Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Fall of the Alamo: Can anyone comment on this account?

I received the following from a high school classmate (we had our 50th reunion last year). It is an account of the fall of the Alamo by the Acalde of San Antonio. Since it is at odds with some of the revisionist history of this event that I have run across in the last few years, I was wondering if any of our Texas historians can vouch for the accuracy of this account?


On this day in 1836...

...the Alamo garrison fell, and the fortress that had been a mission became a shrine.

Francisco Antonio Ruiz was the Acalde (mayor) of San Antonio. He was an eyewitness to the events of that day.

Twenty-four years later, in 1860, Don Poncho (as Ruiz was known), recounted what he had seen for the Texas Almanac.

Below is his account in full.

Remember the Alamo!
Mark Pusateri
Copano Bay Press

PS - Don Poncho's father, Don Francisco Ruiz, signed the Texas Declaration of Independence four days before the Alamo fell.


Fall of the Alamo, and Massacre of Travis and His Brave Associates
by Francisco Antonio Ruiz
Translated by J. A. Quintero

On the 6th of March at 3 a.m. General Santa Anna at the head of 4000 men, advanced against the Alamo. The infantry, artillery and cavalry had formed about 1000 varas from the walls of said fortress.

The Mexican army charged and were twice repulsed by the deadly fire of Travis' artillery, which resembled a constant thunder. At the third charge the Toluca battalion commenced to scale the walls and suffered severely. Out of 800 men, only 130 were left alive.

When the Mexican army had succeeded in entering the walls, I with Political Chief (Jefe Politico) Don Ramon Musquiz, and other members of the corporation, accompanied the curate Don Refugio de la Garza, who, by Santa Anna's orders had assembled during the night, at a temporary fortification erected in Potrero Street, with the object of attending the wounded.

As soon as the storming commenced, we crossed the bridge on Commerce Street with this object in view, and about 100 yards from the same a party of Mexican dragoons fired upon us and compelled us to fall back on the river to the place occupied before.

Half an hour had elapsed when Santa Anna sent one of his aides with an order for us to come before him. He directed me to call upon some of the neighbors to come with carts to carry the dead to the cemetery, and also to accompany him, as he was desirous to have Colonels Travis, Bowie and Crockett shown to him.

On the north battery of the fortress lay the lifeless body of Colonel Travis on the gun carriage shot only in the forehead.

Toward the west in a small fort opposite the city we found the body of Colonel Crockett.

Colonel Bowie was found dead in his bed in one of the rooms of the south side.

Santa Anna, after the Mexicans were taken out, ordered wood to be brought to burn the bodies of the Texans. He sent a company of dragoons with me to bring wood and dry branches from the neighboring forests.

About 3 o'clock in the afternoon of the next day they commenced laying wood and dry branches upon which a file of dead bodies were placed, more wood was piled on them and another file brought, and in this manner all were arranged in layers. Kindling wood was distributed through the pile and at 8 o'clock it was lighted.

The dead Mexicans of Santa Anna's army were taken to the graveyard, but not having sufficient room for them, I ordered some of them to be thrown in the river, which was done on the same day. Santa Anna's loss estimated at 1600 men. These were the flower of his army.

The gallantry of the few Texans who defended the Alamo were really wondered at by the Mexican army. Even the generals were astonished at their vigorous resistance, and how dearly the victory had been bought.

The generals who, under Santa Anna, participated in the storming of the Alamo were Juan Amador, Castrillion Ramirez and Asesma Andrade.

The men burned numbered 182. I was an eye witness, for as Alcalde of San Antonio, I was with some of the neighbors collecting the dead bodies and placing them on the funeral pyre.

(Signed) Francisco Antonio Ruiz

Walk around the exterior walls of the Alamo, and you will see tens of thousands of little round indentations. They are the impact marks of musket balls, and physical evidence of a hard fought battle.

Regardless of whether they fought to the last man, or fought a while & surrendered, they did fight a much larger force, and unquestionably died heroes. To heck with the revisionists

As I recall from the books on the Alamo I have read, the story you have copied is pretty much what I have read elsewhere. I do not remember the names of the fighters with the exception of Travis, Bowie, Crocket, and Santa Anna. I am curious however, what was your point in quoting the passage? You can find material easily on the Alamo and confirm what you have copied.

The only two things that are different from what I was taught at the college level is the location of Crockett's body (?) and the much larger number of Mexican casualties than originally reported. Then again that was over 50 years ago, so I may have some high school information mixed in. I thought Crockett was found in one of the cubicles in front and just across the yard, still on the mission property. Could have been that Don Pablo was playing both sides for favors, before and after the Alamo fell?

As an aside, the sheet music to Santa Anna's charge as played by his band(s) has been found. I listened to a rendition of it a while back. It was kind of erie. jack

Great post. They died to give us 150 years of freedom, until men and women with no Christian morals and ruled by jealousy and greed voted to take from those who worked to give it to themselves and others who wouldn't, usually under the guise of love and benevolence.

Yeah. The same guy that sent me this sent me the recording a while back. It was the deguello performed by an orchestra in Mexico City. It was very different from the various movie versions.

One of these days I am going to lay eyes on the Alamo.

Come on out and we'll go look at some of the other battle sites, too!

Ed

Born in Austin waaaay back when. Still proud of those who gave us that history and foundation.

My brother entered a contest when we moved up here to the PNW and won one of the musket balls (documented and one of several given away) from one of the Alamo's walls. This was around the late '50's or so. I don't suppose anymore of the Alamo's artifacts are given away so freely and/or easily.

Hope not, anyway. But it is quite an heirloom.......IMHO.

The Alamo is a stirring and special place to visit for anyone who loves freedom.You need not be a Texan to appreciate what happened there.

I'd like that Ed. Tide Jr, would enjoy it as well. We'll have to see what the year brings. When we get Trace retired this August, things should get freed up.

The Alamo isnt as big as most people think it is. A few years
ago I believe they found one of the cannons in the river.

It's not the size, it's the place where the legend actually happened. "Thermopoly had her messenger of defeat, but the Alamo had none"!

I'm no historian and can't verify it one way or another, but 1 account I've read said that a number of the Texans surrendered in the end. Then Santa Ana had them shot, just like he did the men at Goliad a few weeks later.

The current Alamo is just a small part of the original Alamo area and structures.
I almost never visit SA without making a "pilgrimage" to the Alamo.

Those brave souls are rolling over in their graves now just thinking about what is going on in the US today with the population giving up to the marxists. Such a shame they died needlessly against the mexicans that we now let run foot loose and fancy free and even bring in drugs. Dirty rotten shame that much is certain.

Santa Anna moved out from his capitol in Mexico City and made an extremely hard winter march up from the south to northern Mexico, of which Texas was at the time. Nobody thought he would do it as it was extremely hard on his men with the weather and Apaches harassing them every step of the way. They did not all arrive at once and did not all arrive at all. Santa Anna split them up and only a portion of his army, albeit the main force, attacked the Alamo.

There had been rumors all winter of Santa Anna's approach and though not totally unexpected, by the time his forces started to arrive and encircle the Alamo, it was still shocking. There was a siege of several days as Santa Anna's troops caught up and brought up artillery. On the last day, the Texans were probably outnumbered anywhere from 40 to 70 to their one. The battle commenced in total darkness with Santa Anna having successfully put the sneak on the Texans after a heavy artillery barrage the day and night before. The element of complete surprise was lost when one of the Mexicans raised a cheer to Santa Anna and alerted the sleeping garrison. They were overwhelmed and the battle was pretty much over by daylight. Some accounts have all dead, others have a handful of survivors surrendering and being tortured to death at Santa Anna's orders. I believe it was General Cos who begged the Emperor to spare them, but his orders had been specific that all were to be put to the sword. One account has Crockett being spared and taken to Mexico City as a captive. Crockett's son evidently put enough stock in the story to journey there years later in a vain search for his father. During the fight a few men broke out and attempted to flee but were cut down by Lancers. I have never read any account of a surrender en-masse by the defenders. Most of them died defending their posts.

Never mistake the Alamo for a monument - to Texas it is a shrine, and its heros are Saints.

A lovely older woman from TX made that very clear to me last year when I finally found a parking space at the Alamo.

Then why don't Texans honor the shrine instead of letting the mexicans come back in illegally?

I don't think they really think it is a shrine but instead a mistake to most Texans. They want the mexicans and it is obvious that the mexicans want to be there to.

My Mother is a Texan. I am an ex-Texan and I have been to the Alamo more than once. Everybody with any roots in Texas should visit it.

I was just down there at dawn this morning.

Doesn't really matter if anyone surrendered at the very end when hopelessly surrounded. I'm a tad rusty on the Alamo specifics, but FWIW, Stephen Moore ("Savage Frontier") has this to say, quoting from among teh last letters sent out. This from forty-one year old Isaac Millsaps Millsaps had been among the first to join the Gonzales Mounted Ranger Company, hoping to protect his blind wife and seven children......

"The Mexicans are here in large numbers, they have kept up a constant fire since we got here.

Col. Bowie is down sick and had to be to bed. I saw him yesterday & he is ready to fight. He didn't know me from last spring but did remember Walsh. He tells us all that help will be here soon & it makes us feel good.

We have beef & corn to eat but no coffee; bag I had fell off on the way here so it is all spilt. I have not see[n] Travis but 2 times since here. He told us all this morning that Fannin was going to be here with many men and there would be a good fight....

There is no discontent in our boys. Some are tired from lack of sleep and rest. The Mexicans are shooting every few minutes but most fo the shots fall inside and do no harm. I don't know what else to say. They is calling for all letters."


Moore then writes....

Travis and roughly 188 brave Alamo defenders were overrun by the superior Mexican forces on March 6th. The fighting became hand-to-hand with the Texans killing as many as 1,544 enemy soldiers before being overwhelmed. Cannon fire kept Santa Anna from personally joining the fray until organized resistance had been crushed. Santa Anna ordered no prisoners, and at least six Texans in the hospital barracks were executed with bayonets.

The Unversity of Texas "Texas History Online" presents more moderate figures....

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qea02

On March 5, day twelve of the siege, Santa Anna announced an assault for the following day. This sudden declaration stunned his officers. The enemy's walls were crumbling. No Texan relief column had appeared. When the provisions ran out, surrender would remain the rebels' only option. There was simply no valid military justification for the costly attack on a stronghold bristling with cannons.

But ignoring these reasonable objections, Santa Anna stubbornly insisted on storming the Alamo. Around 5:00 A.M. on Sunday, March 6, he hurled his columns at the battered walls from four directions. Texan gunners stood by their artillery. As about 1,800 assault troops advanced into range, canister ripped through their ranks. Staggered by the concentrated cannon and rifle fire, the Mexican soldiers halted, reformed, and drove forward. Soon they were past the defensive perimeter.

Travis, among the first to die, fell on the north bastion. Abandoning the walls, defenders withdrew to the dim rooms of the Long Barracks. There some of the bloodiest hand-to-hand fighting occurred. Bowie, too ravaged by illness to rise from his bed, found no pity. The chapel fell last.

By dawn the Centralists had carried the works. The assault had lasted no more than ninety minutes. As many as seven defenders survived the battle, but Santa Anna ordered their summary execution. Many historians count Crockett as a member of that hapless contingent, an assertion that still provokes debate in some circles.

By eight o'clock every Alamo fighting man lay dead. Currently, 189 defenders appear on the official list, but ongoing research may increase the final tally to as many as 257.

Though Santa Anna had his victory, the common soldiers paid the price as his officers had anticipated. Accounts vary, but best estimates place the number of Mexicans killed and wounded at about 600.


600 is still a lot, and would fall in a believable 3 to 1 overall kill ratio by the defenders. I doubt that the Alcade had ever seen six hundred dead before, and numbers may have grown in memory.

Birdwatcher
Birdwatcher

We know some things and those things are all that matters.

Santa Anna was a tyrant. Texas rebelled against a tyrannical regime that did not allow them representation or protection yet expected tribute. Some hundreds of men died at San Antonio, Goliad, San Jacinto and all points in between fighting against that tyranny. Ultimately Santa Anna was shown to be the coward he was and regretfully was not hung.

Particulars about who died where, doing what, when make little or no difference to me in regard to the big picture of what the fighting was about or what was accomplished by the deaths of men who's shadow cast at noon is larger than most revisionists will ever hope to diminish with their lies.

To those who view Texas culture through racially polarized glasses..... Being white does not make a person a Texan any more than being brown makes them a Mexican. Texans, white, brown and all shades in between stood against the overwhelming force of tyranny and died like men in defiance of being subjugated by it. Make no mistake, we will do it again if need be.

Alan

Look anything like this, maybe?

Excellent pic. 4a.m.?

exactly and Messicans love to brag that they stopped there long enough to pizz on it!

While there is no doubt that it is not the destination that it once was, due to rudeness and lack of understanding not just from the Mexicans, but from just a general degeneration of things, I doubt many Mexicans have the cojones to do that. Maybe some of them piss on the floor in the bathroom when nobody is looking, but there isn't anybody pissing on the inner walls or anything like that.

There is no doubt that it looked much the same to the Mexican troops who awaited the order to assault the works well before dawn. Be advised that the hump for the bell tower on the mission is an affectation added in the 1840's by US Troops. It was not original construction and was not there when Santa Anna laid siege to the fortress.

As it stands now the Alamo is only a fraction of what it was. Go to some of the other missions in San Antonio that still have their outer walls and you get an idea of what the place looked like during the battle.
Today the surrounding city streets roughly outline the size of the original mission.

Yep! Many years ago a Texas legislator made this comment in Austin:

"We stole Texas from them damn Mexicans fair and square and they got no gripe coming!"

I agree!

DON'T MESS WITH TEXAS!

No they claim the outter front wall, early in the morning .. on their way to work or rip us off.

The Jose Enrique de la Pena account of Crockett and several of the Tennesseans being "captured" or "surrendering" has interested me since I became aware of With Santa Anna in Texas . I know many scholars challenge the work as a forgery. Personally , I don't know. However, logic leads me to believe it might be true. Remember that Crockett and his Tennesseans were defending the wooden palisade, just to the right of the old Mission front. The major attack came on the North Wall, all the way to the other end of the compound. The area where Crockett fought was the last to fall. It is generally considered that it took 90 minutes for the assault to be completed. These defenders had flintlocks; how many times do you think they fired them in this time frame? They were probably out of powder/ball, or the rifles were so fouled, they no longer functioned. The tomahawk and large(Bowie) knife were the "backup" weapons of the day. I suspect the Mexicans attackers were pretty tired also. I surmise they all just quit fighting at the end, as the Mexicans were probably not interested in "hand to hand" fighting with the Tennesseans. General Castrillon intervened on behalf of these last 7 Alamo defenders. Santa Anna ordered them executed.
The Alamo Mission was a ruin, without even a roof. It had not been used as a Mission in many years, prior to 1836.
One would really need to see a sketch of the compound as it existed in March of 1836. The diorama in the Museum is very helpful to see, if you go to the Alamo.
When I took my boys to the Alamo many years ago, the oldest, about 8 or 9, remarked: " I don't see how they had a battle with all these buildings around here!"
AKHnter: you have no valid information on this subject; go back in your hole. Having read many of your posts, it is clear to me you have no information of value on any subject you have posted on. I cannot fathom whether you are a total idiot or if just work real hard at appearing so!

What was said that got your dander up? Was it because you favor the mexicans and their return? Have you personally taken steps to stop the advance of the mexicans like the Alamo defenders did? I'll bet not. I see you as being a mexican apologist and mexican supporter. Don't worry though, there are plenty here on the Fire that will like your words because they are in support of illegalness and invaders from the south of the border. Are you of mexican blood and descent? Something tells me you have got skin in this game to be so defensive. Are you harboring mexicans?

I have alway wounder about a few things about the Alamo.

Why has the name of the General been changed? (Santa Anna)

Why did the Mexican army attack the USA?

They were pissed about the Germans attacking Pearl Harbor.

Texas was a Republic before joining the USA.Mexico did not attack The USA.Less than 20 years after Mexico became a country the people of Texas pulled away and formed The Republic of Texas.

Thanks I know very little about the Alamo.

So why did Mexico attack The Republic of Texas?

And yes I am to lazy to do a search and read up on the Alamo.

Texas was part of Mexico. we fought Mexico for our Independence and became the Republic of Texas.

How old are you?

Right...Texas was part of Mexico. In a nut-shell, the Government in Mexico was bad, Texas rebelled and broke away. Then Sam Houston sold Texas out to the United States.

God Bless Texas!
So much history! And I don't live too far from another great site... Gonzales.
"Come and Take It"

TFF, Pat, but it looks more true every day.

No, really. Any native Texan family (except those related to Houston) hate him. He had aspirations to go to Washington and...oh well, some things never change.

Ok so Mexicans got tired of their corrupt government and rebelled against them and made Texas?

Sam Houston was a Mexican?

no he was porta rican

Great post. Yes it was Gen. Castrillon and not Cos who intervened. My bad. I think Cos was already west of San Antonio de Bexar with a good portion of the Army, chasing Gen. Houston. Indeed, the memoir of Pena was what I referenced. Castrillon or de la Pena commented that Santa Anna ordered them executed and none of the actual combatants on the Mexican side seemed eager to do the deed, but a few of Santa Anna's bootlickers who had not participated in the battle, rushed forward and killed them. Other accounts mention torture. Either is believable.

Public school they were to busy teaching us how Christopher Columbus discovered America.

I knew you were serious. I was speaking as what Scott would call a Yankee. But I like Texas a lot.

Yes, Texicans rebelled aginst them, with the help of many American heroes.

..and no, Sam Houston was a lawyer and politician.

Scott? I don't even know him any more.

Don't get me started...

The area now called Texas was at the time part of an area along with portions of Colorado, Oklahoma and Kansas that was the northernmost portion of Mexico. Mexico had a dictator named Santa Anna. He was a tyrant. Santa Anna had already put down at least one rebellion The Fredonian Rebellian in 1826. The Texans were mad because he refused to abide by the Constitution established in 1824. Basically Texas had been settled first by mainly Hispanics but these people had had a difficult time in keeping the Comanche Indians along with other warlike tribes...Karankawas, Kiowas, Apaches, etc. at bay. White settlers were already coming in and the Mexican government offered them land in order to bring them into the fold and insure their alleigance to Mexico rather than the USA and also to provide a buffer against the aforementioned natives. Along with some Hispanic settlers, these immigrants were dissatisfied with the way Santa Anna was running things. They were also probably subject to propaganda from US agents.

The Texans broke away and formed their own government much like their forefathers had in 1775-1776. They quickly formed an Army the core of which were probably existing Ranger units which had protected them from Indians and fought several small battles basically running the token Mexican Army forces out of Texas. Santa Anna disagreed and you can see my former post for a quick explanation. His forces also laid waste to the other Texian force at Goliad which Col. Fannin had surrendered by executing the prisoners. Texas settlers fled from Central Texas to east Texas in what is termed the "Runaway Scrape" pursued by Santa Anna's army. General Houston lead the Texans and had been training in a swampy area near the present day town named for him. The Texans caught Santa Anna's army in a boggy area called "Buffalo Bayou" and whipped them even though they were outnumbered. Santa Anna was captured and Houston forced him to relinquish the title to Texas. Mexico never really fully recognized this action and tried for years during the Republic to get it back culminating in Texas entering the union and the US fighting a war with Mexico over it and other southwestern areas such as California.

go with music, war is close, all to often.

looming

looking over one's fence

GTC

[video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=8M6jgq3jYy0[/video]

Remember the Alamo Greg. Your place could well be the last holdout for those of us heading there. Keep the powder dry til we can burn it. If you get my drift.

no "Drift" ,....you and I are not associated,...and won't be.

I know I know <wink wink> Third Eschelon REMF. It's ok and all good.

Thanks, and almost certainly within an hour of that, yes. Good call.

Taken just before Birdy and I dined at a 24 hour joint, after driving through the night. An hour later or so, he dropped me back at the AP on my way back east.

Santa Anna was a gutless coward that gave no quarter when he was not begging for mercy.

IOW he was a typical politician. He'd fit right in today in our own Senate.

WTF? This is kinda creeping me out. I gotta figure that ignore button out.

There's some BAD "Man Crush" in play here, I have no CLUE who this [bleep] is, and can only say that if, or when, he and his running buds turn up in THIS neck of the brush, they will be asked to move on, they neither needed, or wanted, at this critical moment.

I'm thinking some Thorazine, a straight jacket, and a padded cell are AKHntr's only REAL destiny as regards the Border.

BORDERLINE insanity, if you get MY drift,....wink, wink etc.



GTC

...and don't forget, we BOUGHT Mexico from Santa Anna, after kicking his ass.

Just one addendum re Cole's last sentence in his post.

Texas and later the US said that the Rio Grande was the border. Mexico said the Nuaces river was because when the area was known as Cohuilla y Texas that was the boundry. Mexico invaded to take back an area they believed was theirs to begin with.

Borderline my sweet a$s. The guy is a menace and should be institutionalized. He is just trying to push the wrong buttons and it ain't gonna end well.

Ola Julio!

My Mom had Marty Robbins' LP with The Ballad of the Alamo on it. When I was about four or five I could sing the whole thing.

Cool, thank you

Zachary Taylor sent an urgent message from Corpus Christi to Washington soon after Texas was Annexed to the US, reporting on the fate of a patrol that had been attacked just north of the Rio Grande, that "American blood had been spilled on American soil". Congress declared war on Mexico and began the bombardment of Vera Cruz. After Mexico lost that war, what is now the American Southwest was indeed purchased from Mexico. Mexico actually wanted to ceed much of what is now Northern Mexico (approximately 1/3 of what is now Mexico) to the US in that deal. President James K. Polk advised against it and proposed establishing the Rio Grande as the permanent boundary. The rationale was that we had enough to deal with and that much more would be impossible to police.

While some view the annexation of Texas into the United States as less than perfect, it is more than a little likely that Texas could not have withstood another invasion by Mexico. They were going to come back and were not going to be very nice about it. It was by shear luck and the motivation of eminent annihilation that Sam Houston's Army routed the Mexicans at San Jacinto.

Alan

If the mexicans were routed out then why can't they be routed out now? You guys living there in Goliad and the rest of Texas I have a question for you.

Why do you tolerate the illegal mexicans coming in to strip you of your holdings?

And we're still buying it.

It's a dimocrap thing.

It's a dimocrap thing. We can't even get rid ofba bunch of sand turd terrorists in GITMO.

That answer to me is indefensible. Citizens are obligated by the Constitution to defend their country against all enemies foriegn and domestic. Most Fire members have also taken a sworn oath to the death to do this. What are they waiting for? Is their word not worth a dam anymore? Do they also lie to their kids and tell them they are doing what they can?
I say they are cowards thru and thru. They should not be allowed to call themselves Texans or American Citizens if they shirk their Constitutional Duties and Responsibilities. And I am not talking about politicians here. We all know they are gutless. But I am only now realizing how gutless our fellow citizens are too. I fail to see how they can look in the mirror or look into their kids eyes and hold their heads up.

Unless someone quotes our village idiot I don't know what he says. Since that has been done, I will respond in a manner that I hope will not feed the Troll and get the point across.

Troll, you don't have any idea of what you are talking about. No one is being stripped of any holdings and the people who are charged with stopping the illegals from entering the United States through Mexico are working at it as fast as they can. I know this probably does not mean anything to you, but the Border Patrol is a federal agency, not a State agency. To a large extent, we in Texas, and surely in other places as well, tend towards observing and following laws, certainly State laws and especially Federal laws. We do not take it upon ourselves to patrol and apprehend UDAs and deport them. That would be STUPID, reckless, illegal, stupid, dumb, and stupid. To suggest such a thing would be stupid, irresponsible, stupid and stupid.

If your intent is to incite a response to cause someone to type something irresponsible, reckless, illegal, or stupid, then you must surely be STUPID.

I know there are some of the guys here who do not have you on ignore. I suppose they find your total and utter ignorance on most subjects amusing. I just really don't know. What I do know is that you don't know anything about Texas or Texans. We understand that being Texan is something that most folks who aren't Texans Wish they were and some harbor a lot of ill will about it and really don't feel good about themselves because of that. That's not our problem son, it's yours. Good luck with it. Stay wherever you are, we've done just fine without you till now. I expect we'll continue to do so.

I know from your posts that I have read, that there is very little that you have any respect for, hold dear, or uphold with honor or dignity. Your posts are negative, inciting, and seek to tear down and destroy. Therefore you must be a dishonorable, disrespectful, undignified, excuse for a human being. I don't have a bit of use for you at all except to point to you as the perfect example of a bad example.

I know you won't have your feelings hurt by my words. I know you won't be insulted because you have no integrity. You only have words, shallow meaningless words, cloaked behind a convenient veil of internet secrecy.

Troll on Troll.

Alan

Cowardice is all too often masked by bravado. This is what I see in your post. You say you are doing well but you honestly know better. You are doing poorly and we know this. Call me names if it makes you feel better. Get it out of your system. It will help to get your mental state back to where you used to be. It's OK with me and no you don't have to worry you have not hurt my feelings whatsoever. I know you are in dire straits down there and your guilt is showing it quite a bit. I suggest you start on your recovery by reading and testing yourself on the USofA Constitution. Then do exactly what it tells you to do. You don't need the govts approval to do your duties. You should also never rely on them as you well know they are inept and incapable of doing right by the citizens. Take a good look at bammy the kenyan and tell me again you trust him to do right by you. He is bent on destroying you and your family and you honestly need to believe that. That is my message to you whether you choose to ignore it like you do your responsibilities that is your doings and on you and no one else.

The Alamo is one of the harder battle sights to visualize today, the car from which that photo was taken was stopped INSIDE the area defended in 1836...



On the other side of the car just across tbe street lies a section of the original compound foundation preserved for viewing under a glass case. Most of that wall is covered by businesses now in a row of multi-story buildings dating back to the late 19th/early 20th Century.

Travis got fatally hit early on on the fortification above the "Large Area" on the diagram. That spot lies under the present Post Office Building, about fifteen stories tall.

The Alamo Mission had ceased operating as such nearly forty years before this fight, but there's probably hundreds of burials dating from the mission epidemic days underneath that area in the photo.

'Nother interesting thing is that the flag most likely to have flown at the Alamo (nobody knows for sure what banner they fought under) was this one, the 1824 constitution flag....



Hard to imagine now, but for another four years after the Battle of the Alamo and the founding of the Republic of Texas, hundreds of White Texans would be fighting in South Texas and Northern Mexico on the Federalist side of a Mexican civil war. Hindsight is 20/20, but the future weren't all that crystal clear back then.

Likewise "the bloodiest battle on Texan soil" was fought just south of San Antonio twenty-three years earlier, in 1813, by American adventurers allied with local Tejanos. The Battle of the Medina River....

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qfm01

Jos� Bernardo Guti�rrez de Lara and Augustus William Magee, abetted by the United States, organized an expedition to wrest Texas from Spain. Adopting a "Green Flag" for a banner, their Republican Army of the North crossed from the Neutral Ground in Louisiana into Texas on August 7, 1812, and soon captured Nacogdoches, Trinidad de Salcedo, La Bah�a, where Magee died, and San Antonio, where a declaration of independence for the State of Texas under the Republic of Mexico was proclaimed on April 6, 1813.

This, however, was short-lived, for Joaqu�n de Arredondo, commandant-general of the Provincias Internas, organized an army of 1,830 men and marched them early in August from Laredo toward San Antonio to quell the rebellion. In the meantime, Toledo deposed Guti�rrez and became the new commander of the republicans on August 4.

With a force of about 1,400 men composed of Anglos, Tejanos, Indians, and former royalists, Toledo, urged by Tejanos who wanted to spare San Antonio from the ravages of battle, chose to meet the enemy south of the city.

The Mexicans loyal to the Spanish won that one, and in 1813 there simply weren't enough Americans yet in Texas for a follow up battle like San Jacinto.

Birdwatcher

Great thread Birdie, as usual lots of good historical data. thanks for the lessons.

You're very welcome Jorge, this stuff is interesting ennit?

In this case the plot thickens in light of the fact a major Texan/Tejano Federalist expedition into Mexico had just been launched from San Antonio a couple of months before, under that same 1824 flag, against the Centralist faction headed by Santa Anna. That expedition stripped the Alamo compound of supplies that had been stockpiled there.

From a Mexican perspective, you could make a strong case that Santa Anna's invasion of Texas was part of a continuing Mexican civil war.

Birdwatcher

Very interesting indeed!

Just to add a bit. When Santa Anna userped the government there were uprisings all over Mexico that he had to put down. Before he could take care of Texas he had to conquer Zacatecas state which took him @ two years. With his attention focused on Mexico, Texas was left to build what anglo population it had and Tehano Republicans there were left alone to fester until the invasion to put down the rebellion.

Birdi, thanks for taking the time to post all of that. Texas History is not necessarily more interesting that that of any other State but it certainly isn't less so.

Thanks again,

Alan