Battle of San Jacinto

I visited the San Jacinto Battlefield in Houston over the Memorial Day weekend.  It is a fairly interesting place to visit.  It provides an outstanding contrast of the changes that have taken place in America in only 170 years.  Today the Battlefield is like an island in a sea of oil refineries.  You drive past refineries for a good 20 minutes on your way to the battlefield and there is a huge oil terminal right next door.  The USS Texas is also tied up alongside the battlefield in the Houston Ship Channel.  Lastly, there is the San Jacinto Monument commemorating the battle and Texas' independence from Mexico.  It is huge, 570 foot tall, which is taller than the Washington Monument.  It also has a huge reflecting pool full of brown brackish water.  It is the tallest freestanding masonry monument in the world and you can ride an elevator to the top.The battlefield itself is not well preserved.  The original treelines are non-existent having been landscaped for the monument.  There is a series of stone markers that denote the positions of events of the battle.  The park ranger said they are in the process of restoring the battlefield as much as possible.It is still possible to imagine the way it was because the contours of the terrain are the same except for the pool and central mound of the monument.  It is well worth the trip if anyone is interested in Texas history.  We went because my son had learned about it in school and saw the latest Alamo movie.Interesting battle and shows the quality of the Mexican army if 300-400 ragged militia could rout an encamped army of 2,500.  The Mexicans had camped with their back to the water so when they were surprised they had no room to maneuver.Here is a link to the wikipedia page on the monument. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Jacinto_Monument