Free Republic

At 4:30 p.m. on April 21, after scout Deaf Smith announced the burning of Vince's Bridge (cutting off the primary avenue of retreat for both armies), the main Texan battle line moved forward. A fifer played the popular tune "Will you come to the bower I have shaded for you?" General Houston personally led the infantry, posting the 2nd Volunteer Regiment of Colonel Sidney Sherman on his far left, with Colonel Edward Burleson's 1st Volunteer Regiment next in line. In the center, two small brass smoothbore artillery pieces (donated by citizens of Cincinnati, Ohio, and known as the "Twin Sisters,"...

The Battle of San Jacinto As related by DeWitt Colonist Creed Taylor to James T. DeShields and published in "Tall Men With Long Rifles" 1935. The morning of April 21 dawned bright and crisp. It was to be a great day for Texas. From their crude pallets the boys sprang up as if for a joyous holiday. Merry jests went the rounds, and the camp wits spared neither high private nor officers. "If you get bumped off, Bill, won't you will me your coonskin cap?" Tomlinson said to a comrade: "You can take the cap now; I'll wear a Mexican...

ABOARD USS SAN JANCINTO (NNS) -- USS San Jacinto (CG 56) Sailors improved the navigational safety of the Northern Persian Gulf when they mounted two seven-inch, solar-powered strobe lights on a sunken oil tanker and its marker buoy Nov. 20. The tanker, believed to have sunk during the early 1990s in the first Gulf War, created a significant navigation hazard for small boats and coalition vessels conducting maritime security operations (MSO) in the North Persian Gulf, near the Iraqi Al Basra oil terminal (ABOT). Chief Damage Controlman Frank Ferrantelli, a native of Staten Island, N.Y., and Hull Repair Technician 1st...