Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"The Battle of San Jacinto lasted only 18 minutes and only 2000 men were involved, but the result was a transfer of land larger than Western Europe. "Santa Anna was caught and, in exchange for his freedom, signed two treaties in which he promised to withdraw his troops and work for Texan independence. Texas spent nine years as an independent nation, then joined the United States in 1845. Ongoing disagreement over where the Texas border was located then sparked the Mexican American War, which ended with the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Mexico agreed to cede to the United States a further chunk of territory that included modern California, Utah, Nevada, and New Mexico. Bitter debates in Congress over whether such new states as Texas and those formed out of the territory gained from Mexico should be slave-owning or not became one of the main issues leading to the secession of the southern states and the American Civil War." [Aldrete: Decisive Battles]