives hosted of land that now comprise the San original McCormick land, the state by the Daughters, the officials recom- Jacinto Battleground State Historical had gone $400 over budget. The San mended the appropriation of $30,000 Site. They have also worked to beautify Jacinto Chapter stepped in and donated for improvements and the establish- the area and erect historical markers the necessary funds, finalizing the pur- ment of a Board of Trustees, a major- memorializing the achievements of chase of slightly more than 336 acres.7 ity of whom were to be Daughters. Sam Houston’s army and marking the On June 4, 1901, the San Jacinto The Texas Legislature approved only 2 actual sites of historical importance. Chapter hosted a tour of the battlefield $20,000, but Governor S. W. T. Lan- At the time the San Jacinto Chapter with a small group of state officials ham vetoed the bill. The Daughters organized in 1891, the battleground involved in the land purchase. Along came through again for San Jacinto, had fallen into disrepair. In 1836, the on the trip was James Washington loaning $600 of its own money to make 10 land belonged to Peggy McCormick, Winters, Jr., of Big Foot, Texas, one of the most pressing enhancements. the widow of Arthur McCormick, only five living survivors of the battle Governor Thomas M. Campbell who received the land through a deed and the last one physically able to signed Senate Bill Number 18, ap- issued by Empresario Stephen F. Aus- make the journey. Winters described propriating the money to buy fourteen tin on August 10, 1824.3 Following the battle and pointed out twelve sites acres of property fronting Buffalo Bay- the battle, McCormick petitioned of particular note, including the loca- ou and for basic improvements in 1907. the new government for damages tion of the famed Twin Sister’s cannons The bill also provided for a three-person that she never received, and eventu- and the locations of Santa Anna’s and San Jacinto State Park Commission to ally, she sold most of the land before Sam Houston’s camps. The Daugh- oversee the site’s upkeep. In appreciation her tragic death in the 1850s.4 ters temporarily marked these twelve to the women of the San Jacinto Chap- Much to McCormick’s annoyance, locations with twelve-foot galvanized ter, the text of the bill specified “that her privately-held land almost immedi- pipes driven nine feet into the ground, one or more of said commissioners may, ately became a tourist attraction. Sev- and in 1912 the San Jacinto Chapter in the discretion of the Governor, be eral early San Jacinto Day celebrations spent $650 to replace the twelve pipes selected from the patriotic organization took place at the site, including the and mark eight other sites with twenty known as San Jacinto Chapter, Daugh- 1856 meeting of a group of Texas vet- large, permanent granite boulders that ters of the Republic of Texas, or from 8 11 erans that later became the Texas Vet- remain at the battleground park. any kindred organization.” With this erans Association (TVA). At this time, In 1901, when the group toured the act, the state established the San Jacinto former Governor Francis R. Lubbock battlefield, there was nothing but a State Park as Texas’ first state park, established a fund, eventually entrusted cemetery and a large unfenced area.9 unifying lands owned and improved to the San Jacinto Chapter, to build a The chapter petitioned the legislature upon by the Daughters. Although the proper monument to commemorate the for $25,000 to improve the land, in- state now owned the land and had battle. In May 1883, the state, at the cluding digging an artesian well for organized an advisory committee to urging of the TVA and others, bought ten acres of the battleground site where a community cemetery had developed around the graves of fallen San Ja- cinto heroes, and a marker commonly referred as the Brigham Monument had been erected by TVA members.5 Immediately after its founding in 1891, the San Jacinto Chapter began active involvement with the battlefield. The group hosted many trips for vet- erans, state legislators, and Houston businessmen to the site. With the TVA, the women petitioned the state govern- ment to purchase the entire battle site, and in 1897, Governor Charles Allen San Jacinto Memorial, September 18, 1936. Courtesy W.S. Bellows Construction, Inc. Houston History Volume 4, number 2 spring 2007 21 6010845_UofH_Text.indd 21 10/13/10 6:12:50 AM maintain it, the women of the San tion to be held in the Senate Chamber told listeners he believed “our history Jacinto Chapter continued to involve of the State Capitol on February 12, is so rich and colorful and interesting themselves in the preservation of the 1924, and both Governor Neff and the and romantic” that Texans could hold site and worked to keep the memory of Committee issued press releases urging a celebration that would attract inter- the battle in the minds of all Texans.12 all Texans to attend the meeting in Aus- national attention. Jones recognized 17 In 1936, Texas celebrated the centen- tin. More than one thousand people that the state of Texas was too large for nial of its victory over Mexico.