Siege of the Alamo

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February 28 – March 2

 

Come And Take It

 

(February 23 – March 6, 1836)

 

 

 

 

Digital reproduction of the Come and Take It flag.

 

After learning that Fannin was not coming and that there would likely be no other reinforcements,^[78] a group of 25 men set out from Gonzales at 2 pm on Saturday, February 27.^[97] They were led by Martin and George Kimbell, Almaron Dickinson's business partner.^[98] As the group passed the ranch of volunteer John G. King on their way out of town his fifteen-year-old son, Wiliam, rushed out and asked to take his father's place, as John King was needed to support the family's nine children. The men agreed, and William exchanged places with his father.^[99] On the march to Bexar eight additional men joined the group.^[100] The men carried with them the first flag ever made for use in a Texian battle; the Come and take it flag from the Battle of Gonzales.^[101]

 

According to Lindley, Martin, Smith, and at least 34 other men chose not to wait for Fannin but continued on towards Bexar. The men from Bastrop and some of the others from Gonzales decided to wait, including Edwin T. Mitchell, Fannin's courier.^[102] By the night of February 27, Travis sent Samuel G. Bastian to go to Gonzales "to hurry up reinforcements".^[102] According to Lindley, Bastian ran across Martin's men from Gonzales and volunteered to lead them to the Alamo. In an interview several years later, Bastian said that the group encountered a roving patrol of Mexican soldiers. Four of the men, including Bastian, became separated from the larger group and were forced to hide. However, Juan Almonte's journal did not mention any firing by Mexican soldiers that evening. The following year, Santa Anna'a secretary Roman Martinez Caro did report firing by Mexican lines {in 1837} that "two small reinforcements from Gonzales that succeeded in breaking through our lines and entering the fort. The first consisted of four men who gained the fort one night, and the second was a party of twenty-five".^[103]

Edmondson relates a different version of the campaign. According to his research, as the Gonzales men approached the Alamo in the wee hours of March 1 a rider appeared in front of them

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The Final Day of The Seige @ The Alamo

 

March 6, 1836

At midnight, Mexican soldiers began silently moving towards their places to await the start of battle.^[134] The Texian sentries were surprised and killed quickly before they could raise an alarm.^[135] Despite the orders to forgo overcoats, cloaks, and blankets, the men were instructed to lay on their stomachs on the cold, damp grass.^[134] Although the original orders gave the battle starting time as 4 am, the soldiers were not competely in place until about 5 am. Some were stationed within 300 feet (91 m) of the Alamo. At 5:30 am, Santa Anna gave the order for the advance, and his excited troops began shouting "Viva Santa Anna, Viva la republica!"^[132] The shouting woke the Texians, but by the time they reached their posts the Mexican soldiers were already within musket range.^[135]

Notes

1. ^ The plaza covered an area 75 feet (23 m) long and 62 feet (19 m) wide. The Low Barracks was 114 feet (35 m) long, and the Long Barracks was 186 feet (57 m) long and 18 feet (5.5 m) wide. (Myers (1948), pp. 180–81.)
   
2. ^ Although the Rio Grande now marks the border between Texas and Mexico, in this era the Nueces River, several hundred miles north, was considered the southern boundary of Mexican Texas.
   
3. ^ Although many Alamo historians describe Dr. James Sutherland's participation in the early events of the siege, in his book Alamo Traces: New Evidence and New Conclusions Thomas Ricks Lindley concludes that Sutherland was not present in San Antonio de Bexar on February 23.
   
4. ^ Juan Seguin also brought 14 of his men and their family members into the Alamo. Although they had fought at the Battle of Bexar and Captain Salvador Flores was serving in the Alamo under Colonel Neill, Travis considered them as civilians at this point and would not count them. see Lindley pg.94
   
5. ^ Alsbury's husband, Horace Alsbury, was a member of the Texian army and departed for Gonzales immediately after Juana moved into the Alamo to warn the settlers that the Mexican Army was outside of Béxar. Lindley (2003), p. 87.
   

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That Texas Should Be Free

 

Without the sacrifice at the Alamo the territory would have remained part of Mexico

 

 

By TERRY EASTLAND

In the fall of 1835, angered by the rebellion in the Texas colonies, the president of Mexico, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, organized an army of more than 5,000 soldiers and marched north. In January 1836, he crossed the Rio Grande, heading for the town of San Antonio de Béxar, the base he thought he needed to make good his vow to destroy "those who wished to betray the territory of Texas."

But San Antonio was no longer in Mexican control. Three hundred rebels had taken it in December, evicting the Mexican units led by Gen. Martin Perfecto de Cos, the only Mexican military presence in the territory, (That Cos was Santa Anna's brother-in-law meant that family honor was also at stake in the decision to head for San Antonio.) The colonists thought they had triumphed. A small garrison of 100 rebels, mostly volunteers from the United States rather than Texan settlers, was established in the town. Meanwhile, Sam Houston, the former governor of Tennessee who had settled in Nacogdoches, had been named commander in chief of such armed forces as there were. Houston was one of the few colonists who thought the Mexicans would return in force.

When news reached San Antonio that Santa Anna was heading their way, the rebels began sending out urgent calls for aid. The famous backwoodsman Davy Crockett arrived with 15 or 16 Tennessee volunteers in early February, but, despite the expectations of large-scale reinforcements, the town's defenders numbered no more than 150 when Santa Anna and his army approached on Feb. 21.

, Under the command of William Barret Travis and Jim Bowie, the garrison withdrew into the fort known as the Alamo, a three-acre compound that included a large courtyard, barracks and an armory—and also a chapel built in 1718. Santa Anna had declared that the rebels would be shown no mercy. After Mexican soldiers secured the town, they raised the red flag of no quarter on top of San Fernando Church and sent a courier giving the garrison a chance to surrender. Travis ordered a single shot from an eight-pound cannon as a response.

On Feb. 23, the Mexican troops laid siege to the Alamo. Twelve days of bombardment weakened the fort's walls. Despite Travis's constant pleading by courier for reinforcements—including his famous letter "to the people of Texas & all Americans in the world"—only 32 more men arrived to aid the beleaguered defenders. Read More

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304707604577426072268788062.html?KEYWORDS=terry+eastland#articleTabs=article

 

 

A version of this article appeared June 2, 2012, on page C7 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: That Texas Should Be Free.