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The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal event and military engagement in the Texas Revolution.Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna reclaimed the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar (modern-day San Antonio, Texas, United States).
A last stand is a military situation in which a body of troops holds a defensive position in the face of overwhelming and virtually insurmountable odds. [1] Troops may make a last stand due to a sense of duty; because they are defending a tactically crucial point; to buy time to enable a trapped army, person, or group of people to escape; due ...
The Alamo was defended by a small force of Texians and Tejanos, led by William Barrett Travis and James Bowie, and included Davy Crockett. Before beginning his assault on the Alamo, Santa Anna offered them one last chance to surrender. Travis replied by opening fire on the Mexican forces and, in doing so, effectively sealed their fate. [5]
In 1843 former Texas Ranger and amateur historian John Henry Brown wrote and published the first history of the battle, a pamphlet called The Fall of the Alamo. He followed this in 1853 with a second pamphlet called Facts of the Alamo, Last Days of Crockett and Other Sketches of Texas. No copies of the pamphlets have survived. [30]
The Alamo is a historic Spanish mission and fortress compound founded in the 18th century by Roman Catholic missionaries in what is now San Antonio, Texas, United States.It was the site of the Battle of the Alamo in 1836, a pivotal event of the Texas Revolution in which American folk heroes James Bowie and Davy Crockett were killed. [4]
David Crockett died at the Alamo on the morning of March 6, 1836, at the age of 49. Accounts from survivors of the battle differ on the manner of Crockett's death, with stories ranging from Crockett putting up a heroic last stand to the account that he surrendered along with several other men and was executed.
According to his older brother, John, James Bowie was born in Logan County, Kentucky, on April 10, 1796 (Historical marker: 36° 46' 25"N 86° 42' 10"W). [5] [6] In his 1948 book, Bowie Knife, historian Raymond Thorp gives Bowie's birth date as April 10 but does not support it with any documentation. [7]
[20] [23] As they rushed to the Alamo, Texians quickly herded cattle into the complex and scrounged for food in nearby houses. [24] [Note 3] The Mexican army initiated a siege of the Alamo and raised a blood-red flag signaling no quarter. Travis responded with a blast from the Alamo's largest cannon. [22] The first night of the siege was ...