Real spot of Mexican surrender found in Texas

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On the heavily wooded grounds of a Texas power plant, archaeologists have found the spot where Mexican troops under the command of Col. Juan Almonte surrendered to Sam Houston’s force of Texas irregulars along the San Jacinto River, ending Texas’ war of secession, writes Thomas H. Maugh II.

The 1836 surrender ‘resulted in the loss of all Mexican territory west to California,’ said archaeologist Roger Moore of Moore Archaeological Consulting in Houston, who led the team that found the site.

‘The whole continental expansion of the U.S. to the West Coast hinged on this battle,’ he said. The discovery was announced Thursday. But the site of surrender had apparently been mistakenly marked by veterans of the battle in 1890.

Read the rest of the report on the Texas Revolution surrender site here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Photo: Bayonets and other artifacts were recovered from the grounds of a power plant along the San Jacinto River. The artifacts had been hidden on land overgrown by trees and shrubs. Credit: Moore Archaeological Consulting.