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The Story of the Yellow
Rose of Texas
Texas history is deep in
legend. It is the mixture of fact and fantasy that seems to
give the stories character. Nowhere is this more evident than
in the story behind the "Yellow Rose of Texas".
Emily Morgan was a mulatto
slave girl that belonged to a landowner in Texas at the time
of the Texas Revolution. As Santa Anna led his soldiers across
Texas to finish crushing the revolt that had led to his
victorious battles at Goliad and the Alamo, he saw Emily and
claimed her as his own. As a conquering general, this was his
right as he saw it. She was a very beautiful girl, and General
Santa Anna was so taken with her beauty that he ordered his
army to stop and camp on a site near the banks of the San
Jacinto River, to have his way with her. This was a very
unsound strategic decision as it so happened, but the man was
absolutely smitten, and over confident.
As his army lazed about and
Santa Anna slept in his tent with the beautiful Emily Morgan
in his arms, the Texas army staged a furious assault on the
unsuspecting enemy. The resulting battle was a military
miracle, which ultimately marked the end of Santa Anna's rule
in Texas, and effectively created the sovereign "Republic of
Texas". Since that glorious day at San Jacinto when she
distracted Santa Anna, Emily Morgan has been immortalized in
song as "The Yellow Rose of Texas, the sweetest little rosebud
that Texas ever knew."
More trivia?? There
are two versions of the song and the last verse refers to the
short story below...
The words to the song of
"The Yellow Rose of Texas"
There's a yellow rose in Texas
that I am going to see. No other soldier knows her -- no
soldier, only me. She cried so when I left her, it like to
broke my heart, And if I ever find her, we never more shall
part.
CHORUS:She's the
sweetest rose of color this soldier ever knew. Her eyes are
bright as diamonds, they sparkle like the dew. You may talk
about your dearest May and sing of Rosa Lee, But the Yellow
Rose of Texas beats the belles of Tennessee.
Where the Rio Grande is flowing
and the starry skies are bright, She walks along the river in
the quiet summer night. She thinks, if I remember, when we
parted long ago, I promised to come back again and not to
leave her so.
CHORUS
Oh, now I'm going to find her,
for my heart is full of woe, And we'll sing the song together
that we sang so long ago. We'll play the banjo gaily, and
we'll sing the songs of yore, And the Yellow Rose of Texas
shall be mine forever more.
CHORUS
This is the verse that was
added
The "Uncle Joe"
referred to in the last verse is Confederate General Jospeh
E. Johnston, who was relieved of his command by General Hood
during the Atlanta campaign in 1864.
Oh, now I'm headed southward,
for my heart is full of woe. I'm going back to Georgia to find
my Uncle Joe. You may talk about your Beauregard and sing of
Bobby Lee, But the gallant Hood of Texas, he played hell in
Tennessee!
CHORUS
During the Mexican War, this song
was extremely popular with General John Bell
Hood's Texas troops, who substituted the word
"soldier" for the original "darkey" and added the final verse
as a commentary on their General's disastrous tenure as the
commander of the Army of Tennessee.
Ft Hood Texas was Named after
General Hood.
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