Posted on 03/06/2016 9:50:10 AM PST by GregoTX
On March 6th, one of the most significant events in the history of not only our state, but our country, will be commemorated: the Battle of the Alamo. Why is this battle so important? I think because it shows just how much we Americans value our freedoms and what we will sacrifice to preserve them.
At the Alamo, 189 documented defenders took on thousands of Mexican troops, a turning point in the Texas Revolution. Battle at the AlamoThe valiant “Texians” held on for 12 days, finally being annihilated on the 13th day, March 6. The event motivated the Texians, and in April, with a battle cry of “Remember the Alamo!”, Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna at San Jacinto, securing Texas a victory in her war for independence.
Today, the Alamo is one America’s most popular attractions, receiving over 7,000 visitors a day. Most of the original Alamo compound is gone, but luckily, the first floor of the long barrack is still there. This is where the defenders retreated once the walls had been breached; I can only imagine how brutal the fighting must have been! Today, the building houses the Long Barrack Museum, a place I always love visiting. Seeing the uniforms, weapons and artifacts really brings the battle home for me.
Alamo GardensI also enjoy spending time at the beautiful Alamo Gardens, and shopping at the Alamo Gift Shop, where you’ll find a wide variety of memorabilia, books, apparel, etc. Since visiting the Alamo is free, they rely on proceeds to help with the upkeep, so why not pick up a souvenir or two?
Here are some special events commemorating the 180th anniversary of the Alamo:
Friday, March 4
An Evening with Heroes: The Alamo Under Siege Through 7 candlelit scenarios, you will experience a recreation of the events that took place the night before the attack. Tours start at 6:30 and depart every 10 minutes until 10:00 p.m.
Saturday, March 5
First Saturday at the Alamo Learn what life was like for settlers living on the Texas frontier during the 1830s. This fun and informative event goes from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
3rd Annual Crockett Fiddler’s Festival Also on Saturday, from 10:00 – 4:00, great country artist will be performing free concerts on the Alamo grounds.
Sunday, March 6
Dawn at the Alamo At 5:00 a.m., around the same time the last battle began, Alamo enthusiasts and re-enactors will commemorate the events of that fateful day.
Dusk at the Alamo The celebrations end at 6:00 p.m. with a moving tribute to the fallen defenders of the Alamo.
Why not join me in San Antonio this weekend for these special anniversary events, the perfect way to remember the Alamo!
Read more about visiting the Alamo at TourTexas.com
Fifty years ago I was in the USAF basic at San Antonio, yet I remembered Mar 6, 1836. A few weeks later we got ONE day in town, and I went to the ALAMO!
Things I remember...
Across the street from the monument where the West Wall would have been was a WOOLWORTHS, around the corner to the north was a girlie review.
Lots of old cannon with spiked touch holes laying around, a large building and museum where the Long Barracks would have been. Inside was the original painting of John Wayne for his movie THE ALAMO. I noticed there was a deep scratch on the painting.
I had done a high school report on the Alamo battle and felt I knew each stone personally even though I had never been there before.
We left a few days later, it was about 85 degrees, landed in Chicago in Summer blues and it was around 20 degrees, windy and snowing. Then on to Rantoul for advanced training.
San Jac Day is celebrated and observed in our house every year, sometimes with a visit to the battlegrounds.
***Most of the original Alamo compound is gone,***
After the defeat of the Mexican Army at San Jacinto, they retreated from San Antonio. Before they left they blew up the Alamo compound leaving nothing but heaps of rubble and the Chapel.
My ancestors came to what is now Texas in the late 1700’s, and several joined the battle for independence, just as sick of the Mexican government as they had been sick of the King of Spain, leaving there more than a century earlier. I’m of Hispanic ancestry-as were most of the native born Texans on that list, given that Texas was a Spanish colony till 1821 when Mexico gained independence-no matter what ethnic group(s) we are part of, we are Texans, and proud of it...
God bless Texas,!
Remember the Alamo in Texas’s first, fight for Independence. And, remember Hood’s Texan division. In Texas’s 2nd war, for Independence.
***but at least they have assimilated !! ***
I’ve read that Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna later went and lived on Staten Island NY for several years while trying to interest Americans in a substance he called Chicle. We know it as Bubble gum, the Curse of Santa Anna.
Think of him the next time you feel stuck to the pavement.
“The war for Texas independence wasn’t an Anglo vs. Mexican conflict”.
Thank you for pointing that out-some do not understand that aspect of Texas-it was a destination for independent thinkers and rebels from Mexico and everyplace else from at least 1700, and likely before then...
My dad was stationed at Rantoul on the late 50’s...
This is the oldest known photograph of the Alamo in 1849 in San Antonio, Texas. It's a daquerreotype photo. It was taken 13 years after the battle. This photograph is located at the University of Austin in the center of American history.
Tejanos at the Alamo...
http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/ccbn/dewitt/adp/archives/newsarch/tejano.html
Well worth reading.
Two t’s.
Went out to Limestone a couple of years ago in winter; cold, damp, and besides the park ranger, we were the only ones there. And the Nolichucky was running fast. Always the more memorable.
Hence the song we sang,Give me a T for Texas an a T for Tennessee
Notice how the top is broken but level. Inside the Alamo today you can see this original level and the add on that is so reminiscent of the Alamo outline.
I graduated from an old school, now torn down, that had a top layer much like the Alamo outline. Many of the students noticed it.
Great article, thanks! I’m glad my antecedents stayed isolated in the far West and Southwest of the state pretty much until the 20th century, when serving in the military was an attractive prospect to farm and ranch boys everywhere-but a lot of the family is still in the same place-ranching, construction and trucking are still the favorite jobs.
Watching the 1960 film in honor of it. It may be historically inaccurate but more accurate than anything on History Channel today.
Hell yeah, and Sam Houston was born in Virginia.
Col. Crockett famously stated “You can all go to Hell, I’ll go to Texas” and is revered as a founding father and legendary fighter for Texas.
Remember the Alamo for sure, and the Goliad Massacre. But also remember San Jacinto and Gonzales.
May the fleas of a thousand Iranians infest the pubic hairs of that bastard Antonio López de Santa Anna as he roasts in Hell.
In Latin-American Spanish slang the word for gossip is also “chicle” because of the constant moving of the mouth of gossips as in chewing gum.
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