forces were soon advancing on the delegation, forcing them to flee. When López de Santa Anna's troops approached Zavala's Point, Zavala and his family fled down the San Jacinto River to the home of William Scott, one of the Empressario Grant colonists. A number of families awaited there for a steamer to take them to safety on Galveston Island. Nearby, in Harris County, López de Santa Anna's army faced Texas General Sam Houston's forces on April 21, 1836 at the Battle of San Jacinto. López de Santa Anna was defeated and captured. A few months after this, Zavala's health began to fail. He resigned his office of vice president and returned home. Less than a month after his resignation, he was boating in Buffalo Bayou when his rowboat overturned and he was chilled. Zavala developed pneumonia and died at his home on November 15, 1836. He was buried in a small cemetery plot at his home. The grave was later moved to the San Jacinto Battleground Park. Personal life In 1807 Zavala married Teresa Correa y Corres. They had three children: a son named Lorenzo Jr., a daughter named Manuela, and a daughter who died at age one. Zavala's wife, Teresa, died in the spring of 1831. Zavala remarried while in exile. He married Emily West in New York on November 12, 1831, at the Church of the Transfiguration. To this union was born a son and two daughters. The son Augustine, the eldest, was the father of Adina Emilia de Zavala, who played a role in the fight to preserve the Alamo as a historic structure for future generations. Freemasons Zavala and his friends secretly organized the first Masonic Lodge in Yucatán, the Reunión a la Virtud lodge No. 9. The lodge received its charter from the Louisiana Grand Lodge in 1817. It was Zavala's relationship with his fellow masonic brothers and to other lodges that allowed him to gather many political connections prior to Mexico's Independence. Zavala was one of the key people that helped establish the York Rite Masonry in Mexico in 1826 as an alternative to the older, well established Scottish rite (Escocés). That same year the Grand Lodge of New York issued charters to five Masonic Lodges in Mexico City. These five lodges became the nucleus of the movement that favored decentralization of leadership. Zavala became the Charter Master of Independencia Lodge No. 454. He