San Jacinto Day Festival and Battle Re-enactment

March 2005

The San Jacinto Day Festival on Saturday, April 23, 2005 is an independence celebration befitting Texas' legendary Battle of San Jacinto and the enduring, mythic spirit of Texas, complete with music, entertainment, food, games, fun and lots of living history:

• a two-hour re-enactment (one of the largest in the state) of the Runaway Scrape, the skirmish the day before the battle, the famous Battle of San Jacinto (complete with cannons, muskets, horses, pyrotechnics and hundreds of re-enactors, dressed in uniforms that duplicate the real dress of the day), and the surrender of Santa Anna after the battle - all narrated by Carl Hacker, PhD, J.D.
• Dean Shostak, a master symphony musician, playing the very fiddle that Davy Crockett purportedly owned and a crystal violin (one of only two in the world) http://www.glassmusic.com/
• K.R. Wood, a one-man band, cook, storyteller, singer and downright amusing historian
• Last Chance Forever demonstrates magnificent birds of prey, such as hawks, owls, eagles, falcons and vultures
• Jim Crisp, revisionist historian and author of Sleuthing the Alamo, a new book that reveals the truth about Texas history by stripping away the layers of myth and misinformation, will talk to you about the true identity of the Yellow Rose of Texas
• Make-and-take history activities and crafts for children created by three Gifted/Talented specialists from Deer Park ISD, as well as games for children to play like the ones played in 1836
• Entertainer, storyteller, humorist and historian Dan Barth will perform his humorous audience-participation entertainment with a full-sized antique medicine show wagon
• Two re-enactors are coming in from England to take part in the battle because "the history of Texas holds to me the ideals of the 'American dream,' where a man, no matter what his past, can make a new start for himself in a new promising land as long as he isn't afraid of hard work"
• The Mexican and Texian camps, where visitors can wander freely to learn what members of both armies and the civilians living in the area were doing prior to the battle and what their lives were like on a daily basis.  In the military camps, a few lucky visitors can take part in the drills and learn how to handle weapons.  A few children are chosen to load the cannons and get to proudly wear the cannon soot the rest of the day
• Women and children will depict the hardships experienced by those Texians who, with their husbands and fathers at war, were forced to gather the few belonging they could to flee the advancing forces of General Santa Anna in what became known as the Runaway Scrape

And all of the celebration takes place on the very grounds of the original battle of San Jacinto - one of the most important battles of American history.  In 18 short minutes, on April 21, 1836, General Sam Houston led his Texian soldiers to a decisive victory over the Mexican Army, officially securing Texas' independence from Mexico and leading to the addition of one million square miles to the United States.

The festival occurs on Saturday, April 23, 2005 from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. on the 1,200-acre San Jacinto Battleground State Historic Site at One Monument Circle, La Porte (22 miles east of downtown Houston).  The re-enactment starts at 3 p.m.

And, in keeping with Texas' generous tradition, the festival and permanent exhibit area of the San Jacinto Museum of History are free.

More interesting components about San Jacinto Day:

• Volunteer re-enactors come from the San Antonio Living History Association, Texas Army, Wharton County Time Walkers, Cross Roads Living History and the Alamo Legends & Missions Association (A.L.M.A.)
• Visitors can also enjoy the Texas Originals: Real and Imagined exhibit of one-of-a-kind artifacts and special interactive displays which detail the rich moments of Texas' history by highlighting Texas' Battle for Independence, Native Americans, Cowboys and Vaqueros, and the Oil Industry.  There is a charge to see the exhibit, on display through September 2005.  The Texas Originals exhibit was created by the Witte Museum in San Antonio and sponsored by Frost Bank
• Visitors can hunt for artifacts at a dig site hosted by the Houston Archeological Society
• Texas Parks & Wildlife Department experts will offer guided tours of the restored marshlands and answer questions about the wildlife inhabiting the park
• Volunteers from the Armand Bayou Nature Center will conduct games from the 1830s in the Children's area
• Instead of 1836 fare such as possum and cornmeal mush, the Texas-style food and beverages offered for sale will be more pleasing to today's palates
• Sutlers (civilians who sold provisions to military posts) will be on hand to sell or demonstrate their wares, just as they did in the 1800s
• Entertainers will perform non-stop until the re-enactment starts, including bluegrass by Classical Grass, and country western music by Legacy and local favorite Patrick Murphy & Murphy's Law
• Nominal fees are charged for screenings of Texas Forever!! -  a rapid-fire digital presentation that vividly outlines the events leading up to and during the battle.  The Battleship Texas, anchored nearby, served in both World War I and World War II and will be open for touring as well.

Kirby Corporation, the San Jacinto Museum of History Association, the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department and the San Jacinto Volunteers host the admission-free event.

Visitors are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and/or blankets to the festival and re-enactment.

For more information about the battleship and park, telephone (281) 479-2431.  For more information about San Jacinto Museum of History and the San Jacionto Day Festival and Battle Re-enactment, please call (281) 479-2421 or visit www.sanjacinto-museum.org

For a flyer about the festival, see the link below.  You must have Adobe Acrobat to view this file.