Of all the battles of the Texas Revolution, the Battle of the Alamo (6 March 1836) is the most famous. It is not only among the best-known and most widely studied in American history but also around the world. The battle was the culmination of the 13-day Siege of the Alamo (23 February to 6 March 1836), during which Mexican forces under President and General Antonio López de Santa Anna (1794-1876) surrounded and vastly outnumbered the Texian and Tejano garrison of the Alamo.
On the morning of 6 March 1836, Santa Anna ordered a full-scale assault on the fort. The defenders were all killed in the battle, except for 5-7, who surrendered. Since Santa Anna had designated anyone who took up arms against Mexico a land pirate, and since pirates were executed without trial, those who surrendered – including David "Davy" Crockett (1786 to 1836) – were killed immediately following the battle.
Santa Anna believed his brutal treatment of the Alamo defenders would send a clear message to Texian rebels to expect the same and, so, end the rebellion in Texas. It actually had the opposite effect, encouraging more men to join General Sam Houston's army to avenge those who fell at the Alamo and, later, at the Goliad Massacre on 27 March.
On 21 April 1836, Sam Houston (1793 to 1863) defeated Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto – inspiring his men with the cry, "Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!" – and afterwards forced the Mexican President to sign the Treaties of Velasco, granting Texas its independence.
Background
The Alamo was established as a Catholic mission in 1718 in New Spain (modern-day Mexico) in the north, in the region that became known as Coahuila y Tejas (Texas). The famous chapel known today as "the Alamo" was built in 1758, and, by that time, the mission had grown to encompass 3 acres (1.2 ha), with walls surrounding an inner courtyard, residences, and barracks. The walls were built to deter attacks from Native Americans and were never intended to withstand a siege or cannon fire.
Travis & Bowie agreed to co-command the garrison.
After Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, the government invited Anglo-Americans to settle in Texas to provide a buffer between southern Mexico and Native Americans. The Texas Revolution actually began when Anglo-Americans began resistance to Mexican law during the Anahuac Disturbances of 1832 and 1835, but "officially" it began on 2 October 1835 with the Battle of Gonzales.
The Texians won every battle between October and December 1835. The last engagement was the Siege of Béxar, another Texian victory, forcing Mexican General Martín Perfecto de Cos (1800-1854) to surrender the Alamo and leave the region with his troops. Texians then garrisoned the Alamo under the command of Colonel James C. Neill (circa 1788-1848). To many who had fought for the Texian cause at the Siege of Béxar, Cos' surrender and withdrawal from Texas was the end of the war, and so they returned home. Neill, however, believed Santa Anna would return to retake Texas.
In January 1836, General Sam Houston – who agreed with Neill – sent James "Jim" Bowie (1796-1836) to San Antonio to remove all the artillery Cos had left behind, and anything else of use, and destroy the Alamo because he did not want Santa Anna to retake it and use it to launch campaigns into Texas. Bowie and Neill both felt the Alamo could serve the Texian cause well, however, as a first line of defense, and so wanted it fortified and held. They went over Houston's head and appealed to the newly elected governor, Henry Smith, who approved, and so the Alamo was fortified, and volunteers, as well as regular army, began to trickle in. Among these, in February 1836, were William Barret Travis (1809-1836), David "Davy" Crockett (1786-1836), and Juan Seguín (1806-1890), who arrived with a company of Tejanos under his command. On 11 February, Neill left to attend to family matters and turned over his command to Travis. Travis and Bowie then agreed to co-command the garrison.
The Siege
Travis was certain that Santa Anna would not march north until spring, when his horses and oxen would have something to graze on, but he was wrong. General Cos was Santa Anna's brother-in-law, and Cos' humiliation and defeat at the Alamo in December needed to be avenged to restore the family honor. Santa Anna was already in Texas by 12 February – and reports of this were given to Travis – but he discarded them as rumor.
Santa Anna entered San Antonio de Béxar on 23 February and raised the red flag, meaning "no quarter," above the San Fernando Cathedral. Travis answered this threat with a shot from the Alamo's 18-pounder cannon. Attempts at parley were rejected, and the garrison at the Alamo was told they must surrender unconditionally, placing themselves at Santa Anna's mercy. At this point, Travis and Bowie decided to fire the 18-pounder again, and the siege was begun.
For the next twelve days, Santa Anna bombarded the fort. On 24 February, Bowie fell ill, and Travis became the sole commander of the garrison. That same day, Travis sent out his famous letter, "To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World," calling for reinforcements. He also sent an urgent appeal to Colonel James W. Fannin (1804 to 1836) at Goliad to come to the Alamo with the 350-400 men under his command.
While Santa Anna continued his bombardment, engineer Green B. Jameson tried to strengthen the walls while artillery officer Almaron Dickinson (1800-1836) fired back. Dickinson had brought his wife, Susanna Dickinson (circa 1814-1883), and their infant daughter, Angelina, into the Alamo from Béxar on the 23rd; Susanna and Angelina would be among the 15 or so survivors of the battle.
On 25 or 26 February, Fannin left Fort Defiance at Goliad for the Alamo, but his wagons broke down, the oxen wandered off, the company realized they had forgotten to bring any food with them, and also that they had little ammunition. Fannin contemplated continuing on to the Alamo, but, fearing that he would not be able to break through the Mexican lines, and aware that Mexican General José de Urrea (1797-1849) was in the area (and could strike at and take Goliad), returned to Fort Defiance.
On 1 March, 32 volunteers from Gonzales slipped through the Mexican lines to join the garrison and, on 3 March, James Butler Bonham (1807-1836), who had been sent out to gather reinforcements, returned to report that Fannin was on his way with 320 men and that more had gathered at San Felipe to come to their aid. Unfortunately, Bonham's intelligence was incorrect regarding Fannin, and the San Felipe contingent went to Gonzales, where they waited to join Fannin, who never showed up.
By 4 March, Santa Anna had run out of patience and wanted the Alamo taken by force in a full assault. His senior staff tried to talk him out of this, noting that two 12-pounder cannons were en route and would arrive in the next few days. With these, they argued, the Alamo's walls would fall, and the garrison would be forced to surrender without having to sacrifice the lives of Mexican soldiers. Santa Anna dismissed their objections, claiming that a bloodless victory would have no honor. The Alamo would need to be taken by force, and every defender would be killed.
According to a later report (which has since become integral to Alamo lore), on the evening of 5 March, Travis assembled the garrison in the courtyard, told them that an attack was coming soon, which they probably would not survive, and, drawing his sabre, drew a line in the sand, telling any man who would stand with him in defense of the Alamo to cross it. Every man did so except for one, Moses Rose, who slipped over the walls that night and later told the story to the Zuber family, who published the account in 1873.
At around 10:00 p.m. on 5 March, the Mexican guns fell silent after 12 days of bombardment. Travis posted three sentinels outside the fort, and the garrison went to sleep.
The Battle
Santa Anna ordered the assault on the Alamo to commence before dawn on the 6th. He divided the army into four columns under the command of General Cos, Colonel Francisco Duque, Colonel Juan Morales, and Colonel José María Romero. General Sesma, with his company of lancers, would position themselves behind these columns to strike down any defenders who tried to escape or any of the Mexican soldiers who broke ranks in retreat. Santa Anna would hold 400 men back in reserve.
The north wall of the Alamo had been weakened by the bombardment of the last twelve days, and so, that was targeted as the focus of the assault. Cos and Duque would attack from the northwest, while Morales came at the fort from the south, and Romero would strike at the east wall. Scholar Jeff Long writes:
At midnight, Mexican officers began circulating among their troops, rousing those who had managed to fall asleep. Squad by squad, the companies and battalions assembled with their equipment, forming into columns. Working the cold, nervous men into their proper groups, largely unaided by torchlight, too and hour or two. Finally, at about one or two o'clock, the combatants moved out and crossed the San Antonio River in single and double file over wooden bridges. At the same time, cavalry troops under General Ramirez y Sesma began saddling up at the Alameda, their mission to scout the countryside during the battle and cut off any attempts at escape. Bullfrogs lay motionless along the steaming river. Cavalry horses exhaled silver frost and the cold Texas moon hung in a cage of clouds. At that hour, the doves still slept.
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The Mexican army moved into position around the Alamo by 5:30 a.m. The three sentinels outside the fort had been killed in their sleep, and the entire garrison, worn out after twelve days of siege, also slept soundly. Long writes:
The first man to notice the Mexican charge was Captain John J. Baugh. A stickler for military formalities, Baugh was the officer of the day. He had just begun his rounds at five o'clock when he heard the Mexican bugle, followed by a distant smattering of vivas. He turned to face the Alamo Plaza, drew a deep lungful, and bellowed out, "The Mexicans are coming." The massed Mexican columns rushed pell-mell toward their assigned walls…As the soldiers raced forward, Santa Anna's military bands were ordered to start playing the "Deguello", a cavalry tune…that meant "cut throat" or "behead" [signaling there would be no prisoners taken].
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According to other sources, Baugh and the others in the Alamo learned of the Mexican assault when they heard "Viva Santa Anna!" outside the walls just before the attack came. Travis and his slave, Joe, sprang up instantly. Travis grabbed his shotgun and, followed by Joe, ran to his post on the north wall. Crockett and his men took their position quickly at the palisade between the low barracks and the chapel. Bowie, too sick to move at this point, remained in his bed in a room in the low barracks. Susanna Dickinson and other non-combatants took refuge in the chapel.
First Assault
The column formation of the Mexican troops meant that only those in front could fire. This did not stop those behind from firing also, however, and so many were killed by "friendly fire" as they moved toward the walls. As they ran, the columns bunched together, making them easy targets for the Alamo's cannon. Mexican troops not cut down by their own fire, or small arms fire from the Alamo's walls, were killed by grapeshot from the cannons. Since the Alamo defenders were low on cannonballs, they fired whatever they had been able to collect during the siege – chunks of horseshoes, nails, pieces of pots and pans – making the cannon into, essentially, enormous shotguns.
Travis was among the first to fall in the assault on the north wall.
The first wave of assault was driven back. They had ladders to scale the walls, but these proved ineffective as they were pushed off by defenders, or the soldiers were shot while climbing up. Many ladders were also lost or broken in the assault. Travis was among the first to fall in the assault on the north wall. He fired his shotgun and was then struck in the forehead by a lead ball, falling backwards into the compound. Joe ran to hide in one of the buildings.
Second and Third Assault
The Mexican army regrouped and attacked again, but they were driven back. As the troops again regrouped, they moved northwards to get out of range of the cannon, and so the troops under Cos, Duque, and Romero were massed at the north wall. At this point, Santa Anna sent in his 400 reserves to press that area. The north wall fell when General Juan Amador scaled the wall and opened the postern. Mexican troops swarmed into the compound through this opening while more came over the wall. Shortly after this, Morales broke through the south wall. The Texians fell back to the long barracks, some to the chapel, and some tried to flee the Alamo but were cut down by Sesma's cavalry. The defenders had no time to spike the cannon before leaving their positions, and so the Mexican troops turned these on the low barracks, blasting open doors and walls, then rushing in to bayonet the defenders. The worst hand-to-hand combat of the battle occurred in the long barracks.
During the first and second assaults, the Alamo defenders had time to reload both cannon and small arms, but at the third assault, they did not. Most died fighting using their rifles, shotguns, and muskets as clubs or with knives and axes. Jim Bowie died fighting from his bed or, according to some scholars, may have been unconscious by the time of the battle and was quickly bayonetted. There are varying accounts of Bowie's death, but most scholars agree that he died fighting. Crockett's position at the palisade was overrun, and he and his surviving men fell back toward the chapel. According to some accounts, he died fighting. Among the most famous images of the Battle of the Alamo is Davy Crockett's last stand, swinging his rifle as a club before he was overwhelmed. Many scholars today, however, accept the report of Colonel José Enrique de la Peña (1807-1840), who fought at the Alamo and claimed that Crockett and five or six others surrendered and were executed on the order of Santa Anna after the battle.
In the chapel, James Butler Bonham, Almaron Dickinson, and Gregorio Esparza fired their cannon and small arms as the Mexican troops came in, but they were quickly killed. They were among the last defenders to fall. The non-combatants were spared – mostly women and children, except for Travis' slave, Joe. The battle was over by 6:30 a.m. The Alamo was a smoking ruin, the defenders (between 185 and 250) were dead or dying, and the Mexican army had lost 400-600 soldiers, with most scholars favoring the higher number.
Goliad & San Jacinto
Afterwards, Santa Anna personally interviewed the surviving non-combatants and sent Susanna Dickinson, Angelina, and Joe to Gonzales to tell everyone what they had witnessed and make clear that the same fate awaited anyone who had taken up arms against Mexico.
During and after the 13-day siege, General José de Urrea had won a string of victories, defeating the Texians at San Patricio (27 February), Agua Dulce (2 March), Refugio (14 March) and Coleto (19-20 March), but, although under orders to take no prisoners, Urrea had instead spared them, sending them to prison in Matamoros. Seven days after the Battle of Coleto, however, with around 400 prisoners held in Goliad at Fort Defiance, Urrea marched out and left it to his senior officers to deal with the prisoners. All were marched out and executed by firing squad on Palm Sunday, 27 March 1836.
The fall of the Alamo and the Goliad Massacre led to the Runaway Scrape, the evacuation of Texas by Texians and Tejanos, racing east for sanctuary in the USA. General Sam Houston picked up the men in Gonzales and retreated, with Santa Anna following. As noted, Santa Anna was certain the example he had set at the Alamo would deter further resistance, but, in fact, more volunteers swelled the ranks of Houston's force to avenge those fallen at the Alamo and Goliad. On 21 April, Houston defeated Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto, rallying his men with the cry, "Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!" Santa Anna surrendered, and Texas had won its independence.
Conclusion
In recent years, many scholars have noted how the myths that grew up around the Alamo have obscured actual history and that the defenders were not really heroes as they were fighting not for liberty but to preserve their way of life, which included slavery – a practice outlawed by Mexico in 1829. The Mexican government, it has been noted, made no harsh demands on Anglo-American immigrants and, in fact, gave concessions, especially concerning slavery.
Even so, this does not diminish the status of the Alamo's defenders. Scholar William C. Davis comments:
The better bravery, the real courage, lay in the fact that for nearly two weeks Travis, Crockett, Bowie, and the rest knowingly placed and kept themselves in harm's way, aware each day that the Mexicans could overwhelm them at the next dawn, and yet they stayed. Regardless of their motives for enlisting in the revolution and coming to the Alamo, that alone made them heroes.
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However one chooses to remember the Alamo today, Davis' point should be central to any reflection.