Battle of the Alamo - Thirteen Days to Glory

University of Texas ^ | Unknown | Stephen L. Hardin

[SAMWolf]

One of the most gallant stands of courage and undying self-sacrifice which have come down through the pages of history is the defense of the Alamo, which is one of the priceless heritages of Texans. It was the battle-cry of "Remember the Alamo" that later spurred on the forces of Sam Houston at San Jacinto. Anyone who has ever heard of the brave fight of Colonel Travis and his men is sure to "Remember the Alamo."

Besieged by Santa Anna, who had reached Bexar on February 23, 1836, Colonel William Barret Travis, with his force of 182, refused to surrender but elected to fight and die, which was almost certain, for what they thought was right. The position of these men was known but no aid reached them. The request to Colonel James W. Fannin for assistance had gone unheeded. No relief was in store. As the Battle of the Alamo was in progress, a part of the Texas Army had assembled in Gonzales under the command of Mosely Baker in the latter part of February. From this army, a gallant band of 32 courageous men under the command of George C. Kimble left to join the garrison at the Alamo. Making their way through the enemy lines, these 32 men joined the doomed defenders and perished with them.

On March 2, 1836, during the siege of the Alamo, Texas independence was declared. Four days later, the document was signed with the blood shed at the Alamo. It was under such conditions that Travis and his men fought off the much larger force under Santa Anna. It was with the love of liberty in his voice and the courage of the faithful and brave that Travis gave his men the none too cheerful choice of the manner in which they wished to die.

Realizing that no help could be expected from the outside and that Santa Anna would soon take the Alamo, Travis addressed his men, told them that they were fated to die for the cause of liberty and the freedom of Texas. Their only choice was in which way they would make the sacrifice. He outlined three procedures to them: first, rush the enemy, killing a few but being slaughtered themselves in the hand-to-hand fight by the overpowering Mexican force; second, to surrender, which would eventually result in their massacre by the Mexicans, or, third, to remain in the Alamo and defend it until the last man, thus giving the Texas army more time to form and likewise taking a greater toll among the Mexicans.

The third choice was the one taken by the men. Their fate was death and they faced it bravely, asking no quarter and giving none. The siege of the Alamo ended on the dawn of March 6, when its gallant defenders were put to the sword. But it was not an idle sacrifice that men like Travis and Davy Crockett and James Bowie made at the Alamo. It was a sacrifice on the altar of liberty.

[Soaring Feather]

Good Morning SAM

Thanks so much for this page in history.

[Jalapeno]

Seems to me I remember in the cartoon books Texas History Movies that Travis drew a "line in the sand" and asked those who did not wish to fight to cross it and they could leave "with Honor". One man did and left the group at the Alamo. Is there any truth to this?

[Sparta]

Excellent post. My complements on the choice of the battle. (The Thermopylae of America.) It's important that Americans know this story and the sacrifices of these brave, ordinary men and citizen soldiers, for I fear soon we may have a similiar stand against the same enemy.(The Reconquistas.)

[Sparta]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/789862/posts
The Battle of Thermopylae.

Check it out.

[SAMWolf]

ROSE, LOUIS (1785-1851). Louis (Moses) Rose, a soldier of fortune who escaped from the Alamo and contributed to its legends, was born on May 11, 1785, in Laferée, Ardennes, France. He joined Napoleon's 101st Regiment in 1806 and eventually became a lieutenant. In 1814 he was named to the French Legion of Honor for his role as aide-de-camp to Gen. Jacques de Monfort. He served in campaigns in Naples, Portugal, and Spain as well as in the invasion of Russia. Though no one knows when or where he entered North America, he settled in Nacogdoches, Texas, about 1827. There he was employed as a log cutter and hauler at a sawmill owned by John Durst and Frost Thornqv and served as a messenger between Nacogdoches and Natchitoches, Louisiana. He joined the Fredonian Rebellionqv in 1826 and took part in the battle of Nacogdochesqv in 1832. Rose was a friend of James Bowieqv and accompanied or followed him to the Alamo in the fall of 1835. He fought in the siege of Bexarqv that year.

Rose served the cause of Texas independence a fourth time during the siege of the Alamo. He fought for ten days, up to three days before the fall of the fort, and then escaped. He is the source of the story about William B. Travis'sqv drawing a line in the dirt with his sword. Rose got the nickname Moses because of his age at the time, fifty-one. When asked, "Moses, why didn't you stay there in the Alamo with the others?" he invariably replied, "By God, I wasn't ready to die." He was not the only survivor of the battle of the Alamo.qv Bowie and Travis sent out numerous couriers, including Capt. Juan N. Seguín,qv to plead for reinforcements, and other men left during an armistice that Gen. Antonio López de Santa Annaqv declared. In 1907 Enrique Esparzaqv reported, "Rose left after this armistice had expired . . . [and] after Travis drew the line with his sword. He was the only man who did not cross the line. Up to then, he had fought as bravely as any man there . . . . Rose went out during the night. They opened a window for him and let him go. The others who left before went out the doors and in the daytime." William P. Zuber,qv whose parents took Rose in after he left the Alamo, wrote of the escape. Rose went through enemy lines west through San Antonio, then south down the San Antonio River about three miles, then east through open prairie to the Guadalupe River, avoiding roads. He arrived at the Zuber ranch in Grimes County and stayed there for a while before going on to Nacogdoches, where he operated a butcher shop and acted as a witness for numerous heirs of Alamo defenders trying to get land for their service. In 1842 he moved to Logansport, Louisiana, where he lived with Aaron Ferguson's family until his death. Rose, who never married, died in 1851. His brother Isaac had several sons; in 1927 one of Isaac's descendants, Arthur Rose, presented Moses Rose's gun to the Alamo museum.

[tubebender]

Was it the Discovery Channel that just rewrote Custers battle at the Little Big Horn with modern forensic evidence ? They were going to do the same thing to the Alamo so watch out for another attack on an American Icon.

[SAMWolf]

Yes. I saw the promo's for that show.

[saminfl]

Sometime in the 1980's when I was living in Tucson, the Governor of Arizona, Bruce Babbitt went to San Antonio and proclaimed the Alamo, "a symbol of racism against Mexicans."

[MistyCA]

Thank you, Sam. You are a great teacher of our history! :)

[MistyCA]

Sheesh. That figures.

[RikaStrom]

Was it the Discovery Channel that just rewrote Custers battle at the Little Big Horn with modern forensic evidence ? They were going to do the same thing to the Alamo so watch out for another attack on an American Icon.

They already did the re-write on the Alamo. The discovery channel was making the claim that Davey Crockett had not died fighting, but had been captured and executed by Santa Ana. It appeared to me that the entire History's Mysteries (that's what they called it) was designed to cast doubt on Davey Crockett and the battle.

Discovery Channel also had their "experts" who couldn't prove anything, but also they weren't disproved.

The final parting shots of the liberal pc ninnies, was to say that history should be re-written to show that the men at the Alamo weren't so brave, weren't so large, and that those good ol' white boys have hogged history for too long. /disgust

The forensics of the battle would have been very interesting if they could have kept it to history, to what they could prove, but they didn't. They took every opportunity to insert agendas into what should have been a scientific search. It's a pity. I know they wanted people to come away thinking bad thoughts about the men at the Alamo, but instead, they just made me all the angrier.

[SAMWolf]

Hi Misty,

I just find articles I find interesting and post them. I don't have the patience to be a teacher.

[MistyCA]

Well, for what you do, I thank you! :)

[SAMWolf]

Let's face it, the PC crowd is trying to destroy all the "heroes" of this Country.

If you destroy the past, it's easier to control the future.

[SAMWolf]

Thank you Misty.

[Alice in Wonderland]

Remember The Alamo

by Jane Bowers

A hundred and eighty were challenged by Travis to die
A line that he drew with his sword when the battle was nigh
The man who would fight to the death cross over
But him that would live better fly
And over the line stepped a hundred and seventy nine

High up, Santa Ana, we're killin' your soldiers below
So the rest of Texas will know
And remember the Alamo

Jim Bowie lay dyin', his powder was ready and dry
From flat on his back Bowie killed him a few in reply
And young Davy Crockett was smilin' and laughin'
The challenge was fierce in his eye
For Texas and freedom, a man more than willing to die

High up, Santa Ana, we're killin' your soldiers below
So the rest of Texas will know
And remember the Alamo

A courier sent through the battlements, bloody and loud
With words of farewell, and the letters he carried were proud
"Grieve not, little darlin', my dyin'
If Texas is sovereign and free
We'll never surrender and ever will liberty be"

High up, Santa Ana, we're killin' your soldiers below
So the rest of Texas will know
And remember the Alamo

[RikaStrom]

If you destroy the past, it's easier to control the future.

Agreed. Unfortunately, they are finding that there are those of here in Texas are not so ready to let them destroy our past. We're not trying to re-write it, mind you, but we won't let them alter it now.

We need more people to remember our past, not to forget it, not to try to wipe away the blood and the pain.

Those PC twerps are trying so hard to make sure that the minds they are molding believe that no good was ever done by the white man, and that all faults with the world can be laid at our feet.

While I was watching that "special" in my mind I could see the next follow-up. It would read "gang of angry white thieves routed by honorable mexican gentleman."

I'm not saying that there weren't honorable men on both sides of that battle, but to allow history to be changed on the basis of a forged (they found 5 distinct people wrote it) diary that somehow managed to survive all of these years to suddenly appear with no provenence, and an owner unwilling to give any... well, that's suspicious if you ask me.

[SAMWolf]

Ballad Of The Alamo
(Paul F. Webster, Dimitri Tiomkin)

In the southern part of Texas in the town in San Antoine
There's a fortress all in ruins that the weeds have overgrown
You may look in vain for crosses and you'll never see a one
But sometimes between the setting and the rising of the sun
You can hear a ghostly bugle as the men go marchin' by
You can hear them as they answer to that roll call in the sky.

Colonel Travis, Davy Crockett and the hundred-eighty more
Captain Dickinson, Jim Bowie present and accounted for
Back in 1836, Houston said to Travis 'Get some volunteers
And go, fortify the Alamo'
Well the men came from Texas, and from old Tennessee
And they joined up with Travis just to fight for the right to be free.

Indian scouts with squirrel guns men with muzzle loaders
Stood together heel and toe to defend the Alamo
'You may na'er see your loved ones.' Travis told them that day
'Those who want to can leave now
Those who fight to the death let em stay.'

In the sand he drew a line with his army sabre
Out of a hundred an eighty-five, not a soldier crossed the line
With his banners a dancin', in the dawns golden light
Santa Ana came prancin' on a horse that was black as the night
Sent an officer to tell, Travis to surrender
Travis answered with a shell and a rousin' rebel yell
Santa Ana turned scarlet 'Play Deguello' he roared!
I will show them no quarter, everyone will be put to the sword.

One hundred and eight-five, holdin' back five thousand
Five day, six days, eight days, ten, Travis held, and held again
Then he'd send for replacements for his wounded and lame
But the troops that were comin', never came, never came, never came
Twice he charged then blew recall, on the fatal third time
Santa Ana breached the wall and he killed them one and all
Now the bugels are silent and there's rust on each sword
And the small band of soldiers, lie asleep in the arms of the Lord.

In the southern part of Texas near the town of San Antone
Like a statue on his pinto rides a cowboy all alone
And he sees the cattle grazin where a century before
Santa Ana's guns were blazin' and the cannons used to roar
And his eyes turned sort of misty and his heart begins to glow
And he takes his hat off slowly.....to the men of Alamo
To the thirteen days of glory... at the seige of Alamo.