We almost missed the latest Ode to Sylvia Garcia that appeared in the area’s newspaper of record a few days ago. Here’s a sampling:
The cannonball was still a secret from the public, but for the duration of a car ride, Sylvia Garcia had temporary custody of it. The iron ball was surprisingly small — about the size of an orange – and she cupped it lovingly in her hands.
Garcia, a Harris County commissioner, is the kind of Texan who speaks reverently about the Battle of San Jacinto – the most important battle in our state’s history, the battle in which Sam Houston’s ragtag army shockingly trounced Santa Anna’s larger Mexican force, not only winning Texas’ independence from Mexico but also paving the way for California and New Mexico’s entry into the United States. It was, as historian T.R. Fehrenbach has written, the battle in which “the West was won.”
Given half a chance, Garcia will rhapsodize about the Twin Sisters, the two cannons that Houston’s army used. So it thrilled her that right there in her hands, she held the only Twin Sisters cannonball that archaeologists have ever found (Lisa Gray, The shocking defeat: Battle of San Jacinto artifacts are special to Sylvia Garcia, Houston Chronicle).
Well, now that Garcia has some free time, perhaps she can engage in true public service and volunteer to give tours/lectures (perhaps even rhapsodize!) at the monument/museum site.
