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Remember the Alamo? It's Under Siege Again -- This Time From Within
Wall Street Journal ^ | 8-20-09 | BEN CASSELMAN

Posted on 08/20/2009 12:47:13 PM PDT by kingattax

SAN ANTONIO -- There's a new battle under way for control of the Alamo -- and just like the Texas legend, neither side shows any sign of surrender.

For more than a century, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas -- nearly 7,000 women who trace their pedigrees back to the origins of the Texas Republic -- have had total control of the Alamo, the state's most revered historic site. They maintain what's left of the old mission, manage its historic exhibits and run the gift shop. They don't charge admission, and the site doesn't cost the state government a penny.

Now a small group of renegade Daughters has broken away, saying the Daughters' outmoded traditions and iron grip on the "Shrine of Texas Liberty" are holding back progress and preventing much-needed preservation work from moving ahead. They liken their declaration of independence to Texas's own split from Mexico in 1836.

"We're still fighting for the same things," says Erin Bowman, the 60-year-old leader of the breakaway group, called Friends of the Alamo. Ms. Bowman's family has owned the same ranch in Independence, Texas, since the days of the Republic more than 150 years ago.

The Alamo has long inspired passion among Texans. Built in the 18th century by Spanish missionaries looking to convert the local Indians, the Alamo gained its place in Texas history in 1836, when about 200 Texas settlers died trying to defend the fort from Mexican forces. Among the dead: soldier Davy Crockett, famed knife-fighter Jim Bowie and Lt. Col. William Travis, who promised never to surrender or retreat. The battle cry, "Remember the Alamo!" helped inspire Texans to defeat the Mexican army a month later, securing Texas's independence

(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: alamo; americanhistory; basement; museum
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To: Sans-Culotte
Also, it might be more impressive to visit John Wayne's set in Brackettville, where you can see a full-scale version of the fort.
Thanks, I'll do that on my next trip down to SA.
41 posted on 08/20/2009 1:55:44 PM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: a fool in paradise
IS there even still an alley across from the Alamo?

Ya know, I don't think so. Between the new mall and shops and widening the street and parking, the Alamo itself is almost gone. Ripley's doesn't add much to the ambiance either. Son spent a week at the Menger last year so the window view was of the Alamo grounds. They weren't kept up and rather pitiful looking. I will give them kudos for blocking off traffic through La Villita but it's just not the same as it used to be.

42 posted on 08/20/2009 1:57:56 PM PDT by bgill (The evidence simply does not support the official position of the Obama administration)
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To: Fiddlstix

Who could forget? :)


43 posted on 08/20/2009 1:58:42 PM PDT by MeekOneGOP (2008: The year the Media died. --Sean Hannity, regarding Barack HUSSEIN ObaMao's treatment ...)
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To: dmz
I gather that tongue in cheek comments on a Texas/Alamo thread are entirely unwelcome.

These threads so quickly turn that we sometimes don't notice that it was meant in humor, sorry.

44 posted on 08/20/2009 1:59:00 PM PDT by ansel12 (Romney (guns)"instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing people")
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To: kingattax

The title fooled me. I thought the article suggested that Texas was actually going to secede in the near future.


45 posted on 08/20/2009 1:59:17 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
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To: stylecouncilor; windcliff

Alamo basement ping....


46 posted on 08/20/2009 2:01:02 PM PDT by onedoug
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To: All
For those of you who wanted to go to Brackettville to see the old Alamo set, that property is now closed to the public. I saw an article in our local paper a couple of weeks ago that the family had decided to close the set.
47 posted on 08/20/2009 2:01:18 PM PDT by Faith-Hope
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To: texmexis best

Hurray for your post from a 7th generation Texas (at least)! I was trying to think of a snappy comeback for all these denigrating comments. They must not be native Texans or they would understand.

I guess when they go to see Plymouth Rock they would be let down because it’s “just a rock”.


48 posted on 08/20/2009 2:10:17 PM PDT by boxlunch
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I am a native born Texan and visit The Alamo on a regular basis. It is not the superficial trinkets in the cases that are important. It is what occured there. 187 men, more or less, gave up their lives so that the greatest state in the nation could gain it's Independence from a lying tyrannical government. I go there because it is spiritually uplifting and I feel some sort of kinship to the place. I read the names on the wall and prayerfully thank each and every one of them. If someone must explain the importance of The Alamo to a person, then no matter how hard they try, the person hearing the explanation will never understand. Two places that should also be visited are San Jacinto and Goliad Texas. God Bless the Daughters, for their work has preserved a very important historical site.
49 posted on 08/20/2009 2:10:20 PM PDT by nuadvntur
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To: ansel12; All
Men gave us the Alamo and men gave us Texas.

And God gave us Texas women!

50 posted on 08/20/2009 2:13:57 PM PDT by 60Gunner (F*** you, Barack O-frigging-Bama.)
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To: oh8eleven

where my camera is not welcome, I am not either. I was content to get some great pictures of the outside, though.


51 posted on 08/20/2009 2:15:34 PM PDT by rightly_dividing
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To: All

http://thealamovillage.homestead.com/AlamoVillage.html


52 posted on 08/20/2009 2:16:22 PM PDT by Charlespg (The Mainstream media is the enemy of democracy destroy the mainstream media)
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To: boxlunch

The Alamo is best enjoyed in silence. You can almost hear the sound of Mexican cannon ball hitting the stone of the North wall. The continuous fire of the Mexican infantry as they advanced on so few defenders.

The rifle and musket shot of the defenders, the exposion of the cannon that killed Mr. Travis. The decreasing sound of our rifle fire as our men go down for the last time.

All of those men knew the score and they stood their ground and delivered.

It is holy ground.


53 posted on 08/20/2009 2:29:02 PM PDT by texmexis best (uency)
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To: Faith-Hope
I was reared in Del Rio and spent a good amount of time at Brackettsville at Happy Shahans' Ranch. I spent several days there when they were filming Bandelero as a guest of a couple of the actors (John Prine, Donald "Red" Barry, and the director Andrew McGlaugin). It is sad that it was out of the way so tourism was intermittent and sparse. I hate to hear its closed.
54 posted on 08/20/2009 2:38:51 PM PDT by vetvetdoug
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To: texmexis best
My sentiments exactly. My family is from Tennessee. The men that were at the Alamo with Crockett were from the Lawrenceburg area (50 miles from here). Many people in this area can trace their geneology (both directly and collaterally)to men that died at the Alamo. I have reverence and pride when I enter the Chapel at the Alamo and see the many names of Tennesseans that gave their all to Texas. Even when I played football for Del Rio, my nickname was Tennessee. I may not be a Texan but the Alamo means a lot to me.
55 posted on 08/20/2009 2:45:23 PM PDT by vetvetdoug
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To: kingattax

While I’ve never been to the Alamo, I wonder if this spat is the result of a certain faction trying to make the exhibits more “politically correct.” You know, things like making the entire experience about the genocide of the Indians and the “theft” of land from a peaceable Mexican peoples. In other words, an apologetic memorial rather than a triumphant one.


56 posted on 08/20/2009 2:46:23 PM PDT by Magnatron
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To: twigs; oh8eleven
Not impressed? Those are fightin' words!

First time I went as an 8 YO, I couldn't understand why it was in the middle of town.

Maybe you have to be a native born Texan to "get it." In Jr. Hi, I thought every school in the country taught Texas history!

57 posted on 08/20/2009 2:47:52 PM PDT by lonestar (Obama is turning Bush's "mess" into a catastrophe.)
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To: vetvetdoug; twigs; oh8eleven

May be that you have to be a native born Texan or from Tennessee to “get it.”


58 posted on 08/20/2009 3:13:00 PM PDT by lonestar (Obama is turning Bush's "mess" into a catastrophe.)
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To: kingattax

I thought about joining Daughters of the Republic of Texas. My Texas heritage is important to me, but I realized it was more like a sorority and that I would be one of the youngest members (and I am really a GDI at heart anyway).

My family was not here for the Texas Revolution, but they did settle in Nacogdoches in 1840.


59 posted on 08/20/2009 3:17:25 PM PDT by Peanut Gallery (The essence of freedom is the proper limitation of government.)
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To: texmexis best
Texans, especially men, talk in hushed tones when going through the ruins and it is rare to see one with the their cowboy hat on their head.

Actually, as of the last time I was there, there are signs posted noting that it was sacred ground and asking for the quiet and removal of hats. If you didn't, someone reminded you and it was not always a volunteer - it was just as likely another visitor.

60 posted on 08/20/2009 3:28:11 PM PDT by 5thGenTexan
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