After looting and burning the settlement, Santa Anna and his soldiers forced Emily West to accompany them when they left several days later.
"The Yellow Rose of Texas" is a traditional American folk song dating back to at least the 1850s.
According to legend, West was in Santa Anna’s tent on April 21, when Sam Houston’s Texian Army charged the Mexican camp in the Battle of San Jacinto.
Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time. The same substitution is made throughout the song. “The Yellow Rose of Texas” is a traditional American folk song dating from the mid 19th century. The Yellow Rose of Texas sheet music (New York: Firth, Pond, & Co., 1858) by Charles H. Brown, p. 1 While many Americans are familiar with the song, “The Yellow Rose of Texas,” few know the story of Emily West, the African American woman who was the inspiration for its creation. And now I'm going southward, for my heart is full of woeThe modified lyrics reference famous Confederate military commanders In this version of the chorus, "soldier" replaced "darkey." ** And now a little bit more of "unsolved history".
Only much later, in the mid-20th century, would West (sometimes misidentified as Emily Morgan) be linked with the popular song “The Yellow Rose of Texas… The only written record of the incident is a diary entry written by William Bollaert, a British traveler, in 1842, identifying the woman in question as “a mulatta girl (Emily) belonging to Col Morgan.” No official record from the Battle of San Jacinto mentioned a woman being found in Santa Anna’s tent, and though a number of Santa Anna’s officers publicly criticized him for losing Texas, not one ever accused him of being distracted by a woman at San Jacinto. If West was in fact with Santa Anna when Texians charged the Mexican camp, it was probably not by choice; she could not have known of Houston’s plans or intentionally delayed the Mexican general. All Rights Reserved.