Surrender of Santa Anna At the Battle of San Jacienta Near Houston, Texas USA.

Circa 1890. Albumen photograph, 13.75” x 8.25”.

A photograph of perhaps the most famous painting of the Texas Revolution, William Huddle’s untutored but nevertheless captivating depiction of General Santa Anna’s surrender and what some might call the spiritual founding of the Republic of Texas.

Huddle’s 1886 painting presents a veritable who’s who of figures in the fighting and has hung in the Texas Capital since 1901. At its center are the two commanders, Sam Houston and Antonio López de Santa Anna. Houston is sprawled on blanket while receiving treatment for a shattered ankle. Santa Anna looks crestfallen and is approaching the recumbent victor, hat in hand. Surrounding them is a host of Mexican and Texan leaders. All are numbered and identified in a manuscript key on the mount below.

Among the men pictured are Deaf Smith, Thomas Rusk, Mirabeau B. Lamar, et al. Deaf Smith, was a Mississippian who moved to Texas hoping a change in climate would aide him in recovering his health (which it did, though he never recovered his hearing). In keeping with his sobriquet he is shown cupping his ear; straining to hear the conversation of Santa Ana and Houston. Standing just behind Smith is Sterling Clack Robertson (whose last name is erroneously given here as Robinson) who like Smith parlayed his revolutionary experience into a leadership post with the Texas Rangers. Tending to the wounded Father of Texas is Alexander Wray Ewing, a native of Ireland who arrived in Texas after a stint in Pennsylvania. He was appointed Surgeon General of the Texas Army in 1836 and held the post until 1837.

An annotated photograph similar to the present image was published in 1892 by S.B. Hill. It became popular and was widely reproduced. This image appears roughly contemporary to Hill’s but differs in that the annotation is manuscript, not printed.

CONDITION: Good, heavy losses and cracking to the mount not affecting the image.