What Really Happened At the Alamo?

1
What Really Happened At the Alamo?

• By Val Ilyukhina and Lisa Bowsher

2
What Really Happened to Columbus?

• The Truth Behind Columbus Day (125)

3
Lets talk about the video clip

• What parts of this clip are different from what
  you learned about Columbus?
• Can you think of another historical event that
  has several interpretations?
• Why do you think there are so many different
  accounts of the same historical stories?

4
How much do you know about what really happened
at the Alamo?
5
The Alamo is located in San Antonio, Texas
6

• The Alamo was built in 1718.
• It was originally a home to missionaries and
  Indian converts.
• In 1973 Spanish officials distributed the land to
  those living near it.
• The Alamo was under Mexican control for the
  majority of its time and housed many
  revolutionaries and royalists during Mexicos
  very long war for independence.

7
This is what the Alamo looked like when it was
built
The Alamo, Built 1718, The McArdle Notebooks,
Archives and Information Services Division, Texas
State Library and Archives Commission.
8

• San Antonio and the Alamo played a critical role
  in the Texas Revolution.
• In December 1835, Ben Milam led Texian and Tejano
  volunteers against Mexican troops quartered in
  the city.
• After five days of house-to-house fighting, they
  forced General Marín Perfecto de Cós and his
  soldiers to surrender.
• The victorious volunteers then occupied the Alamo
  already fortified prior to the battle by Cós'
  men and strengthened its defenses.

9

• On February 23, 1836, General Antonio López de
  Santa Anna's army arrives outside San Antonio
  nearly catching the occupants of the Alamo by
  surprise.
• Undaunted, the Texians and Tejanos prepared to
  defend the Alamo together.
• The defenders held out for 13 days against Santa
  Anna's army.
• William B. Travis, the commander of the Alamo
  sent forth couriers carrying pleas for help to
  communities in Texas.
• On the eighth day of the siege, a band of 32
  volunteers from Gonzales arrived, bringing the
  number of defenders to nearly two hundred.

10
Battle of the Alamo by Percy Moran, 1912
Library of Congress Photo and Print Online
Catalog
11

• Legend holds that with the possibility of
  additional help fading, Colonel Travis drew a
  line on the ground and asked any man willing to
  stay and fight to step over all except one did.
  
• As the defenders saw it, the Alamo was the key to
  the defense of Texas, and they were ready to give
  their lives rather than surrender their position
  to General Santa Anna.

Among the Alamo's garrison were Jim Bowie (left),
renowned knife fighter, and David Crockett
(right), famed frontiersman and former
congressman from Tennessee.
12

• The final assault came before daybreak on the
  morning of March 6, 1836.
• Columns of Mexican soldiers emerge
• Cannon and small arms fire from inside the Alamo
  beat back several attacks.
• Regrouping, the Mexicans scaled the walls
• Once inside, they turned a captured cannon on the
  Long Barrack and church, blasting open the
  barricaded doors.
• The desperate struggle continued until the
  defenders were overwhelmed.
• By sunrise, the battle had ended and Santa Anna
  entered the Alamo compound to survey the scene of
  his victory.

The Battle of the Alamo
13
Alamo by Alton S. Tobey from the-alamo-san-anton
io.com
14
Common Misconceptions
The men of the Alamo could have left at any time
because they were volunteers.    Although the
majority of the Alamo's garrison was composed of
volunteers, they were volunteers in the 19th
century military sense of the word. These men had
signed an oath of allegiance to the Provisional
Government of Texas, declaring    "I will serve
her honestly and faithfully against all her
enemies and opposer whatsoever, and observe and
obey the orders of the Governor of Texas, the
orders and decrees of the present and future
authorities and the orders of the officers
appointed over me according to the rules and
regulations for the government of
Texas."Citizen-soldiers, these men were bound to
defend any post they were assigned and were not
free to leave on their own.
15
The only Texans who rallied to the aid of the
Alamo were 32 men from Gonzales.    One question
frequently asked about the Battle of the Alamo is
why did not more Texans answer Travis' poignant
pleas for help. The arrival of the Gonzales
Ranging Company on the morning of March 1, 1836,
is the only documented instance of assistance.
Much scorn has been heaped on Colonel James W.
Fannin, whose 400-man battalion remained at
Goliad, only 100 miles away. Fannin's detractors
ignore the fact that he also faced an advancing
Mexican column and could not leave his post
unguarded. Travis' letters were effective in
bringing recruits to the field. More than 200
volunteers had gathered at Gonzales in
preparation to march to the Alamo's relief when
news of its fall reached the town.
16
The Battle of the Alamo bought time for Sam
Houston to build his army.The notion that the
men of the Alamo died buying time for Sam Houston
to build an army is well-entrenched in Alamo
lore, but a review of Houston's activities shows
it to be unfounded. On November 12, 1835, the
Consultation (the provisional government of
Texas) appointed Sam Houston Commanding-General
of the Texas Army. His authority, however,
extended over the regular army, leaving him
unable to legally issue orders to the volunteers
already in the field. Houston dispatched
recruiters to raise the regular army as well as
agents to acquire arms, uniforms, and other
supplies. With no troops to command, Houston
received a furlough on January 28 in order to
take care of personal business. He spent part of
his leave conducting negotiations with the
Cherokee Indians. With a treaty successfully
concluded, Houston rode to Washington-on-the-Brazo
s, where he served as a delegate to the
constitutional convention, remaining there until
March 6. During his stay, the new government
reconfirmed his appointment as commanding-general
of the Texas Army, giving him control over all
troops - regulars and volunteers. Houston arrived
at Gonzales on March 11 to lead a relief
expedition to San Antonio but by then the Alamo
had already fallen. Thus, during the siege
Houston was not building an army but engaged in
other important business.
17

• While the facts surrounding the siege of the
  Alamo continue to be debated, there is no doubt
  about what the battle has come to symbolize.
• People worldwide continue to remember the Alamo
  as a heroic struggle against impossible odds a
  place where men made the ultimate sacrifice for
  freedom.
• For this reason, the Alamo remains hallowed
  ground and the Shrine of Texas Liberty.

18
Lets look at some different perspectives
According to America Pathways to the Present In
1822, Stephen F. Austin, a former member for the
Missouri Territorial legislature, founded a
colony of several hundred families in east Texas,
in Northern Mexico. As their numbers swelled,
these Americans demanded more political control.
In particular, they wanted slavery to be
guaranteed under Mexican law. They wanted the
same rights they had possessed in the United
States. When General Santa Anna became dictator
of Mexico he stripped Texas of its rights of
self-government. Texans became
independence-minded settlers and clashed with
Mexican troops, beginning the Texas War for
Independence. Santa Anna led an army across the
Rio Grande to subdue the rebellion. In February
1836, the Mexicans reached the Alamo. Led by
William Travis and James Bowie, the Texans hoped
to slow the generals advance long enough to
allow their fellow rebels to assemble an army.
The courageous Texans inflicted heavy
casualties, but the Mexicans eventually
overwhelmed the Alamo and killed most of those
inside (p. 109)
19

• Now its your turn to interpret some first-person
  accounts of the battle of the Alamo.
• In your groups talk about your first-person
  account and which parts of it fit into the story
  we learned today, and which parts dont.
• Which parts are similar or different from the
  textbook account?

Fill out your worksheets and get ready to discuss
with your classmates!
20
Resources Garcia, J., Jordan, W.D., Ogle, D.M.,
Frederick Risinger, C., Stevos, J. (2001).
Creating America a history of the United
States. Evanston, IL McDougal Littell. Appleby,
J., Brinkley, A., McPherson, J.M. (2000). The
American journey. Westerville, OH Glencoe/McGraw
-Hill. Loewen, J. (1995). Lies my teacher told
me everything your American history textbook got
wrong. New York Touchstone. The Alamo. Retrieved
from http//encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761563289
/The_Alamo.html. Learning Standards. Retrieved
from http//www.isbe.net/ils/default.htm. Battle
of the Alamo. Retrieved from http//www.loc.gov/rr
/print/catalog.html. History. Retrieved from
http//www.thealamo.org/history.html. Remember
the Alamo. Retrieved from http//wwwdelivery.super
stock.com/WI/223/900/PreviewComp/SuperStock_900-12
2981.jpg. Battle of the Alamo. Discovery. Video
retrieved from http//military.discovery.com/video
s/unsolved-history-military-battle-of-the-alamo.ht
ml Cayton, A. et al. (2000). America pathways to
the present. Upper Saddle River, NJ Pearson
Prentice Hall. Hardin, S.L., (1994). The battle
of the Alamo. Retrieved from http//history-world.
org/alamo2.htm Heffner, R.D. (2002). A history
of the united states. New York, NY Signet
Classic Loewen, J. (1995). Lies my teacher told
me everything your American history textbook got
wrong. New York Touchstone. Winders, R. B.
History. Retrieved at http//www.thealamo.org/hist
ory.html Unsolved History. (2008). Battle of the
alamo. Video retrieved at http//military.discover
y.com/videos/unsolved-history-military-battle-of-t
he-alamo.html (1994). First person accounts.
Retrieved from http//hotx.com/alamo/esparza.html
santaanna