One of the most consequential battles in North American history occurred 175 years ago on a field just east of current-day Houston, Texas.  In the Battle of San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836, a ragtag Texas rebel army of about 900 men defeated some 1,500 Mexican soldiers and won independence. This led to the Mexican-American War in which the United States acquired California and other southwestern states - leading to disputes over the expansion of slavery and ultimately to the U.S. Civil War. As VOA’s Greg Flakus reports from Houston, the shots fired in 1836 reverberate across the southwestern United States today.