Each year, on March 2, Texans celebrate a uniquely Texan holiday—Texas Independence Day. It marks the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence at the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos. And while March 2 is indeed the day Texans declared their independence, it was in fact the 18-minute battle that occurred several weeks later, on April 21, that cemented that declaration and established the Republic of Texas.
This year will mark the 178th anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto, perhaps observed nowhere more closely than on the grounds of the San Jacinto Monument and San Jacinto Museum of History in La Porte, Texas.