Remember the Alamo
Davy Crocket, born in Tennessee...
I wonder if we could, today in this country of 310 MILLION people, find 189 men who would be willing to fight a doomed battle like that.
Only 46 more days until San Jacinto day.
Feb. 24, 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 Barret Travis.
Lt. Col.comdt.
P. S. The Lord is on our side.
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.
***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.
Watching the 1960 film in honor of it. It may be historically inaccurate but more accurate than anything on History Channel today.