Neill had assumed command of the Alamo garrison, which consisted of about 80 poorly equipped men in several small companies, including the volunteers. The rest of the soldiers had returned home to their families and farm chores. In this command were an artillery company under Captain William R. On January 17, , Sam Houston, the commander of the revolutionary troops, sent Colonel Jim Bowie and 25 men to San Antonio with orders to destroy the Alamo fortifications and retire eastward with the artillery.
But Bowie and Neill agreed that it would be impossible to remove the 24 captured cannons without oxen, mules or horses. And they deemed it foolhardy to abandon that much firepower—by far the most concentrated at any location during the Texas Revolution.
Bowie also had a keen eye for logistics, terrain, and avenues of assault. Knowing that General Houston needed time to raise a sizable army to repel Santa Anna, Bowie set about reinforcing the Alamo after Neill was forced to leave because of sickness in his family. Colonel William Travis arrived in San Antonio on February 2 with a small cavalry company, bringing the total number of Alamo defenders to about Although spies told him that Santa Anna had crossed the Rio Grande, Travis did not expect the dictator before early spring.
He sent letter after letter, pleading for supplies and more men. He and Bowie also competed for command of the garrison before it was decided that Bowie would command the volunteers and Travis the regular army. Alarmed by the Mexican army on the outskirts of town, Travis vigorously renewed his pleas for help. I shall never surrender or retreat…. Victory or Death! Travis sent the message out with Captain Albert Martin. To the triumphant music of a military band, he took possession of the town, set up headquarters on the main plaza, and began the siege.
He had his standard-bearers climb to the top of the bell tower of San Fernando Church and unfurl the scarlet flag of no quarter.
Inside the Alamo, Travis and the Texans fired their message to Santa Anna with a blast from their pounder. Santa Anna ordered his men to pound the fortifications with cannon and rifle fire for 12 days and nights. His idea was to wear out the defenders inside, giving them no chance for rest or sleep.
He reasoned that a weary army would be an easy one to defeat. But the noise worked on his own army, too. Unable to hear clearly through the din, they allowed courier after courier to escape from the Alamo. The total number of Alamo defenders now stood at between and Just as dawn was breaking, the Mexican bloodcurdling bugle call of the Deguello echoed the meaning of the scarlet flag above San Fernando: no quarter.
At the third charge, one Mexican column attacked near a breach in the north wall, another in the area of the chapel, and a third, the Toluca Battalion, commenced to scale the walls. All suffered severely.
Out of men in the Toluca Battalion, only were left alive. Fighting was hand to hand with knives, pistols, clubbed rifles, lances, pikes, knees and fists. The dead lay everywhere. Blood spilled in the convent, the barracks, the entrance to the church, and finally in the rubble-strewn church interior itself.
Ninety minutes after it began, it was over. All the Texans died. More than Mexicans lay wounded, their groans mingling with the haunting strains of the distant bugle calls. Santa Anna airily dismissed the Alamo conquest as a small affair, but one of his officers commented, Another such victory will ruin us.
As many of the Mexican dead as possible were given the rites of the church and buried, but there were so many that there was not sufficient room in the cemetery. Santa Anna ordered all the bodies of the Texans to be contemptuously stacked like cord wood in three heaps, mixed with fuel, wood and dry branches from the neighboring forest, and set on fire—except one.
The men who died inside the walls of the Alamo had bought with their lives the time needed for General Sam Houston to weld a force that won Texas its independence. One of the most enduring questions is whether Travis really did draw a line in the earth, the grand canyon of Texas, and ask all to step over who were willing to die for the cause. It is probably based on fact.
Travis anticipated a battle to the death. It is a fact that one man did leave. Before the final assault on the Alamo he left, sustaining many leg wounds from cactuses and thorns during his escape that plagued him the remainder of his life. In fact, it was Juan who became one of the staunchest fighters for Texas freedom, forming his own band of Tejanos to stand alongside his Anglo counterparts.
Juan Seguin was on a courier mission for Travis when the Alamo fell, but he vowed to one day honor the Alamo dead in a church ceremony, a ceremony that had been denied by Santa Anna. Legend claims that Seguin collected the ashes and placed them in a casket covered with black. Inside the lid, he had the names of Travis, Bowie and Crockett engraved. The Mexican Army searched for a way to cross the river, but while searching were called back by the colonists to discuss the cannon.
This time there were approximately men on the other side of the river — outnumbering the Mexican Army force of dragoons mounted infantry. The people of Gonzales once again refused to return the cannon, arguing that they were fighting to uphold the Constitution of That night, the men of Gonzales crossed the river searching for the Mexican Army.
It was foggy and both defensive forces bumped into one another in the night. Both groups fell back to await daybreak. The following day, October 2, , both groups met on the field of battle. The Mexican Army retreated to arrange for a parlay. Discussions did not lead to a resolution, and therefore the fighting continued. The Mexican Army realized they were outnumbered and retreated to Bexar. After this encounter, the Mexican Army returned to San Antonio without the cannon, which was seen as a victory for the Texan army.
Emboldened, Texan forces decided to follow and march to San Antonio as well. By mid-October, the volunteers had amassed to over , with individuals such as James Bowie, James Fannin, and Juan Seguin arriving on the outskirts of town.
These men were under the command of Stephen F. Once again the Mexican Army was defeated, with over 50 casualties and loss of a cannon. With the arrival of winter and an ongoing siege, grass and hay were in short supply and had to brought in for the Mexican Cavalry. The defense of the Alamo remains a symbol of resistance and revolution. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us!
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Start with the Alamo. William Travis never drew any line in the sand ; this was a tale concocted by an amateur historian in the late s. There is no evidence Davy Crockett went down fighting, as John Wayne famously did in his movie The Alamo , a font of misinformation; there is ample testimony from Mexican soldiers that Crockett surrendered and was executed.
The battle, in fact, should never have been fought. The men at the Alamo fought and died because they had no choice.
In the end, the siege at the Alamo ended up costing him all of four days.
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