Battle of San Jacinto Symposium - April 17, 2010

The 2010 Battle of San Jacinto Symposium will be held Saturday, April 17, 2009, 9:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Hilton Hotel and Conference Center at the University of Houston. This year's theme is Skulls, Slaves, and Sex: Secrets of Early Texas Tickets are $50.00 and include lunch and parking.

This year's symposium will feature the discovery of six skulls of Mexican soldiers slain in the Battle of San Jacinto. In 1837, American naturalist, John James Audubon, visited the San Jacinto battleground. He picked up four skulls of Mexican soldiers and sent them to his friend, Dr. Samuel Morton, in Philadelphia. These, plus other skulls from two other collectors, became part of Morton's world-wide collection of 1500 crania. In 2009, the six Mexican skulls were discovered at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, virtually unknown to Texas historians for 170 years. Last January, internationally renowned anthropologist Doug Owsley conducted a forensic examination of the Mexican skulls on behalf of the Friends of the San Jacinto Battleground. His findings will be presented publicly for the first time at the 2010 Battle of San Jacinto Symposium.

This year's speakers are: Dr. Ron Tyler will be speaking about Audubon's visit to Galveston, Houston and the San Jacinto Battleground; Dr. Douglas Owsley will discuss Crania Injuries in Mexican Soldiers at San Jacinto; Dr. Andrew J. Torget will discuss slavery and its impact on revolutionary Texas; Professor James W. Paulsen will discuss Sam Houston's legal problems following the break up of his marriage to Eliza Allen in Tennessee and subsequent romance with Anna Raguet of Nacogdoches during the Texas Revolution; and Lael Morgan will discuss Revolutionary Sex: Texas' Philandering Founders.

This year's moderator will be Dr. James E. Crisp, Associate Professor of History at North Carolina Sate University. There will also be a special luncheon presentations by the Hon. William P. Hobby, Jr., Lt. Governor of Texas, 1973-1991; and Dr. Frank de la Teja will comment on his new book, Tejano Leadership in Mexican and Revolutionary Texas.

The Battle of Sam Jacinto Symposium is sponsored by the Friends of the San Jacinto Battleground as a forum for promoting public awareness of the events of the Texas Revolution. For additional information, call (713) 237-8997 or email sjbafriends@earthlink.net .

You can visit the Friends of the San Jacinto Battleground web site: http://www.friendsofsanjacinto.org/
You can also register online for The Battle of San Jacinto Symposium by clicking here.

Photograph: San Jacinto Monument; Courtesy of David Melasky