Sea of Mud: The Retreat of the Mexican Army after San Jacinto, An Archeological Investigation

Two forgotten weeks in 1836 and one of the most consequential events of the entire Texas Revolution have been missing from the historical record - the tale of the Mexican army's misfortunes in the aptly named "Sea of Mud," where more than 2,500 Mexican soldiers and 1,500 female camp followers foundered in the muddy fields of what is now Wharton County, Texas. In 1996 a pediatrician and "avocational archeologist" living in Wharton, Texas, decided to try to find evidence in Wharton County of the Mexican army of 1836. Following some preliminary research, he focused his search on the area between the San Bernard and West Bernard rivers. Within two weeks after beginning the search for artifacts, a Mexican army site was discovered and, with the help of the Houston Archeological Society, excavated. Then began the archival exploration of the history behind the archeology, the contacting of historians with expertise in that period, and even the learning of Spanish so that the original source documents could be studied. The result is a breathtaking accomplishment in historical and archeological investigation.