Posted on 03/06/2007 7:44:05 AM PST by WestTexasWend
PEOPLE WHO HAVE grown up with freedom and enjoyed it all of their lives may have a difficult time understanding the driving, passionate desire for liberty in the hearts of people who do not have it. One need look no further than the Alamo, which fell to Santa Anna's army on this date in 1836, for a vivid example of such passion.
The 189 defenders of the Alamo are legendary - not just in Texas but around the world - for their valor and heroism in the face of overwhelming odds. But underlying that death-defying courage was a love of freedom. It was what drove them.
Their sacrifice was instrumental in bringing the precious commodity of freedom to the residents of Texas in 1836 and to all the people who have lived in the Republic of Texas and the Lone Star State in the 171 years since the Alamo.
The 13-day siege of the Alamo has significance far beyond the mere drama of a heroic last stand. It was crucial to the independence of Texas in several ways.
Because the siege occupied Santa Anna and his army, the Alamo defenders provided the 59 delegates of the Convention of 1836 with the time to assemble and to draft and adopt the Declaration of Independence that marked the birth of Texas.
And the battle of the Alamo reduced the size of Santa Anna's army by about 600 troops. Sam Houston's army was badly outnumbered in the Battle of San Jacinto 46 days later - 783 men to an estimated 1,500 in the Mexican army - but it would have been far worse and perhaps insurmountable without the Alamo.
Finally, the Alamo and Santa Anna's massacre at Goliad on March 27, 1836, emotionally incited the Texas fighters, who shouted "Remember the Alamo" and "Remember Goliad" at San Jacinto.
While Texas Independence Day on March 2 and San Jacinto Day on April 21 are holidays of celebration, Alamo Day is one of somber remembrance and respect for the men who gave their lives for the freedom of Texas.
The 189 heroes of the Alamo would never return home and would never savor the freedom they helped win, but they forever changed the future of Texas. May they always be remembered.
"Damn - I'm proud to be a Texan"
yeah, me too. Texian actually. Moat of Stephen F. Austin's "old 300" came from Tennesee in 1823.
This ancestor of mine came a little later:
MILLER, THOMAS R. (1795-1836). Thomas R. Miller, Alamo defender, was born in Tennessee in 1795. He immigrated to Texas in June 1830 and settled in DeWitt's colony,qv where he owned a general store and farmed. On March 11, 1832, he married sixteen-year-old Sidney Gaston by bond. Their one child died in infancy. The couple separated on July 21, 1833. Miller served as clerk of the Gonzales Town Council, and in 1834 his home served as its meetingplace. At the outbreak of the Texas Revolutionqv he was one of the original Old Eighteen,qv defenders of the Gonzales "Come and Take It" cannon.qv From November 3 to 14, 1835, he served as a member of the Consultation.qv On March 1, 1836, Miller entered the Alamo as a member of the relief force from Gonzales, furnishing supplies for the company from his general store. He died in the battle of the Alamoqv on March 6, 1836.
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My great uncle 4 times removed, Deaf Smith, helped bury what was left of the burned bodies at the Alamo when he arrived 3 days after the battle. He also fired the first shot at the Battle of San Jacinto.
Texas. Forever.
As a shirt-tail relation of one of the defenders, this day is always one of pride for me, and it really burns my @ss to see the Mexican Criminals parade thru the streets of this great nation demanding we recognize them. IMHO we should recognize them.......much in the same manner as our fore-fathers did, and deal with them in the same manner......as invaders.
And the only thing that burns my @ss worse.......is the empty suits in Washington who tell us we should "embrace" these criminals..just so they can get there lawn mowed without having to pay a white kid to do it!
My hubby has been doing research on his family - turns out HIS g-g-grandfather on his grandmother's side fought in Houston's regiment during the Revolution.
Do you know the final resting place of Deaf Smith? Have always heard it was Houston Street that runs in front of the Fort Bend Museum.
AS far as I am concerned, there shouldnt be any reconquista further north than the Nueces River. They are a pack of liars that any land north of there "belongs" to them. None of their ancestors will have had anything to do with the Tejano's that lived in the Mexican state of Tejas y Coahuila.
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Believe it or not there is at least one very active freeper who espouses the very same thing.
I only recently discovered that there were six native born New Yorkers and five others who lived in NY before heading to Texas among the defenders at the Alamo.
Unfortunately true, especially for footballers.
I never begrudge athletes the money they get paid (though I must admit I'm jealous sometimes ;-) Whenever I hear someone griping about this, I try to (gently) remind them that athletes generally have a very limited earning period. They have to make all the money they can early on, because they're going to burn out fairly young.
Unless, of course, they're Nolan Ryan ;-)
Or Gordie Howe!
For some reason that I can't quite understand, it seems that hockey -- the most difficult of the major sports to play, and perhaps the most physical of them all (when you consider the speed and contact elements together) -- seems to have more players over the age of 40 than any other sport.
That includes someone like Gordie Howe (who played competitively as a pro in the WHA into his fifties as well as a current senior citizens like Chris Chelios (45 years old), Ed Belfouor (42), and Dominik Hasek (42). Go figure.
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