This week’s edition falls on April 21, the day of importance for two things – Aggie Muster and San Jacinto Day.
Aggie Muster is a solemn event observed worldwide that dates to the school’s earliest days in the 1870s and 1880s.
Campus field days were held then on San Jacinto Day to recognize the anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto that marks Texas Independence.
Muster celebrates Aggie spirit of camaraderie bringing former students of Texas A&M University together to remember those Aggies who have gone before us.
Musters worldwide remember those who died in the past year by answering here!”
During World War I, Aggies gathered in the trenches and towns in France, Belgium and Luxembourg.
In the 1920s, the Association of Former Students encouraged A&M Club to hold April 21 meeting meetings and parties.
The April 15, 1923, Texas Aggie urged, “If there is an A&M man in one hundred miles of you, you are expected to get together, eat a little, and live over the days you spent at the A&M College of Texas.”
Perhaps the most historical Aggie Muster was in 1942 when a reported gathering of Texas Aggies under fire on April 21 made the Muster tradition famous nationwide.
News headlines told of the Texans’ courage and camaraderie during Japan’s siege of the Philippine Island of Corregidor.
By the next year, in 1943, more than 500 Aggie Musters worldwide honored the Aggies of Corregidor.
The Association sent out Muster packets to chairs and Muster tradition became a permanent part of the Aggie Spirit.
Today, Muster is celebrated in 300 locations worldwide.
The Battle of San Jacinto is one of Texas’ most remarkable historical events.
The overview, of course, is the 900-strong Texas army defeated a Mexican Army of about 1,200 led by Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna at a site along the San Jacinto River near Houston.
Much is written how the Texans surprised the Mexican army camp during its siesta and won the engagement that gave Texas its independence in about 18 minutes.
Ironically, Santa Anna pursued the Texas army under General Sam Houston across the state with a much larger force after the fall of the Alamo March 6, 1836.
In the Runaway Scrape, Texans evacuated their homes to flee from the Mexican army that included a force coming up the Texas coast, while Houston gathered his forces and retreated south.
Santa Anna’s four different armies converged in the bend of the Brazos River (Fort Bend).
That’s when the impatient Santa Anna peeled off a part of his force and crossed the Brazos to pursue the Texan army setting up camp at San Jacinto.
And the rest is history.
