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Why We Remember the Alamo-167 years ago today, brave men faced a ruthless enemy
National Review ^ | 3-6-03 | Gleaves Whitney

Posted on 03/06/2003 12:00:57 PM PST by SJackson

March 6, 2003, 9:00 a.m.
Why We Remember the Alamo
Comfort in history.

By Gleaves Whitney

very good Texan knows that today is Alamo Day.

Before daybreak on March 6, 1836, Mexican General Santa Anna ordered the final assault on 189 defenders of a decaying mission fortress above the San Antonio River. After being repulsed by a fusillade of musket balls and cannon shots, Mexican soldiers regrouped and surmounted the north wall. In the hand-to-hand combat that followed, hordes of Mexican troops eventually overcame the Alamo defenders, who died to a man.

---------------------------------

The battle raged about 90 minutes and was over by sunrise — in the literal if not the figurative sense. Interpretive battles over what happened soon erupted and continue to this day. For example:

1) Did the commander of the Alamo, William Barrett Travis, really draw the line in the sand — or was it the invention of a storyteller? The incident was not written up until more than three decades after the battle.

2) What were the principals really like — Travis, Crockett, Bowie, Santa Anna? To what extent did their words and behavior reveal "warts and all"? In many fashionably revisionist accounts, it's just "warts" and no "all."

3) Then there is the matter of how David Crockett met his end. Was he cut down fiercely bludgeoning Mexican soldiers with his rifle? Or was he captured? Or did he surrender with a half-dozen other defenders, only to be mercilessly executed by order of Santa Anna? The revisionist notion that Crockett surrendered leans on the controversial diary of one of Santa Anna's soldiers, Jose Enrique de la Pena, who may not have even fought at the Alamo.

4) What flag flew over the Alamo? It matters to the meaning of the battle. If the defenders raised the Mexican tricolor of 1824, then they were fighting to restore the Mexican constitution of 1824, which Santa Anna had abrogated. If, as seems more likely, the flag was that of a group of American volunteers called the New Orleans Greys, then the Alamo was a defiant declaration of independence.

These are among the many questions over which historians and Alamo buffs have fought for decades. The arguments are coming to a head once again in 2003 because of the new Alamo movie that's being filmed. Walt Disney Pictures has teamed up with director John Lee Hancock, a native Texan, to produce the most ambitious Alamo ever. It is also rumored to be the most violent PG-13 film that Disney will have released. The cast includes Dennis Quaid (as Sam Houston), Billy Bob Thornton (Crockett), and Emilio Echevarria (Santa Anna).

To their credit, the filmmakers have consulted numerous historians. The set is a painstakingly accurate reproduction of San Antonio de Bexar in 1836, built on a sprawling ranch in the Texas Hill Country north of San Antonio. Only period weapons, artifacts, and clothing are being used. This will lead to some surprises for audiences raised on the stereotypical western. In 1836, for example, men wore not cowboy hats but seal-skin caps and tall hats. And the exterior of San Fernando Church is not sun-bleached white, but richly colored.

But the Alamo story is about so much more than getting the material culture right. It's about the meaning of the event. Professor Stephen Hardin, an eminent Alamo historian at Victoria College, has been one of the moviemakers' go-to guys. He himself goes right to the bottom line when he asks: To what extent will the story be told historically, and to what extent mythically?

The answer to this question is not altogether clear. Until the movie is released in December, John Lee Hancock will keep his cards vested. Alamo buffs and revisionists are particularly watching for leaks of how Crockett's death is depicted. Earlier this week I spoke with Dr. Bruce Winders, the historian at the real Alamo and a consultant to the moviemakers, and even he doesn't know what lines in the sand the director is drawing.

Winders is pretty sure, however, that no one school of thought will totally prevail. Those who hope for a documentary will be disappointed. Those who desire reaffirmation of the legend will be frustrated. Those who call for revisionism will be unrequited. The movie is unapologetically Hollywood: The aim is to connect with audiences emotionally by alternately entertaining, horrifying, and inspiring.

The unofficial website tracking the film reports that, in harmony with postmodern times, the movie will portray the 13-day siege and battle from various viewpoints — Anglo Texian, Mexican soldado, black slave. To heighten the sense of authenticity, the Mexicans will speak in 19th-century Spanish, during which parts there will be subtitles (a first for a mainstream Alamo movie). To avoid hero worship, some unsavory topics will be broached — for example, Bowie as a slave trader and Travis as an adulterer. Clearly this is not John Wayne's Alamo.

The moviemakers want this new Alamo to show the complexity of the revolutionaries and their revolution. The film's production designer, Michael Corenblith, says he hopes the conflict is presented "as a dialogue between … factions." There were in fact many factions in the 1836 Revolution, and consequently many dialogues: between Mexicans and Americans; between Americans and Native Americans; between Texas Anglos ("Texians") and Hispanics ("Tejanos"); between slaveholders and freedom fighters. These dialogues fill a large horizon of the American experience.

At a deeper level, the Alamo story fulfills our need for heroes. Whatever the historiographic puzzles, whatever the biographical "warts," certain facts remain. On the morning of March 6, at least 189 men stood their ground against a ruthless dictator. Though many among this band of brothers were illiterate, they made a universally articulate statement about courage and self-sacrifice. Texians and Tejanos fought side-by-side with men from distant states and nations — England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Germany, and Denmark. Some of these men measured their time in Texas in mere weeks. Once the siege began, they had 12 days to escape. But they didn't. They endured round-the-clock bombardments, sleep deprivation, cold nights, and poor food. They forewent the comfort of a wife, the pleasures of the hearth, and the amenities of civilization.

What inspires men to sacrifice so?

That's the question these past 167 years. That's why we remember the Alamo, and why every generation of Americans recalls what happened on that distant borderland. The Texas Thermopylae holds a mirror up to our character. The event challenges us to ponder our principles, our aspirations, our capacity for virtue.

The new Alamo movie is getting considerable press, more than most movies receive. Why the heightened interest in the Alamo these days? I suspect it's because America is entering a season of war. Young men and women are being asked to interrupt their schooling, careers, and family life. They are called to go to a distant land, fight a ruthless dictator, and be willing to make a patriotic sacrifice.

They are going, they will fight, and they will be our heroes.

Gleaves Whitney is a native Texan. His 19-year-old son Ian serves in the Michigan Air National Guard and has been deployed to the Middle East.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: dixielist
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1 posted on 03/06/2003 12:00:57 PM PST by SJackson
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To: SJackson
Just remember that the only ''defender'' to turn and run from the defense of the Alamo, was a Frenchman.
2 posted on 03/06/2003 12:05:57 PM PST by shadeaud
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To: SJackson
Remember the Alamo, Bump
3 posted on 03/06/2003 12:07:57 PM PST by SAMWolf (We do not bargain with terrorists, we stalk them, corner them , take aim and kill them)
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To: SJackson
To avoid hero worship...

Lord knows, we can't have that. To which I say, "Bullclinton!" We need more heroes, we need to show our children brave men for them to emulate, such as our veterans and our troops that are being deployed for Iraq.
4 posted on 03/06/2003 12:20:11 PM PST by Bigg Red (Defend America against her most powerful enemy -- the Democrats.)
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To: SJackson
Hmmm. I wonder: how long before Wlat turns up and condems the defenders for not
being loyal to Mexico?
5 posted on 03/06/2003 12:20:27 PM PST by LTCJ (After all, everyone knows it was all about tacos.)
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To: SJackson
Happy Alamo Day to all Texas Freepers!
6 posted on 03/06/2003 12:21:06 PM PST by Bigg Red (Defend America against her most powerful enemy -- the Democrats.)
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To: SJackson
NEW ORLEANS GREYS.

The New Orleans Greys, two companies of United States volunteers that served together in the Texas Revolution,qv were organized at a meeting held in the grand coffee room of Banks's Arcade in New Orleans on the evening of October 13, 1835. The arcade owner, Thomas Banks, was a supporter of Texas independence, and his red-brick, three-story building on Magazine Street between Natchez and Gravier streets was often used for meetings in the service of Texas independence. Nacogdoches alcaldeqv Nicholas Adolphus Sterneqv was present at this meeting and offered weapons to the first fifty men who would volunteer for Texas. By the evening's end nearly 120 men appear to have been recruited; no original muster role exists. Two companies were formed, the first under Capt. Thomas H. Breece and the second under Capt. Robert C. Morris.qqv Weapons and equipment were provided, probably from the stores of the Washington Guards, whose armory was located on the second floor of the arcade. Hermann V. Ehrenberg,qv who joined Breece's company, indicates that the uniforms were "grey...for service on the prairie." Ebenezer Heath, a member of Morris's company, stated that "the color of our uniform was a grey jacket & pants with a seal-skin cap." Indians around Nacogdoches mistook the Greys for United States regulars. The descriptions seem to suggest that both companies wore the 1820s-pattern United States fatigue jacket and either the M1825 or M1833 United States forage cap. The Greys' arms were described as "rifles, pistols, swords & large knives"; Morris's company possibly carried rifles, and Breece's men were issued United States-pattern muskets.

The two companies left New Orleans within two days of each other. Breece took an overland route, up the Mississippi and Red rivers aboard the steamer Washita. His company disembarked at Alexandria and then, avoiding Fort Jesup, followed the Old Spanish Trail to its crossing into Texas at Gaines Ferry.qv Between the ferry and San Augustine, a delegation of local women greeted the company and presented it with a blue silk banner that bore the words "First Company of Texan Volunteers from New Orleans." The company was welcomed with a public dinner at San Augustine. At Nacogdoches, also, the Greys were treated to a dinner of roasted bear and champagne. Here some two-thirds of the company were given horses before proceeding to San Antonio.

Morris's sixty-eight-man company sailed from New Orleans and arrived at Velasco on October 22, 1835. There elections were held for company officers, and Morris was reconfirmed as captain; William Gordon Cookeqv of Virginia became second officer. Morris's company proceeded to Brazoria by steamship and marched inland to Victoria, where some of the men were issued horses. The rest secured mounts at La Bahía. The company then proceeded to San Antonio to join the Texas army. They arrived before Breece's company. In San Antonio Morris was appointed a major and assumed command of a division made up of both companies of Greys; Cooke assumed command of Morris's old company. Cooke noted that seventy men were in his company and fifty in Breece's.

The Greys took an active part in the siege of Bexar,qv in which Breece's company apparently suffered one killed and two wounded; Cooke's company suffered six wounded. After the capture of Bexar both companies underwent a series of organizational changes as a result of the Matamoros expedition of 1835-36.qv All but twenty-two members of Breece's company and one of Cooke's company left San Antonio under Francis White Johnson and James Grant.qqv Those who remained at San Antonio were under the command of Capt. John James Baugh.qv When Baugh became garrison adjutant, William Blazebyqv took command of the company, all members of which died in the battle of the Alamo.qv The company standard was among the flags captured by the Mexicans; it is now the property of the National Historical Museum in Mexico City.

The Greys who went south with Grant and Johnson became members of either the San Antonio Greys under Cooke or the Mobile Greys under Capt. David N. Burke.qv After Cooke's departure with Sam Houston in January 1836, his company was commanded by Samuel O. Pettus.qv Though a number of the Greys continued with Grant, including both Morris and Breece, most chose to become part of the garrison at Goliad under Col. James W. Fannin, Jr.qv Nathaniel R. Brister of the Greys was promoted to regimental adjutant when Fannin reorganized his command in February. Both Morris and Pettus were killed with Grant. Nineteen members of Cooke's old company were killed in the Goliad Massacre.qv Four members of the Greys escaped from the massacre, including William L. Hunterqv and Hermann Ehrenberg. Three, including Joseph H. Spohn, were spared. Although the Texan disasters at the Alamo and Goliad destroyed the New Orleans Greys as military units, at least seven Greys were present at the battle of San Jacinto,qv including William Cooke, the only senior officer of the Greys to survive the Texas Revolution. Thus the Greys are one of the few volunteer units to be able to claim Bexar, the Alamo, San Patricio, Refugio, Coleto, Goliad, and San Jacinto as battle honors.


7 posted on 03/06/2003 12:21:36 PM PST by SAMWolf (We do not bargain with terrorists, we stalk them, corner them , take aim and kill them)
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To: SJackson
It took 6 generations, but the Mexicans have won. There is nothing to celebrate. People who celebrate alamo day are ignoring present-day reality. Reconquista has succeeded. Live with it Gringo.
8 posted on 03/06/2003 12:28:21 PM PST by KickRightRudder
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To: SJackson
Remember the Alamo. Always.
9 posted on 03/06/2003 12:29:43 PM PST by Iris7
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To: shadeaud
Just remember that the only ''defender'' to turn and run from the defense of the Alamo, was a Frenchman.

The famous Monsieur Rose of Nacogdoches

10 posted on 03/06/2003 12:29:47 PM PST by SJackson
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To: SJackson
he hopes the conflict is presented "as a dialogue between ? factions."

Wonder if he made a movie about the Jews in the Warsaw ghetto, the poles and Germans, if it would be a dialogue between factions?

BTW has there been a good movie about that little part of world, that held out longer than the entire country of France?

11 posted on 03/06/2003 12:35:14 PM PST by dts32041 (Do not attend a gunfight with a handgun, the caliber of which does not start with a "4".)
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To: SJackson
Thank you for posting this. I'll be visiting the Alamo for the first time in two weeks when I go to San Antonio to attend my daughter's graduation from Air Force Basic Training. I'm so very proud of her.
12 posted on 03/06/2003 12:42:06 PM PST by Lorraine
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To: Lorraine
You will find it very interesting, but the reaction of everyone who sees it for the first time is "It's so small."
13 posted on 03/06/2003 1:03:44 PM PST by blau993
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To: SJackson
Just curious...were the Americans there first? Or was it the Mexicans that were there first? We all know how things used to be done...kill off those on the land or run them off.
14 posted on 03/06/2003 1:12:09 PM PST by Lucas1
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To: Lorraine
Thank you for posting this. I'll be visiting the Alamo for the first time in two weeks...

It will be an emotional experience. It is a small building but a powerful symbol.

15 posted on 03/06/2003 1:23:20 PM PST by Blue Screen of Death
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To: blau993; Lorraine
I agree with blau993's statement. Be sure to listen to the docents though. I finally took the time and found out the area of the Alamo actually includes land that now has skyscrapers on it. That helped the visualize the larger picture so to speak.
16 posted on 03/06/2003 1:40:59 PM PST by TXBubba
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To: Lucas1
Neither. The indians were there first.
17 posted on 03/06/2003 1:56:48 PM PST by skeeter (Fac ut vivas)
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To: skeeter
And don't forget the Nazis. Everybody knows that Nazis have been involved in all bad things for thousands of years. It just wouldn't be a good, truthful movie without Nazis </sacrasm>
18 posted on 03/06/2003 2:03:09 PM PST by VeniVidiVici
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To: SJackson

Texas Forever!

19 posted on 03/06/2003 3:02:12 PM PST by w_over_w († God bless our troops †)
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To: Lucas1
"were the Americans there first? Or was it the Mexicans that were there first?"

Spain

France

Mexico

Texas

United States

Confederated States and then back to the US

The Comanches did not have a flag, so do you count them?

The Six Flags of Texas...Not just an amusement park.

20 posted on 03/06/2003 3:03:19 PM PST by Deguello (Drink your Shiner Bock to the heros of the Alamo)
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