2008 Battle of San Jacinto Symposium

The eighth annual Battle of San Jacinto Symposium will be Saturday, April 19, 2008 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Hilton Hotel and Conference Center, University of Houston.

The Symposium's theme is "Expanding the Horizons of Texas History."  Speakers will look at the revolution through the eyes of a novelist, a Mexican borderlands historian, a school teacher, a librarian, and a covert British agent.

The Symposium is sponsored by the Friends of the San Jacinto Battleground.  This non-profit group's mission is to support, preserve and honor the site of the 1836 battle where Sam Houston's Texan troops were victorious over the forces of Antonio López de Santa Anna, dictator of Mexico.

Measured by its results, the 18-minute Battle of San Jacinto was one of the most decisive battles in world history.  This victory created the Republic of Texas, which ultimately accelerated the western expansion of the United States to the Pacific coast.

Since its inception in 2001, the Battle of San Jacinto Symposium has hosted the world's leading Texas history scholars to speak on various aspects of the revolution and the republic.

The Symposium has been approved by the State Board for Educator Certification as a Certified Professional Education (CPE) Provider.

James E. Crisp, associate professor of history at North Carolina State University, returns as moderator for the sixth consecutive year.  His book, Sleuthing the Alamo: Davy Crockett's Last Stand and other Mysteries of the Texas Revolution (Oxford University Press, 2004) won the T. R. Fehrenbach Book Award in 2006 for original research and publication in Texas history.

The 2008 speakers and topics are:

• Stephen Harrigan's topic is "Historical Fact, Historical Fiction: Early Texas Through a Novelist's Eyes."  Author of magazine pieces and movie-television productions, Harrigan also wrote Gates of the Alamo, a New York Times best-seller and winner of the Spur Award for the Best Novel of the West. 
• Miguel Angel González Quiroga will discuss "Commonality and Conflict: Northeast Mexico and the Texas Revolution and Republic, 1835-1845."  González Quiroga, who has had careers in the military and in politics, is now a professor of history at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León in Monterrey.
• Betsy Davis' ties to - and unbounded passion for - the history of Texas and the revolution have made her one of the state's best fourth grade school teachers.  Her ability to bring history to life for her students has won awards from the Austin Historical Society and the Austin Federation of Teachers.  Her topic: "Making History Personal."
• Dreanna Belden will "Explore the Texas Revolution Online Through the Portal to Texas History" as she demonstrates this new digital gateway to the collections of some seventy museums, libraries and universities.  The Portal is sponsored by the University of North Texas.  Belden is coordinator of grants and development at the UNT libraries.
• Stuart Reid's talk, "The Secret War for Texas: James Grant's Alternative Revolution," will place the Texas Revolution into the context of the "great game" played out during the first half of the nineteenth century between Washington and London over mastery of the North American continent.  Reid, a Scot and author of The Secret War for Texas (Texas A&M University Press, 2007) is the great-great-great grandson of his book's protagonist, Dr. James Grant.

For additional information, write The Friends of the San Jacinto Battleground, P.O. Box 940536, Houston, TX 77094-7536; call 281.496.1488; or visit www.friendsofsanjacinto.org.

A copy of the Registration Form is available below.