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"After their rejection of the first call to surrender, they were no longer given the option. Santa Ana decreed that no quarter be given."

Actually, that is simply not true. Ordering no quarter be given is different than enforcing the decree. Members of the Alamo garrison that chose to leave could have done so up until the night of the actual assualt. Until then, Santa Anna's siege was pretty porous, allowing men both in and out.

At least six members of the garrison left at different points in the siege, mostly as messengers. But at least one (Louis Rose) hopped over the wall during the night and walked away.

Had they wanted to -- or had Travis ordered it -- the garrison could have successfully slipped away. Over the wall at intervals, over the space of three nights would have worked best. Individuals could have emulated Louis Rose -- if they wanted to. Departure would have been even easier for individuals than for the entire garrison, because there would have been less chance of detection.

One of the biggest lies that non-Texans throw at Texans is that "If there had been a back door to the Alamo, there never would have been a Texas." The back door was there -- and open. The garrison -- with one exception (Rose) -- chose to stand and fight, knowing that they would die in doing so. *That* is the remarkable aspect of the Alamo.

There is one reason and one reason only that I will not pay to see this movie: Crockett did NOT surrender at the Alamo. The diary has been proven a forgery. Susanna Dickinson and Joe the Slave both reported seeing his body lying at the exact spot he was assigned to defend. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Santa Ana attempted to use the flag of the New Orleans Grays as proof the insurrection was the work of the U.S. If he could have captured Crockett and executed him later he could have "claimed" that Crockett confessed to working for Jackson. Santa Ana lived to be 84 years old and spoke of the Alamo often. He never claimed that Crockett surrendered. To put that crap in the movie is to me, a Texan, unforgivable. Add to the fact that my wife is a direct descendent of Crockett.

My response was as to whether they had the option of surrendering, not whether they had the option of escaping. Mexican law at the time specifically called for the summary execution of foreigners bearing arms as pirates. There had been numerous examples of the law being enforced in the previous decade.

The men in the Alamo had absolutely no reason to believe they had the option of surrender.