Thermopylae had her messenger of defeat-the Alamo had none.
Thomas Jefferson Green
One hundred and ninety years ago the Alamo fell. The defenders had achieved victory in death, giving thirteen precious days in which Texan independence was declared and Sam Houston appointed by the Texas Constitutional Convention as Commander-in-Chief of the Texan Army, which at that time consisted of a few hundred raw recruits. The Alamo defenders inflicted some 600 killed and wounded on the 1800 man force of Dictator Santa Anna.
Word of the Alamo spread throughout Texas, convincing each man that this was a fight to the end, and that the cry “give me liberty or give me death” were what they were facing.
Commandancy of the The Alamo
Bejar, Feby. 24th. 1836
To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World—
Fellow Citizens & compatriots—
I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna — I have sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man — The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken — I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls — I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch — The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country — Victory or Death.
William Barrett Travis
The fallen of the Alamo would never be forgotten, the Texans screaming out the battle cry “Remember the Alamo!”, as they charged and crushed Santa Anna’s army at the battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, achieving the dream of the defenders of the Alamo, an independent Texas.
Santa Ana was a tyrant. To the present day tyrant in the Vatican I say: I shall never surrender or retreat. Remember Calvary! Victory or death. Guy, Texas
Santa Anna was one of the worst caudillos in the history of Latin America. He did nothing to improve the lot of the Mexican people…he made it worse.
Don’t Mess with Texas.
Buying 13 days and inflicting 33% casualties was huge.
Santa Ana’s ‘no prisoners’ order [not unprecedented] proved a huge mistake.
Santa Anna was indeed a loathsome butcher. His stupidity and incompetence as a general cost Mexico huge swathes of land, and his barbarism and lack of honor created an ill-will towards Mexico that lasted generations.
The massacre at the Alamo was wrong for so many reasons. But Santa Anna was also directly responsible for the subsequent massacre at Goliad, on March 27, 1836– which happened to be Palm Sunday that year.
At Goliad, around 420-450 prisoners taken at the battles of Coleto and Refugio were marched out on the roads leading out of the encampment, and shot, bayoneted and clubbed to death by Mexican soldiers.
Those prisoners too sick or injured to be marched to their deaths had been housed in a chapel requisitioned by the Mexican army. Those men were shot or stabbed in their beds, or dragged from their beds and shot against the walls of the chapel. The bodies of the massacred were piled up and partially burnt, then left to the coyotes and vultures.
Santa Anna’s barbarism simply confirmed Texans’ refusal to be governed by Mexico any longer. We will always, always remember the Alamo, and always remember Goliad.
A step toward the triumph of the Slave Power in Texas (from which Mexico had abolished slavery in 1829). Sam Houston was a unionist in 1860, but by then Texas firmly supported slavery as an institution.
Most Texans of course never owned a slave, slaves requiring a financial investment well beyond most Texans. Mexico had all of 8000 slaves, the system of peonage rendering slavery superfluous. Most Texans were from the South. Houston made a magnificent stand against secession, but Texas going with the Confederacy was probably inevitable.
The 1960 version with John Wayne was adopted by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas as the “official” film of the battle. Speaking as a student of history, the 2004 version with Billy Bob Thornton, though not as romanticized as the earlier, was a more accurate portrayal of events and no less heroic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAoqAWxupSE
My wife, a Daughter of the Republic of Texas, would vote for John Wayne’s version. She might have been prejudiced since she was a John Wayne fan and grew up with his version, but she never agreed with Billy Bob as Davy Crockett. A lot of history is ultimately myth and I think that most native Texans would probably prefer Wayne’s version.
“Texas going with the Confederacy was probably inevitable.”
Given the geography, I’m not sure how it could be any other way. Of course, Texans would tell you that the fact that last battle of the Civil War was in Texas a month after Appomatix and that Galveston remained in Confederate hands until the war ended was an indication that you don’t mess with Texas. More likely that the Union just bypassed it like many Japanese island garrisons in WWII. Scott’s Anaconda Plan excluded everything west of New Orleans.
Texans have always been an independent breed and their allegiance has always to Texas first and foremost. They don’t think of themselves as Southerners. They think of themselves as Texans. Even in the USA. The “states rights” angle is more significant here than in any other southern state. Slavery was a sidenote.
Texas wasn’t worth much Union effort after the Union gained control of the Mississippi.