There was no guarantee of reinforcements, no promise of supplies, and no evacuation plan for the Texans.
On this day in history, the Battle of the Alamo began.
The battle was preceded by the capture of the Alamo by Texan settlers in December 1835. General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the leader of Mexico at the time, decided to make an example out of the rebels and marched his army towards the Alamo.
The Texan force holed up inside the Alamo (including later reinforcements) were just under two hundred strong, with households names like David Crockett and Jim Bowie joining the ranks. They were committed to staying with the Alamo until the very end. One of the many legends about the battle says that when Colonel William B. Travis drew a line in the ground and asked all the men who wished to fight to step over, all but one man did.
Their dedication to the Alamo would lead them to their graves; when Santa Anna’s troops arrived, every person inside the Alamo was killed except for the wife of Lieutenant Dickinson, her child, a slave of Colonel Travis and two Mexican women of Bexar. They were directed to tell the Texan rebels of the Mexican army’s victory. And indeed they did.
On April 21, 1836, Santa Anna encountered the rest of the Texan rebel force. The Texans charged the Mexicans, yelling “Remember the Alamo” and routed Santa Anna’s troops. The day after the battle, Santa Anna was captured and Texas’s independence was secured.
The legend of the Alamo lives on today through stories about Davy Crockett, Jime Bowie, movies about the battle, and the rallying cry “Remember the Alamo!”
On Feb. 23, SEC met in room 210, the Stone Sugar Shakedown performed at Mojo’s, and MSU met in room 219, but 874 miles away and 176 years ago the Texan rebels made their last stand.
By Jassica Jost
Anon E. Mouse • Feb 24, 2012 at 12:54 pm
No mention of my favorite Davy Crockett quote?
“You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas.”
Lovely article.