THIRTEEN DAYS OF GLORY
©Lee Paul

Mission San Antonio de Valero better known as THE ALAMO

It is...a rash man indeed who claims he has the final answer to everything that happened at the Alamo.
Walter Lord, 1960

February 23, 1836, began the Siege of the Alamo, a thirteen-day moment in history which turned a ruined Spanish mission in the heart of downtown San Antonio, Texas, into a shrine known and revered the world over. But what is it that makes this one battle so different from any other battle fought in the name of freedom? The people involved? The issues at hand? Or can it be that the mysteries, myths, and legends surrounding it are still tantalizing minds to this date? Incredibly, the answer is all three.

History records three revolutions which led to the Battle of the Alamo. The first, the Spanish revolt against French occupation of Spain, occurred in 1808. Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Spain, and it took six years for Spanish resistance forces to oust the Dictator and restore Ferdinand VII to the throne. During this time, the fires of the Spanish revolt crossed the ocean to South America where Simon Bolivar of Venezuela led his countrymen in revolt against Spanish rule. From South America, the blaze continued to Mexico where Father Miguel Hidalgo rang the bells of his small church in Dolores at midnight on 15 September 1810 to herald the beginning of the second revolution.

This Mexican revolt against Spanish occupation traveled quickly across Mexico and into the northern frontier of the Mexican territory of Texas. San Antonio, the capital of Texas, became a center of revolutionary activity and a haven for resistance fighters. Confrontations, bloody battles, and executions erupted everywhere. One revolutionary, Captain Jose Menchaca, rode out for Mexico’s independence only to be captured by Spanish troops, shot and beheaded. His head was then stuck on a pole in front of the Alamo. Instead of setting an example for the other insurgents, however, Menchaca’s execution only added fuel to the revolt.

The Mexican freedom struggle took eleven years before Spain would concede defeat and release its stranglehold. Within that same year, 1821, Agustin de Iturbide, a Spanish general turned rebel and a hero of the revolution, became emperor of the new nation. Only his regime was too extravagant for some tastes and in no time, a revolt led by General Antonio Miguel de Lopez de Santa Anna Perez de Lebron, better known as simply Santa Anna, brought about Iturbide’s downfall and established the declaration for a Mexican republic.

Under Iturbide, however, American colonists were allowed to settle in Texas. About the only condition to owning land was that all immigrant land owners had to be Catholic, an easy enough problem to overcome for non-Catholics and, once accomplished, easy to forget. William Travis, for instance, became Catholic to purchase land, but remained a staunch Methodist until the day he died.

Unfortunately, the fledgling Republic of Mexico was born bankrupt and ill-prepared for self-government. In fact, during its first fifteen years of independence, it had thirteen presidents. All of them struggled for power, shifting between the liberal-leaning Federalists and the dictator-styled Centralists. The seeds of conflict continued to grow.

The first president was a Federalist, General Guadalupe Victoria, a hero of the revolution who had changed his name from Miguel Felix Hernandez to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas, for his victory. It was he who established the liberal Constitution of 1824 which so infuriated Santa Anna and which would lead to the Battle of the Alamo twelve years later.

It was also during this turmoil period for control of Mexico’s presidency that the northern territory of Texas was mostly neglected. When Mexico redefined its territories in 1824, Texas was the only separate territory to lose its independence. It was joined to Coahuila, and the capital moved from San Antonio to Saltillo. Along with the change went the transfer of the State Archives of Texas containing deeds and land grants of all settlers, native-born and naturalized.

Armed citizens gathered in protest. In September 1835, they petitioned for statehood separate from Coahuila. They wrote out their needs and their complaints in The Declaration of Causes. This document was designed to convince the Federalists that the Texans desired only to preserve the Mexican Constitution of 1824, a constitution which guaranteed the rights of everyone living on Mexican soil. But by this time, Santa Anna was in power, having seized control in 1833, and he advocated the removal of all foreigners from Mexican soil. His answer was to send his crack troops commanded by his brother-in-law, General Martin Perfecto de Cos, to San Antonio to disarm the Texans.

October found San Antonio under military rule with 1,200 Mexican troops under General Cos’s command. When Cos ordered the small community of Gonzales, about fifty miles east of San Antonio, to return a cannon loaned to the town for defense against Indian attack---rightfully fearing that the citizens might use the cannon against his own troops---the Gonzales residents refused. "Come and take it!" they taunted, setting off a charge of old chains and scrap iron shot from the mouth of the tiny cannon mounted on ox-cart wheels. Although the only casualty was a Mexican soldier, Gonzales became enshrined in history as the "Lexington of Texas." The Texas revolution was on.

December 5th found 200 Texan volunteers commanded by Ben Milam attacking General Cos’s troops in San Antonio. For five days, the Siege of Bexar raged with a house to house assault unlike anything the Mexican army had ever before experienced. As brave as any when attacking, the Mexican soldiers were not primed to defend themselves against the fury of Milam’s men, who relished fighting as individuals or in packs, like ravished wolves. In the words of Robert Hancock Hunter, whose family was the first of Stephen Austin’s colonists to settle within the present limits of Harris County, "...we had about 150 men, & our guns no a count, little dobble barrels shot guns. Some men had rifels....the Mexicans, had fine muskets. We had a bad show for our lives 8 or 10 men to one, a ganst us, but I tell you we pulled threw."

The Mexicans were driven back at each advancement from the Texans until General Cos flew the white flag of surrender from the Alamo on December 9th. More than 200 of his men lay dead, and as many more wounded. He signed papers of capitulation which gave the Texans all public property, money, arms, and ammunition in San Antonio, and by Christmas Day, the Mexican army was back across the Rio Grande. To the Texans, who lost but two men, including Ben Milam, the victory seemed cheap and easy.

The Siege of Bexar and Cos’s surrender brought immediate retaliation from Santa Anna. He whipped together a force of 8,000 men, many of them foreign adventurers from Europe and America. One of his deadliest snipers was an Illinois man named Johnson! Marching at the head of this massive army, Santa Anna, the self-styled "Napoleon of the West," determined to stamp out all opposition and teach the Texans a lesson. The word went out to his generals: "In this war, you understand, there are no prisoners."

Although mid-winter, Santa Anna pushed his army mercilessly toward Texas. But the frigid, wind-battered deserts of northern Mexico took their toll. The country was cruel, rocky, almost barren of life, and the weather alternated between downpours of rain, snow, and crusting ice. Men and animals died by the hundreds and were left on the trail, and the brigades strung out for uncounted miles. When the big siege guns bogged down in one of the many quagmires, Santa Anna pushed on without them. Nothing would stop him. He vowed to beat the Texans into the earth. Soldiers who survived the 350 mile march from Saltillo to San Antonio described it as one of the worst experiences of their lives

Meanwhile, when the Mexican army under General Cos had left San Antonio, Colonel James C. Neill assumed command of the Alamo garrison, which consisted of about eighty poorly equipped men in several small companies, including the volunteers---the rest returning home to their families and farm chores. In this command were an artillery company under Captain William R. Carey known as the Invincibles, and two small infantry companies known as the New Orleans Greys under Captain William Blazeby, and the Bexar Guards under Captain Robert White. Since these men were divided between garrisons at the Alamo and near San Fernando Church across the river from the mission, Neill decided to combine them in the Alamo.

Portrait of Jim Bowie by Houston artist Mark Barnett, ©2008
used with permission

On 17 January 1836 Sam Houston sent Colonel Jim Bowie and twenty-five 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 numerous captured cannon (numbering 24, not to mention guns and ammunition) 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. When sickness in his family caused Neill to be relieved, and knowing that Sam Houston needed time to raise a sizable army to repel Santa Anna, Bowie set about to reinforce the Alamo

Colonel William Travis arrived in San Antonio on February 2nd with a small cavalry company, bringing the total number of men in the Alamo to about 130 men. 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 got into competition for command of the garrison, which finally ended with Bowie commanding the volunteers and Travis the regular army. On February 19, David Crockett and twenty of the Tennessee Mounted Volunteers were chased into town by Mexican soldiers. Alarmed by the Mexican army on the outskirts of town, Travis renewed his pleas for help with vigor. His letter, "To the People of Texas & all Americans in the world....I shall never surrender or retreat....Victory or Death!" is considered one of the most heart-wrenching pleas ever written.

Portrait of Davy Crockett by Houston artist Mark Barnett, ©2008
used with permission

On February 23, Santa Anna reclaimed San Antonio. With bugles blaring, and to the triumphant music of a military band, he took possession of the town, set up headquarters on the main plaza, and the siege began. 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." It was reported that the flag could be seen far across the open prairie to Mission Concepcion, and the music could be heard clear across the river to the Alamo and beyond.

Inside the Alamo, Travis and the Texans fired their message to Santa Anna with a blast from their 18-pounder. They had their music, too, with Davy Crockett’s fiddle and John McGregor’s bagpipes. In fact, Davy’s fiddle playing and outlandish storytelling kept up the spirits of the besieged defenders.

Santa Anna ordered his men to pound the fortifications day and night with cannon and rifle fire for twelve days. 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.

On March 2, racing through the enemy’s lines, the last group to reinforce the Alamo arrived. It brought the Alamo total to about 183 men, the exact total can never be known. These men were the relief force from the town of Gonzales, the only town to answer Travis’s pleas to send help. They included the town’s militia force, plus other residents of the town and surrounding area. Also in this group were volunteers who were already members of the Alamo garrison, but had left Bexar for various reasons. All would die four days later.

At 3 o’clock on the morning of 6 March 1836, Santa Anna advanced his men to within thirty-three inches of the Alamo’s walls. Just as dawn was breaking, the Mexican bugle call of the Deguello or "death march" (meaning the beheading or cutting of throats) was answered by buglers in the attacking columns. Moorish in origin, its Oriental sadness echoed the red flag above San Fernando in meaning: no quarter. It was Juan Seguin’s Tejanos, the native-born Mexicans fighting in the Texan army, who interpreted the chilling music for the Texans.

Santa Anna’s first charge was repulsed, as was the second, by the deadly fire of Travis’s artillery, which resembled a constant thunder. At the third charge, one Mexican column attacked near a breach in the north wall, another in the area of the chapel, and the third, the Toluca battalion, commenced to scale the walls. All suffered severely. Out of 800 men in the Toluca battalion, only 130 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. Santa Anna’s loss was 1,544 men. More than 500 lay wounded, their painful 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. The Alcalde of San Antonio, Francisco Antonio Ruiz, who helped in the burial detail, wrote that he ordered some of the Mexican dead to be thrown in the river.

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. Jose Gregorio Esparza was given a Christian burial because his brother Francisco was a member of General Cos’s presidio guards. It illustrates another factor of Santa Anna’s twisted character: he could be magnanimous on occasion.

Six weeks after the Alamo, while the Mexican wounded still languished in San Antonio, suffering horribly from lack of medical attention with lead bullets yet in their bodies, Santa Anna met his Waterloo at San Jacinto. 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.

There are many legends and stories of the Alamo, all of which can never be proved or disproved because all the defenders died. For instance, for many years it was believed that Lieutenant James Butler Bonham was just a boyhood friend of William Travis’s. Bonham was two years older than the twenty-seven year old Travis, and the two had grown up together in South Carolina. They were inseparable, even after Travis moved to Alabama. Bonham was also already at the Alamo as Bowie’s right-hand man when Travis arrived to assume command. Since their families were extremely close, historians now think that the two men were second cousins as well as best friends.

Portrait of William Barret Travis, 26-year old Alamo Commander, killed in the battle at the Alamo
by Houston artist Mark Barnett, ©2009
used with permission

The legendary "grand canyon of Texas" is another issue that is hotly debated. Did Travis really draw a line in the earth and ask all to step over who were willing to die for the cause? It is probably based on fact. Travis could see a battle to the death. Since he was also one for fairness, it’s logical to believe that he would give the men an opportunity to leave the fated garrison. It is a fact that one man did leave. Louis Rose was from France, and he had already been in one bloody war as a noncommissioned officer in Napoleon Bonaparte’s army. Before the final assault on the Alamo, he left, sustaining many wounds from cacti and thorns to his legs which plagued him the remainder of his life. Asked why he chose not to stay with the rest, he replied, "By God, I wasn’t ready to die." It’s his tale of the line in the dust which has become legend.

Two of Santa Anna’s earliest opponents were Erasmo Seguin and his son Juan, of San Antonio. In fact, it was Juan who became one of the staunchest fighters for Texas freedom, forming his own band of Tejanos to fight alongside his Anglo counterparts. Juan Seguin was on a courier mission for Travis when the Alamo fell, but he vowed to one day bury the Alamo dead in a Church ceremony, a ceremony which had been denied by Santa Anna. Legend claims that he 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. He then buried the casket. Where? No one knows. Shortly before his death, when he was in his eighties, Juan Seguin stated that he buried the casket outside the sanctuary railing, near the steps in the old San Fernando Church. In 1936, repair work on the altar railing of the Cathedral led to the unearthing of a box containing charred bones, rusty nails, shreds of uniforms and buttons, particles of coal, and crushed skulls. From the discovery arose a controversy which continues to this day. Are they the bones of the Alamo defenders? Many believe yes, but since the defenders did not wear uniforms, many others think not.

The Alamo flag controversy also continues to this day. One banner, the flag of the New Orleans Greys, was captured by Mexican Lieutenant Jose Maria Torres of the Zapadores battalion. Supposedly, Torres tore down the flag and planted in its place the Mexican red, white and green colors emblazoned with the golden eagle. He is said to have died with his hand still on the staff. It’s a known fact that a flag of the New Orleans Greys was the only flag Santa Anna sent back to Mexico City as a trophy, but where it came from remains a mystery. Could it have been the flag seen flying over the Alamo on the final day of attack?

Although the fact remains that no one knows why 183 men chose to die on the plains of Texas in a ruined Spanish mission requiring at least 1,200 men to adequately defend all its acreage, their sacrifice brought Texas independence which paved the way for expansion to the Pacific and added more than a million square miles to the American Nation at that time. And because of their sacrifice, the Alamo is now a shrine respected and revered throughout the world. "Remember the Alamo" became the battle cry that broke Santa Anna’s back.

Addendum

THE DECLARATION OF CAUSES

"Whereas, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, and other military chieftains, have, by force of arms overthrown the federal institutions of Mexico, and dissolved the social compact which existed between Texas and the other members of the Mexican confederacy; now the good people of Texas, availing themselves of their natural rights, Solemnly Declare:

"That they have taken up arms in defense of their rights and liberties, which were threatened by the encroachments of military despots, and in defense of the republican principles of the federal constitution of Mexico, 1824.

"That Texas is no longer morally or civilly bound by the compact of union; yet, stimulated by the generosity and sympathy common to a free people, they offer their support and assistance to such members of the Mexican confederacy as will take up arms against military despotism.

"That they hold it to be their right during the disorganization of the federal system and the reign of despotism, to withdraw from the union, and to establish an independent government."

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