Alamo Day

Remembering the Alamo

Texas author & blogger Celia Hayes has posted some great photos of the Alamo reenactment held this weekend, marking the 175th anniversary of the battle for the "Shrine of Texas Liberty". Hosted by the San Antonio Living History Association (of which I was a member more years back than I'd like to admit). They seem to have come quite a long way since then, in those days we were not so numerous. The first time I participated there were a fair number of Texians but only about seven Mexicans!

Storming the Alamo

Today marks the 175th anniversary of the fall of the Alamo. There has been a great deal of 'historical revision' in recent years about that most famous event in Texas history. Pretty soon, at the rate things are going, it will be the Texans who had the Mexicans outnumbered. However, the basic facts cannot be changed. Both sides fought with amazing heroism and both had legitimate reasons for their position. With the rise of the politically correct tyranny, even in Texas some things have gotten out of hand. Mexican ethnic pressure groups once forced a baseball team to change their name from "1836" (an odd name for a team anyway) because they deemed the year 1836 "racist" against Mexicans. No, I'm not joking -it is that silly. As for myself, and I would think any honest observer, I can see that both sides had some right on their side and likewise both had their black marks. However, when I look at how I live here and now and then I look at the crime, poverty and constant drug violence in Mexico just a few miles away, I thank God that things worked out the way they did. May the defenders R.I.P.

The Alamo: The Siege Begins

It was on this day in 1836 that the Mexican Army of Operations in Texas, led by the Presidential dictator and traitor to his emperor Generalissimo Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna arrived in San Antonio, Texas and besieged the tiny force of Texan volunteers who had taken refuge in the Alamo, a crumbling old Franciscan mission from the Spanish era. Upon arrival Santa Anna sent the Alamo a demand for unconditional surrender, otherwise the old rules would apply and his forces would give no quarter. Alamo co-commander Lt. Colonel William B. Travis answered this demand with a shot from his largest canon (an 18pdr) and a rebel yell. Properly annoyed, Santa Anna dispatched troops to raise a blood-red flag over San Fernando Church (the highest point in town at the time) to send an unmistakable message to the Texan forces. There would be no mercy, he would take no prisoners. This would be a fight to the death. Determined to hold as long as possible, Travis sent messages to the Anglo colonies imploring them for assistance. "Send me help, oh my country". Mexican artillery was brought forward and began their first night of bombardment. The most famous and infamous battle in Texas history had begun.

The Fall of the Alamo

On this day in the pre-dawn darkness of 1836 the 13-day siege of the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas came to an end with the climactic assault of the Mexican army. General Santa Anna had shelled the Alamo nightly since his arrival but his guns fell silent the night before his attack -so that the Texan defenders would sleep heavily after so many nights of nerve-shattering exhaustion. As the Mexican columns swarmed forward Santa Anna ordered his buglers to sound ‘El Deguello’ -an old Spanish signal taken from the Moors that meant “slit the throat” or ‘take no prisoners’. The Texans rushed to the walls and threw back the attackers two to three times, inflicting horrible losses, before Santa Anna committed his reserves and overwhelmed the defenders on the walls. Room by room the Texans were exterminated to the last man and when it was over Santa Anna took his breakfast in the Alamo plaza. His soldiers were buried; the Texans were piled in a heap and burned. Santa Anna had won but the heroism of the Alamo defenders and the mercilessness of the Generalissimo would only inspire more resistance and a desire for revenge.

On the staff of Santa Anna at the Alamo was Colonel Juan Almonte who was sent into the fray during the assault to rally and inspire the men. Almonte would go on to be part of the military junta that seized power after the overthrow of Benito Juarez. As acting head of state for Mexico he supported the restoration of the Mexican Empire. Emperor Maximilian made him one of his generals and dispatched him to Paris as his ambassador. Also at the Alamo, taking command of one of the attacking columns that charged the walls was Lt. Colonel Jose Mariano Salas. He would also go on to be a member of the regency junta, along with Almonte and Archbishop Labastida that invited Maximilian to Mexico to accept the crown. Maximilian later made Salas one of his generals though by then he was too old for active service. Also on hand with the army, though not participating in the battle was the French-born Colonel Adrian Woll, Quartermaster General of the Mexican Army who would also later serve as a general in the army of Emperor Maximilian.

Siege of the Alamo Begins, 1836

On this day in 1836 the epic 13-day siege of the Alamo began in San Antonio, Texas. A Mexican army of roughly 5,000 men arrived and demanded the surrender of the old Spanish mission defended by 185 Texans which Alamo commander William B. Travis answered with a canon shot from his largest gun. In response Mexican general Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna raised a red flag over San Fernando Church as a signal to both sides that he would show no mercy; that this would be a fight to the death. Santa Anna gained fame (or infamy) in Mexico early on when he betrayed and led the overthrow of Emperor Agustin I. Coming to power as a federalist president he turned his coat, as he frequently did, and declared himself a centralist. Assuming the position of a dictator, he tore up the constitution of 1824 which prompted the outbreak of rebellion in Texas. When his brother-in-law was forced to surrender San Antonio he made that city the focus of his counter-offensive to restore Mexican rule in Texas and kill or drive out the local, mostly Anglo, population.

Many of those who participated in the campaign in Texas would go on to serve in the Second Mexican Empire of Maximilian such as Colonel Juan Almonte and Quarter Master General Adrian Woll. Santa Anna placed his artillery and began shelling the Alamo while inside Colonel Travis sent dispatches calling for help from the colonies in Texas. Today the Texas First Lady was on hand at the Alamo to launch a new fund-raising drive. The Alamo is cared for by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, a group of ladies descended from the first families of Texas, and it is worth noting in these days of rampant government spending that this "shrine of Texas liberty" has been well cared for all these years by the DRT with no money from the taxpayers and without charging admission. It goes to show how much better things can be when entrusted to those who have an ancestral bond with a cause rather than those doing a job simply because the government pays them.