Two enterprising brothers, Augustus and John Allen, came to Texas from New York in 1832 to make their fortunes through land speculation. After failing to offer enough money for Clopper’s point (present day Morgan’s Point), and hoping to avoid any ownership disputes like the one over nearby Harrisburg, the Allen brothers finally purchased 6,642 acres of land at the junction of Buffalo and White Oak Bayous. They promptly named their fledging town Houston City (very quickly shortened to Houston) after General Sam Houston, the hero of the Battle of San Jacinto. This fantastic promotional move and the Allens' marketing skills soon led to Houston’s population boom, which rose rapidly from approximately 200 residents in 1832 to an astounding 2,073 by 1836.
The Allen brothers had a grand vision for their new town and were confident Houston would become the commercial center of the Gulf Coast. Five days after acquiring the townsite, the Allen brothers ran an advertisement in the Columbia Telegraph and Texas Register stating, “The town of Houston is located at a point on the river which must ever command the trade of the largest and richest portion of Texas, and when the rich lands of the country shall be settled, a trade will flow to it, making it, beyond all doubt, the great interior commercial emporium of Texas.” The forward-thinking Allens also predicted Houston's growing importance to the wider Gulf Coast region, stating in other advertisements, “As the country shall improve rail roads will become in use, and will be extended from this point to the Brazos, and up the same, also from this up to the head waters of San Jacinto . . . and in a few years the whole trade of the upper Brazos will make its way into Galveston Bay through the channel.” These advertisements led directly to the spike in Houston's population, even prompting several additional speculators to travel to the region with hopes of creating the next commercial boom town.
]]>Lasting only eighteen minutes, the Battle of San Jacinto was the definitive ending to Mexico’s control of its northernmost province of Tejas y Coahuila and the birth of the Republic of Texas. Starting around four o’clock in the afternoon, General Sam Houston and the Texas Army led a surprise charge and defeated Mexican President and General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and his Army of Operations on April 21, 1836. As the short battle unfolded, a bullet struck General Houston in the left ankle. Meanwhile, Santa Anna, the self-proclaimed “Napoleon of the West,” disappeared. Over the next few days, General Sam Houston ordered a search of the surrounding area to locate any Mexican soldiers who had escaped. The day after the battle, Sergeant J.A. Sylvester and his men, Joel W. Robinson, Joseph D. Vermillion, Alfred H. Miles, and David Cole, found a Mexican private hiding in tall grass near Vince’s Bayou. As Sylvester and his men took their captive back to the Texan camp, they realized he was more than just a common soldier. The captured Mexicans, held in a makeshift stockade, recognized the new prisoner. Many stood at attention while others cried “El Presidente!” With his identity known, Texas soldiers presented Santa Anna to Sam Houston. Surrounding them were members of the Texas Army, yearning to exact revenge on the Mexican President for his atrocities committed against Texans at the Battle of Goliad and at the Battle of the Alamo. With the aid of a translator, Houston spared Santa Anna’s life – despite his army’s wishes against it – and Santa Anna wrote an order commanding all Mexican armies to return to Mexico effective immediately. As the next few days progressed, officials from Mexico the new Republic of Texas negotiated the Treaty of Velasco. Texas soldiers took Santa Anna to Velasco so he could sign the treaty, which recognized the independence of Texas. Texas officials then sent Santa Anna back to Mexico via the United States.
]]>