Go beyond Davy Crockett and John Wayne to discover the true story of the Battle of the Alamo that turned the tide of the Texas Revolution in 1836.
“ Remember the Alamo ! ” the battle cry goes . But why , exactly , should we remember the Alamo ? The cry was carry as a proclamation of strength , but what do a elementary building such a sinewy and historic place ?
earlier a Spanish mission site , the Alamo , near what is present - Clarence Day San Antonio , Texas , was repurposed as a military garrison in the other 1830s .
Wikimedia CommonsThe Battle of the Alamo .
Wikimedia CommonsThe Battle of the Alamo.
It was first occupied by Spanish and then Mexican soldiers . Its importance as a military settlement and proximity to San Antonio force the attention of Texian forces during the Texas Revolution . But , of track , battle have been fought across the United States , so what make up the Alamo — and the Battle of the Alamo , fought as part of that gyration — different ?
The History Of The Alamo
In the centuries before the battle , the Alamo had serve as a Catholic mission , play to commute local Native Americans to Catholicism .
build around 1724 as a commission complex by the Spanish government , the Alamo was not just a single building but a grouping of them that cross three acres and surrounded a central courtyard . In the coordination compound was a seminary for the priests , a chapel , barracks for missionaries and their family as well as a cloth shop .
Wikimedia CommonsA depiction of the Alamo , draw in 1854 .
Wikimedia CommonsA depiction of the Alamo, drawn in 1854.
After several year , come the Christianization of the local tribes , the mission was abandon . Run - ins with local , less than welcoming tribes combined with a harsh government had run out the mission of its riches and resources . Though most locals were uninterested in the adobe brick building , the once - flowery Alamo complex process as a tourism site for visitors for several decennary .
Despite its antecedently passive nature , in the early nineteenth century during the Mexican War of Independence , the Alamo served as a political prison house , and afterwards as San Antonio ’s first hospital .
After Mexico gained independency in 1821 , the Alamo coordination compound shifted from Spanish control to Mexican ascendency . Mexican General Martín Perfecto de Cos initially held down the fort until 1825 when he surrendered to Texians ( residents of Mexican - controlled Texas ) who had been obtrude upon San Antonio .
Wikimedia CommonsA drawing from the Mexican army illustrating the Alamo, and the Mexicans’ plan of attack.
Wikimedia CommonsA drawing from the Mexican army illustrating the Alamo , and the Mexicans ’ plan of attack .
When General Cos left-hand , the artillery and weapons that he ’d design on fortify the Alamo with were left behind . The Alamo ’s positioning in the ballad of the land , along with its already - existing fortifications , made it a prime location when the battle commence . Colonel James C. Neill maltreat up and presume bidding of the 100 men who had been pass on behind .
Together , they form the army that would oppose the Mexican Army in a beleaguering that would last 13 days .
Wikimedia CommonsSoldiers fight in the complex’s interior during the Battle of the Alamo.
The Battle Of The Alamo
Wikimedia CommonsSoldiers fight down in the complex ’s Department of the Interior during the Battle of the Alamo .
Soon after Colonel Neill drive over bid , he realized that there were n’t enough reinforcements to keep restraint of the Alamo . Panicked , he spell to the Texian government and requested more men to help him champion the compound .
Colonel James Bowie and Lieutenant Colonel William B. Travis arrived in other February with strengthener , including backwoodsman and politicianDavy Crockett . While the extra men were welcomed immediately and put to good use , it is guess that there were only between 180 to 260 man holding the William Lloyd Garrison at any distributor point during the war .
Wikimedia CommonsWhat remains of the Alamo today.
Sam Houston , the commandant of the Texian army , believe that it was too risky for the man to remain at the fort due to the deficient number of reinforcing stimulus , and wanted them to give up the Charles William Post . Colonel Bowie and Lieutenant Colonel Travis , however , were committed to defending the fort and refused to provide .
Wikimedia CommonsWhat persist of the Alamo today .
On February 23 , 1836 , Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna , determine to retake the post , led a besieging on the fortress at the Alamo , commanding an army of between 1,800 and 6,000 Mexican soldiers . immensely outnumbered and look certain defeat , the Texian forces station at the Alamo , co - overlook by Bowie and Travis , chose to delay and defend the garrison rather than face an categoric surrender . The Texians hold the fortress against the Mexican army for thirteen days .
Wikimedia CommonsJames Bowie
Tavis kept up a stiff stream of defensive fervidness from inside the wall of the Alamo and was able to successfully block Santa Anna ’s first two charges at the fort . On March 6 , 1836 , however , the Alamo last fall .
Wikimedia CommonsJames Bowie
In the early cockcrow , after two stillborn endeavor to breach the Texian ’s defenses , Mexican forces finally break through the outer walls of the fort . As Mexican forces scaled the wall , the Texians were forced to retreat further into the fort ’s interior for fright of being attack from above .
Wikimedia CommonsDavy Crockett
However , even in the side of such overpowering betting odds , the Texian forces continued to fight at close range , using rifles , shooting iron , knives , and even their own fists . Despite their low number , they managed to do significant legal injury to the Mexican US Army , killing what most Alamo historian believe to be around 600 of their military man . However , even with their good effort , the struggle was over ninety minutes after the Mexican forces made inside the wall .
Wikimedia CommonsDavy Crockett
Among the dead were the drawing card of the battle , Colonel Bowie and Lt . Colonel Travis . Their soundbox were reportedly piled in a field along with their soldier and burned . The ash from the makeshift funeral pyre would continue untouched for almost a yr before being inter in a casket in the San Fernando Cathedral .
Wikimedia CommonsGeneral Santa Anna
Also among the numb was Davy Crockett , though the genuineness of this claim has been deliberate . Several of the Mexican soldiers take that Crockett had died in conflict and that his body was glow alongside Travis and Bowie ’s . A former slave claimed he ’d cede and been fulfill . Neither claim has been officially confirm , though Crockett ’s knife was found near the pyre ’s ash .
The mystery continued even further when an English - language translation of Mexican General Enrique de la Peña ’s memoir of the battle was publish , arrogate that Crockett had live . Again , the authenticity of the claims has not been verified but lends itself to the ever - mysterious theory regarding the life of Davy Crockett .
Whether Crockett ’s ash unfeignedly rest within , a stone coffin still stand in the San Fernando Cathedral today , holding the ash of Bowie and Travis , and uncounted others who lose their lives to the Battle of the Alamo .
Wikimedia CommonsSusannah Dickerson, one of the survivors who was let go to spread the word of the Mexican victory.
Wikimedia CommonsGeneral Santa Anna
After The Battle
According to some accounting , there were between five and seven Texian subsister , who surrendered and were immediately execute . The Mexican soldiers took no captive , and between 180 and 250 of the Texian forces were slaughtered at the Alamo , with one of the few elision beingSusannah Dickinson , her baby daughter Angelina , a freed hard worker , and a servant . General Santa Anna allowed them to run away to Sam Houston ’s summer camp with a varsity letter of warning , say Houston that if Texas continued to fight back , a similar luck would fall on the remaining members of the Texian army .
But the letter did little to hinder the Texian army ’s oppose feeling . Although the Alamo finally fell to the Mexicans , the battle became a powerful symbol of resistance for the Texian forces and inspired many more men to join the fight for independence . breathe in by the brave struggle at the Alamo , Texians went on to mobilise around the cry of “ Remember the Alamo . ”
Wikimedia CommonsSusannah Dickerson , one of the survivors who was countenance go to start the parole of the Mexican victory .
Wikimedia CommonsThe Alamo complex’s southern front.
In addition to delivering the letter to Houston ’s camp , those freed Texians were also order to spread the word of the Mexican victory to the lands beyond the field .
However , the newsworthiness did n’t have the response the Mexican army had hop for . As the men travel through Texas and the neighboring lands telling the tale of the Alamo , rather than spark only awe they sparked a new revolution ; partly out of panic , and partly out of pride , men rushed to join the Texian army despite their recent defeat .
On April 21 , 1836 , the newly - reinforced Texian forces , led by General Sam Houston , blame against General Santa Anna ’s force-out atSan Jacinto . The battle was swift and critical , by all accounts lasting just 18 minutes before the Mexican army was defeated . Santa Anna was taken as a prisoner of war . Three workweek after the pivotal battle , a peace treaty was formally signed , effectively ending the warfare and granting Texas its independency from Mexico .
The Battle Of The Alamo In Popular Culture
Though it was an built-in part of the history of US - Mexico relations , as well as Texan history , it ’s likely that the Battle of the Alamo has remain in mass ’s minds due to its depicting in pic and internal mythology as a whole .
Hollywood has reenacted the Battle of the Alamo at least a dozen times , all from dissimilar perspectives and with varying levels of historic truth .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLux126OJbY
Among the most renowned is John Wayne ’s 1960 epicThe Alamo . For the most part , the movie adopt the struggle as it happen , getting dates , key player , and timing mostly correct . However , the film does overdo the exfoliation of the three attacks the Mexican army waged on the Alamo , as well as the duties and acquisition of certain somebody . The film , for example , depict the role of Davy Crockett as massively bombastic than it was – though , potential because Wayne himself played the ill-famed frontiersman .
Wikimedia CommonsThe Alamo complex ’s southern front .
Despite the accuracy of the timeline and characters , several historians have denounced the film , include historians James Frank Dobie and Lon Tinkle , whorequestedtheir course credit as “ historic advisors ” be removed from the film .
Even after Wayne ’s epic , Hollywood wasfar from done remembering the Alamo . A 2004 remake by Disney attempted to grasp the scale of the battle once again ( this fourth dimension with one - lining such as “ you may go to hell . I ’m going to Texas . ” ) though ultimately fall scant of outlook .
In the end , it seems that the Battle of the Alamo might just be too big for the big screen door , too iconic a piece ofAmerican history .
The victory that the Texian army ultimately happen over the Mexican encroacher was massive and marked the beginning of Texas ’ independency from Mexico and the journeying toward statehood . Perhaps the rest of the world should take a cue from the Texian battle cry , and “ retrieve the Alamo ” for the modification it breathe in , alternatively of the films .
After chance on who won the Battle of the Alamo , read about howGeneral Santa Anna help oneself contrive mod - mean solar day chewing gum . Then , read frontiersman Davy Crockett .
