(Below is the version of the Alamo story from “The Straight Dope”, by Cecil Adams, of the Chicago Reader, a column much like Snopes, devoted to sorting fact from fiction.)
There was not just one Texan survivor at the Alamo, but six: three women, two children, and a black male servant. In addition, sympathizers from the town of San Antonio across the river from the Alamo were sneaking in and out of the fort more or less continuously during the siege preceding the massacre, so there was no lack of Texan witnesses to the whole affair.
Still, the most detailed reports of the battle itself come from Mexican soldiers. It turns out that the stirring stories of heroic deeds so cherished by Texans were arrived at mostly by that creative process we call “making it up,” the basis of much American history.
One of the longest and possibly most objective accounts of the Alamo’s last stand was written by one Jose Enrique de la Pena, a lieutenant colonel with the forces of the Mexican president-general Santa Anna. He was critical of the leadership on both sides, particularly his own.
For instance, when Mexican forces first arrived at San Antonio on February 23, 1836, the Texans were sleeping it off from a rousing party the night before, and the Alamo (a converted mission) was guarded by only ten men. Rather than move swiftly, though, the Mexican commander dawdled, permitting the Texans to raise the alarm and scramble their forces into position.
As it happened, the defenders were about as disorganized as the Mexicans. They had a clumsy system of dual leadership, with the regular forces commanded by William Travis while the volunteers answered only to Jim Bowie. The Texans had not bothered to store much food or ammunition, and they had nowhere near enough men to defend their fort, a large, irregularly shaped compound whose walls were crumbling in places.
The Mexican troops, for their part, were poorly paid, ill-fed, and haphazardly trained, and had been exhausted by a grueling march over the desert. Even so, morale was reasonably high. The Mexicans with some justice regarded the Texans as murderous barbarians. Indeed, one of the reasons the Texans were so determined to win independence from Mexico in the first place was that the Mexican constitution outlawed slavery, which the Texans favored.
Having lost the advantage of surprise, Santa Anna could have done two things: simply bypass the Alamo altogether, since it was of little strategic value, or wait until his artillery arrived, which would simplify breaching the fort’s defenses. He did neither, opting instead for a rash attack instead on March 6—according to rumor, says de la Pena, because Santa Anna had heard that Travis and company were on the verge of surrendering, and he didn’t want to win without some battlefield heroics first.
The assault was a nightmare. Advancing on the fort, the Mexicans were ordered to commence firing while still out of range, with the result that they had to reload under the Texans’ guns. Scaling ladders were inadequate, and the Mexican soldiers were forced to scrabble over the walls on the backs of their fellows. Once the Mexicans were inside, the battle degenerated into a melee, with soldiers shooting at their comrades as often as at the enemy.
When it was all over, seven captured defenders, including Davy Crockett, were brought before Santa Anna. He ordered them killed, and they were hacked to death with sabres. American losses are variously given as 182, 188, and 253, while the Mexicans lost more than 300, de la Pena says. All in all, it was not a heroic episode for anyone concerned.
— Cecil Adams
Ain't no bias in that piece of garbage. Nope!
Another Mexican account says nothing of seven captured defenders but does describe an American shouting defiance at the Mexicans in between his deadly shots. After the battle the same leader was obeserved with his strange hat lying beside his body (Crockett often wore fox tailed hats as well as coonskins).
All went well until the Texicans begin to prosper and were seen as a source of taxes and labor to shore up the corrupt empire of Santa Ana to the south. When the rights which they were guaranteed were repudiated by Santa Ana, the Texicans naturally declared independence.
Look at the list of the defenders of the Alamo and where they came from. They didn't all come from Texas and Tennessee and South Carolina. Some came from England and Germany and even Mexico to fight for the independence that they had declared.
The list needs to be printed and reviewed. What makes Texans special is the same thing that makes Americans special-- it is a way of thinking and a love of liberty, not an accident of birth.
By most contemporaneous accounts (note to Cecil: this means "written at that time"), the Alamo had been under seige for several days prior to Santa Anna's arrival by a force of perhaps 1500, and they had tried several assaults on the Alamo without success.
Read the letters from Col. Wm. Travis from that time. The most interesting one says, indicating that some things in San Antonio haven't changed from his day to this:
"The citizens of this municipality are all our enemies except those who have joined us heretofore; we have but three Mexicans now in the fort; those who have not joined us in this extremity, should be declared public enemies, and their property should aid in paying the expenses of the war."