Today is Texas Independence Day.
On this day in 1836, a group of prominent Texians, as we were all known then, gathered at a ramshackle building near the Brazos River in what is now Washington County.
There, they decided to sever ties with Mexico.
And the world was never the same again…
The war for Texas independence had actually been going on for five months when the delegates got together on March 1st.
Settled by Stephen F. Austin and 300 original families in 1821, the Mexican Province of Texas grew to the point that a new Mexican Constitution in 1835 was considered intolerable and fighting broke out.
Santa Ana’s army was on the march to put down the rebellion when the official Constitution was signed two weeks later, and the delegates had to flee the convention. 
David Burnet was the first President and Lorenzo de Zavala the first Vice President.
The war continued through the heroic defense and defeat at the Alamo in San Antonio, to ultimate triumph in what is considered one of the ten most important battles in world history, the victory at San Jacinto at a marsh near what is now Houston.
Every year the faithful gather at Washington on the Brazos State Park for the celebration and to learn about the events that shaped a Republic, and ultimately, in 1845, the 28th state in the Union.