I woke up in a cold sweat last night about 3 AM. “Did I really say Cheyenne? What was I thinking?” Maybe I can blame spellcheck. Nah, Comanche might start with a C but that’s the only similarity. It was a plain old brain freeze. I know nothing about the Cheyenne. It was the Comanches who came out of a stone age existence in the Rocky Mountains, learned to ride horses and became, in a couple hundred years, the most fearful and dominant warrior tribe on the plains. They caused problems for settlers, Mexican and American alike in the latter half of the 19th Century.
I failed to mention yesterday that after winning independence from Mexico in 1836 Texas became the 28th U.S. state in 1848. It took almost 10 years because of disagreement over slavery. Texas entered the Union as a slaveholding state and 15 years later seceded to join the Confederacy.
Mexico didn’t see the humor in the U.S. absorbing Texas; it still laid claim to Texas even though they’d lost the war of independence (Santa Ana’s treaty was rejected in Mexico City). The Mexican-American War started in 1846 and was concluded in 1848. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave the U.S. Texas plus “Alta California” (not Baja California) plus New Mexico and Arizona, give or take a boundary or two. U.S. territory now reached from Atlantic to Pacific!
And Santa Ana? He landed on his feet. After San Jacinto he went into exile in the U.S., returned to fight for Mexico in the Mexican-American War, lost a leg fighting the French, became President of Mexico for a fifth time and was eventually forced into exile in Cuba before he died in 1844.
Today we drove to the east side of Huston to the San Jacinto battlefield where there is a gigantic monument commemorating the battle. When planning the memorial, someone suggested a monument like the Lincoln Memorial or the Washington Monument. “Let’s stack Washington on top of Lincoln,” someone suggested. So, in grand Texan style, they did.
We visited the small museum in the memorial. Those of us who didn’t nod off enjoyed a nice 30-minute movie about the battle and the circumstances leading up to Texas independence.
I walked from the Memorial, roughly located at the site of the 20-minute battle to the far end of the reflecting pool, a distance of about ¾ mile, to the area where Texan soldiers were camped. The Mexicans were less than ¼ mile behind the Memorial. A small space and a short period of time to decide the course of Texan, Mexican and U.S. history.
Near the Texan encampment area there is the U.S. Texas, a battleship moored in the Buffalo Bayou/Houston Shipping Channel. It’s a WW I ship that is closed for repairs; apparently it is rusting badly and is supposedly being restored, although there was no such activity evident.
Reflecting on the U.S. Texas’s role in WW I, you may recall that WW I was declared on June 28, 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand . . . . WAIT A MINUTE! NO MORE HISTORY LESSONS! In fact, I haven’t the faintest idea what role, if any, the U.S. Texas played so pretend I never brought the subject up.
Getting to the battlefield entailed driving through the Houston Shipping Canal and the enormous, never-ending petrochemical processing and storage facilities. When you hear about hurricanes threatening Houston, the question is, “how badly will oil prices rise if the oil industry suffers a direct hit.” Now we know what that’s all about.
Our travel day has brought us to Baton Rouge, LA not far from where our cruise ship was berthed last November. Fond memories! We stopped at the Supercharger, so we’d be ready to roll in the AM. Nearby was Acme Oyster House, a 100-year-old establishment. We went the Po Boy route. Judy had a grilled shrimp version, and I went whole hog with the “Fried Peace Maker Po-Boy, Voted #4 in Top Ten Sandwiches. Golden fried oysters & shrimp, seasoned to perfection, with TABASCO® infused mayo.” It gets my vote.
We also found a Trader Joe’s in the same mall area, so we stocked up with OJ and muffins with which to break our morning fast.
And speaking of Superchargers, we topped off the tank at the same Channelview location that’s right behind the Holiday Inn, the same place we charged going west and met the gal with the pistachio-colored Model 3. This time, lacking cheese and crackers, we ate in the hotel’s restaurant.
So tomorrow we push on with no major stops planned, but we’ll see what the day brings.
