The Alamo - An American myth

INHALTSVERZEICHNIS

1.Introduction

2.The Alamo – An American myth
2.1.Problems of a scientific approach
2.2 Chronology of the siege of the Alamo
2.2.1 The Texas War of Independence
2.2.2 The siege of the Alamo
2.2.2.1 The fort that was none
2.2.2.2 First days of the siege
2.2.2.3 The tightening siege
2.2.2.4 The final assault
2.2.3. The outcome of the war
2.3. Fact and fiction
2.3.1 Bowie, Crockett and Travis – three heroes
2.3.1.1 James Bowie
2.3.1.2 David (Davy) Crockett
2.3.1.3 William Barret Travis
2.3.2 Brave Texians vs. Evil Mexicans?
2.3.2.1 The Texians
2.3.2.1.1 Were the defenders Texian soldiers?
2.3.2.1.2 Why did the defenders not surrender?
2.3.2.2 The Mexicans
2.3.2.2.1 Santa Anna- an evil butcher?
2.3.2.2.2 Cruel Mexicans?
2.3.2.3 Why were there nearly no reinforcements?
2.3.3 Contradictory numbers
2.4 “Remember the Alamo”- A common phrase

3. Conclusion

4. Appendix

1. Introduction

“The Alamo is a piece of history that every American knows about, if only for recalling the phrase 'Remember The Alamo!'.”¹ When I first heard it I neither knew of the Alamo nor the aforesaid phrase. Though I am no American, I am extremely interested in history and I wanted to find out what the Alamo was. At first I decided to search the Internet for the word Alamo and I found approximately 255000 entries for this word. Apparently this word had a considerable meaning. Later I found out more about this incident, which took place in 1836 in Texas and in the course of which ca. 200 Texians² lost their lives defending a fort known as “The Alamo” against a predominant Mexican force. I soon realized how many different versions of the siege of the Alamo exist. And I learnt how often the phrase “Remember the Alamo” is used, sometimes in the original form and sometimes highly modified: e.g. Remember the Enron³, Remember Pearl Harbor, Remember the Lusitania⁴. But what happened really at the Alamo? What makes more that 2.5 million people a year visit the remains of the fort?⁵ What makes Americans refer to that event by using that phrase? Why is this story the right material for a $100 million dollar Hollywood production that is being produced this year? In the following I will present the chronology of the siege of the Alamo, give severl examples of historically correct as well as fictional sories about this incident and then I am going analize the meaning and use of the phrase “Remember the Alamo”. I will deal with three main sources which are firstly “THE ALAMO”, written by John Myers Myers⁶, secondly “13 DAYS TO GLORY” by Lon Tinkle⁷ and thirdly “1836 FACTS ABOUT THE ALAMO & THE TEXAS WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE” by Mary Deborah Petite.⁸

2. The siege of the Alamo: An American myth

2.1 Problems of a scientific approach

Dealing with The Battle of the Alamo in a genuinely scientific way is a very tough challenge if not an impossible one. The reason for this is that a detailed and all-embracing report of the battle does not exist, and the many pieces of information that do exist are often mutually contradictory⁹. Soon after the battle wild gossiping started, which created “facts” that are even today cited in encyclopedias and dictionaries but have nothing to do with hisorical truth.¹⁰

The Alamo garrison was killed except for one man¹¹, who was illiterate and was never questioned about the siege. There are some reports by Mexican officers, including Santa Anna, the commander in chief of the Mexican army. These reports were written after the Texan campaign had failed and thus their primary intention was either to palliate the battle in order to cover up their own failure or to destroy the reputation of the ones who had been in charge.¹² Which sources then speak authoritatively about the event? Firstly the combatants, particularly Colonel Travis¹³, wrote quite an amount of letters that were carried out of the fort by twelve¹⁴ messengers who did not all return to the Alamo and thus could be questioned about the conditions in the Alamo afterwards.

Secondly there are the Alamo survivors, of which there were at least 14,¹⁵ one American woman, her daughter, Travis´ Negroe slave Joe, Louis Moses Rose, and at least ten Mexican women and children. The reports of Mrs Dickinson, the American woman, and Joe are the most reliable records of the final assault on the Alamo, as they were both eye-witnesses and the reports were made shortly after the battle.

Thirdly there is the record of Dr. John Sutherland, who left the fort just before the siege. After the battle he interviewed the messengers and Mrs Dickinson as well as Mexican officers. The problem with his account is that he did not write his research down until 1860. Little surprise, then that many facts had become blurred within the course of 25 years .¹⁶ In conclusion it is to be said, that modern research will never be able to solve some of the many myths of the Alamo completely. It has to evaluate every source very critically admitting that words like “approximately” or “probably” are a neccessary evil.

2.2 Chronology of the siege of the Alamo

In order to deal with the issue of the Alamo in a proper way, one has to be aware of the chronology of the siege, about the circumstances that led to it as well as the events that resulted from it. Otherwise there is a certain danger of talking nonsense as one can find in many accounts on the Alamo. For example, “magazinusa.com” reports that „when the Mexican General General Santa Ana started an assault on the Alamo, he was defeated by General Sam Houston in the famous Battle of the Alamo, which started with the words „Remember the Alamo.” ¹⁷ The spelling mistake in the Santa Anna´s name is the least wrong thing, as absolutely nothing of this statemtent is historically true.

2.2.1 The Texas War for Independence

The story of the Texas War for Independence is naturally very much tied to the history of Texas itself. The history of Texas is a most complex issue. It is a story of Napoleon, the Mexican War of Independence and of course the American War of Independence. It is a typical frontier-story, which means that every single man who came there in those days has his fixed place in Texan history. Because of this fact I have to abridge and resrtict myself to the status quo of 1835 and the main reasons for this war.

Anglo-Americans had been flocking to Texas since 1800. The first settlers were mostly outlaws and adventurers but they were soon followed by real colonists. In 1821 Texas was inhabited by 30000 Anglo-Americans and 4000 Mexicans.¹⁸ This was a difficult situation.

The Republic of Mexico, which was founded in this year claimed Texas (see appendix 4.4.2) as their own, as it had beonged to the Spanish colony Mexico for since its discovery. But so did the settlers in Texas. They did not recognize a government which was more than 1500 miles away and of a different ethnic background than the vast majority of the state. As a result there were many short lived rebellions against Mexican rule which never succeded. In 1830 things became worse. During this year the Mexican government under Santa Anna signed a statute which said, “that no person from a nation bordering upon Mexico could settle in a Mexican state contiguous to the country from which he came.”¹⁹ That de facto prohibited Anglo-American immigration to Texas.

As prosperity could only be achieved by growing communities, this statute was a threat for Texas as well as for the Anglo-American settlers, who wanted their settlements to develop. To make things worse, the Mexicans raised taxes and import duties²⁰, and increased thier military presence in the Texian settlements. The Texians claimed seperate statehood now but that was denied, due to an article in the Mexican Constitution which said that a population of at least eighty thousand people was needed to become a seperate state.²¹ In 1833, nevertheless, Stephen F. Austin, who is known as the “Father of Texas”²²,travelled to Mexico city , carrying an appeal for statehood. He had always believed in a peaceful solution to this matter. After waiting to be heard for several weeks he was imprisoned by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the Mexican dictator. After 18 months in prison, Austin returned to Texas, now explaining to the Texians that “War is our only recourse”²³. Fighting for independence was the spirit of the time, indeed many of the Anglo-American Texians were sons or grandsons of American Revolutionary veterans. Since the primary causes of the American and the Texian Revolution were the same, overtaxation and absence of home rule²⁴, it is no surprise, that Texians began to volunteer immediately. But the Texians could not agree on their goals.

There was the War Party which demanded absolute independence for Texas and the Council which wanted to ally with liberal Mexicans in the northern Mexican states and fight against Santa Anna who had turned democratic Mexico into a dictatorship.²⁵ The result was two rival provisonal governments and a splintered Army to meet the Mexican troops.²⁶

As often in the history of warfare, the Texas War for Independence started due to an insignificant, not to say ridicolous occurence. A hundred Mexicans, who were deployed in the Alamo were sent to the town of Gonzales on September 29, 1835. in order to seize a little cannon. The Mexicans had given this cannon to the settlers years ago to protect the inhabitants from Indians. The Texians refused to surrender the cannon and told the officer to “Come and take it.” Two days later the cannon was fired and its roar was followed by the crack of rifles.²⁷ This was the first “battle” of the Texian Revolution known as the Battle of Gonzales. The only Texian casualty was a bloody nose, the Mexicans suffered one or two dead.²⁸ In the months between the Battle of Gonzales and the siege of the Alamo five battles occurred. In all of them the Mexicans either withdrew or surrendered. On December 9, 1835, Stephen Austin who was the commander of the “Volunteer Army of the people” captured the Alamo, making the deployed Mexicans surrender. ²⁹ By then not one single Mexican soldier had his foot on Texian territory.³⁰ A circumstance that made things look quite good for the Texians. But deep in the South, in Mexico, Santa Anna was already gathering his army of 6000 men, which he would soon bring into play to take revenge overthrowing the revolution and chasing the Anglo-Americans out of Texas back into the United States.

2.2.2 The siege of the alamo (February 23rd -March 6th 1836)

After his brother-in-law, General Cos, had failed to hold the stategically important Alamo, General Santa Anna, decicided to lead a punitive force against the rebellious Texians himself.³¹ Cos´s defeat tarnished his own prestige, let alone the fact that Mexican semi- professional regulars had been conquered by amateurs.³² A man like Santa Anna who is regarded as the self-styled “Napoleon of the West”³³ as his life shows many parallels with the French general, could never have stood for an insult like that. On February 23rd , 1836 he arrived in San Antonio de Bexar, which was then located half a mile from the Alamo.³⁴ (see appendix 4.3.2) He had gathered an army of 6000-8000 men, depending on which source you rely on³⁵, and driven them short on rations through the cold upland-harried desserts of northern Mexico. The number of deserters had gone into the hundreds. His army had moved forward in columns of about 1500 men apiece and the army had respectively travelled on different routes or with a time lag. ³⁶ The dictator himself led the first column, not expecting serious resistance from the Texians.³⁷ It is common knowledge that he was wrong here. A siege of twelve days, certainly the least thing that Santa Anna anticipated, lay ahead the two rival sides.

2.2.2.1 The Fort that was none

Unknown to many, the Alamo was originally not meant to serve as a fortress at all.³⁸ Franciscans had started to built a mission outside San Antonio de Bexar in 1718³⁹. It was then known as “Mission Valero”.⁴⁰ Rather accidentally it became strategically important during the Texas War , as it was located directly at the San Antonio River (see appendix 4.4.1), the unofficial border between Mexican and Anglo-American settlements thus dividing the spheres of influence. Since a mission has certainly very different tasks to perform than a fortress, the Alamo lacked nearly everything a tactician would expect of a defensive structure, and only a few improvements had been supplied by the Texians (see appendix 4.3.3)

The walls of the “fort” were too thin to withstand enduring bombardment and they were too low, so that there was a certain threat of an assault by escalade. Furthermore the Alamo provided only a minimum of cover for the defenders. As result, on was totally exposed when shooting on the outside. Naturally there were no structural devices such as moats, pitfalls or mines.⁴¹ But the inadequate passive defenses were not the only shortcomings of the Alamo. The armament was just as bad. The fort had only 18-21 cannons⁴², of which only 14 were serviceable. Three times the number could have been used.⁴³ Also, there was a lack of proper artillery ammunition.⁴⁴ The only means the approximately 150 defenders had plenty of, were firearms, such as shotguns, pistols and muskets, of which the Alamo provided more than 800 pieces⁴⁵. It can be anticipated that Travis and Bowie did not even realize how inadequate the Alamo was for a siege, for both being partisan fighters, neither of them had ever been trained as tactician.⁴⁶

2.2.2.2 First days of the siege

Santa Anna´s arrival near San Antonio on the morning of February 23, 1836 took the Texians by surprise. They would have expected him in March, three weeks later, but not at that time⁴⁷. After every doubt about the approach of the enemy had been eliminated, Travis ordered the immediate evacuation of the town, and the rebel garrison made preparations to take their position inside the fortress⁴⁸. Travis wrote a letter to Colonel Fannin, who was in command of the Goliad garrison, which was 400-500 men strong, seeking help.⁴⁹ Another message was sent to Gonzales, the town the war had started in. In response to a “blood red flag”⁵⁰, the Mexicans had raised on top of the San Antonio church, Travis ordered the biggest cannon of the Alamo (and the biggest in Texas) to be fired .This act started the siege of the Alamo. All attempts to Parley had failed for Santa Anna demanded unconditional surrender, which meant that the Texian rebels would have had to “place themselves immediately at the disposal of the Supreme Government.”⁵¹ Apparently the garrison did not consider this to be a good idea.

The military action that went onfrom February 24th till February 29th can be more or less more or less described as a skirmish. As Santa Anna did not want to risk an attack on the fort yet, he restricted himself to preventing any movement into or out of the Alamo and started to encircle the fort. Since the Texian riflemen, being excellent marksmen, were a great threat to the besieging force, the Mexicans could only shoot at the Alamo from a great range by using artillery. But the cannons of the day were too weak to do any serious damage to the walls.⁵²

The Texians however, improved the fort as much as possible and kept the infantrymen away by firing at everthing that moved. It is quite astonishing that in spite of the tight blockade of the Alamo, all the messengers made their way out of the Alamo without being harmed. Also on February 25th some Texians managed to set fire to buildings which the enemy used as shelter⁵³. No one doubted that Colonel Fannin and others would soon arrive to support them. From February 24th on, Colonel Travis was in full command of the garrison, since Colonel Bowie with whom he had shared joint command was unable to fulfill his duty anymore due to his serious illness.⁵⁴ Travis wrote further messages to Fannin, Houston and others, without receiving any answer. Still things did not look too bad though the garrison were outnumbered by at least ten one and almost completely encircled. Help was in sight, the fort was still intact, and no Texian had lost his life so far, wheras Mexican casualties had already been high.

2.2.2.3 The tightening siege

From March 1st until March 5th , the siege became tighter, and it slowly became clear that the Alamo could not be held.

March 1, the eighth day of the siege, was the day the Alamo received its only reinforcement.

32 men from Gonzales entered the fort at nightfall, which is quite remarkable considering the fact that the Alamo was now completely surrounded by the Mexicans. “Some historians declare that Santa Anna deliberately let the detachment through, so that he could have a bigger bag of the Texians in the end”. This is doubtful since Mexican casualties caused by Texian riflemen were already higher than Santa Anna could have tolerated, and he surely did not want more of them in the fort.⁵⁵ The arrival of the “Immortal Thirty-two”⁵⁶, as they would later be remembered, raised the spirits of the garrison. Yet, the hope, that this reinforcement, was just a herald for more to come vanished on March 3, when Travis learned the “bitter and inescapable truth”. His close friend James Bonham, brought the devastating message from Goliad, that Colonel Fannin was not going to come to his aid. For Travis this was the supreme blow, for it meant that the Alamo was lost. Making things even worse, the Mexicans received another 1500 men that day.⁵⁷ Travis´s last hope now was Genaral Sam Houston, Commander-in-chief of theTexian army. He wrote a last letter to him, soberly describing the course of the siege and stating that “we had them (the Mexicans) meet here then to suffer a war of devastation to rage in our settlements.”⁵⁸ Furthermore he demanded in another letter the declaration of Independence for Texas, which had ironically been declared the day before.⁵⁹

It was also on March 3 that Travis supposedly drew his famous “line in the dirt”, which will be dealt with later.⁶⁰ The mood among the Alamo defenders was hopeless now. It would be all downhill from here. On March 4 a Mexican cannon was directly pointed at the Alamo´s north wall within musket range⁶¹. This was closer than the adobe walls of the Alamo could bear.

By the fifth of March, “a sizable breach was battered in the east end of the plaza´s north wall.”⁶²

2.2.2.4 The final assault

Having breached the fort, Santa Anna believed that it was time for the attack. He called a staff meeting at which he declared his intention of making a full-scale assault on the Alamo (see appendix 4.4.3).

Some of his officers objected but the General overuled all objections. He wanted to deal with the Alamo quickly so that he could pursue his plan to punish the rebellious settlers further in the east.⁶³

He had designed a detailed plan of the attack. His chief of staff, Colonel Almonte, issued the order to the Generals and Commanders: “... His excellency, the General in Chief, directs that by four o´clock tommorow morning the attacking columns shall be stationed within gunshot of the first line of entrenchments for the purpose of making the assault...”⁶⁴. The numerical strength was not computed, but it can be assumed that about 1600-4000 men took part in the action.⁶⁵ At dusk on March 5th Mexican fire, which had incessantly filled the air for 12 days, suddenly ceased. Travis ordered three lookouts outside the fort, but they soon fell asleep.

And so did the rest of the fort. The men had gone beyond their physical capabilities, having been awake and alert for days. Their bodies were yearning for sleep. The final assault came before daybreak on the morning of March 6th , 1836, as columns of Mexican soldiers emerged from the predawn darkness, which was now filled by the sounding of the deguello ⁶⁶, “a hymn of hate and merciless death”⁶⁷,and headed for the Alamo's walls. Travis is said to have been one of the first to recognize the upcomimg assault. According to his slave, he shouted: “The Mexicans are upon us; Give ´em Hell, boys!”⁶⁸ Soon afterwards, every defender was at his post. The Mexicans suffered enormous casualties, trying to penetrate the Alamo through the breach. As they were so many, and they had never been trained for a professional attack, they found themselves trapped by their own men, being shot at by the defenders from above. Ironically, Mexican grapeshot took the greatest toll of Mexican lives. It was there, that Colonel Travis died, presumably as one of the first in the battle. Being numerically extremely overpowering, the Mexicans entered the fort eventually trough the northern rear gate. Now the defenders left their posts, either in order to flee and abandon the fort, or to seek shelter in the barracks. But the Mexicans used cannons now to blast open the doors of the barracks, and thus on by one the buildings were taken and none was spared. Now only the church was left, with eleven defenders. The pride of the Alamo itself, the 18-pounder cannon, blasted away the church. Obeying their General, who had demanded that no mercy should be given, no Texian combatant was spared. The women and children who were hiding in the chapel were taken out and taken prisoner. The dead Texians were collected into three piles and burned. The whole assault lasted about one and a half hours.⁶⁹ The Alamo was nearly entirely destroyed during the battle and after the war. Today, the chapel is the only remaining building of the Alamo and certainly the building people think of when they hear the word “Alamo”. (appendix)

2.2.3. The outcome of the War

After the battle of the Alamo, winning the war seemed all but a naive pipe dream for theTexians. Yet on April 21st 1836, this pipe dream became reality. How could this have been achieved?

Being informed about the fall of the Alamo, the Texians, now realized that fighting was the only recourse. A new army was formed, with Houston at its head. The latter ordered Fannin to withraw his troops from Goliad, but again, Fannin hesitated and remained were he was. This time his hesitating was a lethal mistake. The Mexicans started a siege at Goliad, just as they had done at the Alamo. But this is the only parallel to the Alamo. Fannin surrendered, which had the same effect as if he had not. All were killed. At the same time Houston, was gathering more and more men.⁷⁰ By early April the Texian Army amounted to about 1100 men, facing about 1250 men of Santa Anna.⁷¹ Yet, Houston decided to play “cops and robbers” with the Mexicans, running away from them, and allowing them to raid the Texian settlements. Of course this behaviour caused a mutinous mood in Houston´s army, but it would soon prove to be just the right strategy. Near San Jacinto, almost at the border to the U.S. Houston attacked. “...Santa Anna had allowed himself to be drawn into the cardinal blunder of overconfidence.”⁷² The Mexicans were trapped and they were attacked totally unprepared. The Texians avenged the loss of the casualties of Goliad and the Alamo, and thus the battle became a slaughter. “Remember the Alamo!” was the battlecry of the Texians, “Me no Alamo!” the reply of many Mexicans pleading for mercy. The final count of the battle was nine Texians killed and 650 Mexcians mortally wounded. 700 Mexicans escaped and 300, including Santa Anna were captured.⁷³ El Presidente was willing to make concessions now, as he was in an understandably awkward position, thus he ordered the remaining Mexican forces to withdraw from Texas. The war was won for Texas. Three months later Houston was elected President of the Republic of Texas, which would exist for only 14 years. In 1850 Texas was admitted to the United States of America, becoming its 28th state.⁷⁴

2.3. Fact and fiction

“The majority of the stories about the Alamo fight have been partly legendary, partly hearsay and at best fragmentary.”⁷⁵, as a critic of the Boston Post puts it. This makes it a difficult task to distinguish between fact and fiction.

The Alamo has all the ingredients, which are needed to create a legend and just this happened as soon as the fort was taken. In the following, I will present some examples of both, fact and fiction.

2.3.1 Bowie, Crockett and Travis – three heroes

Every legend has its outstanding heroes. The heroes of theAlamo are Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett and William Barret Travis, also know as the “Immortal Three”.⁷⁶ Who were these three men and what role did they play in the siege and the battle of the Alamo and why did they become so famous?

2.3.1.1 James Bowie

James Bowie (see appendix 4.3.4) was one of the “great figures of the old Southwest”.⁷⁷ One could say that he was a “frontier celebrity”, as everyone knew his name and the most daring stories about him went around. “He was born in Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina or Kentucky, depending upon the biographical authority followed...”. ⁷⁸ Scholars generally assume that the year of his birth was 1795.He grew up speaking English, Spanish, and French, a facility he never lost. He was a fine looking, strong and tall man, and he had always been interested in the exciting things of life. He liked to drink, he liked to gamble and he certainly liked women. But since these three hobbies depend on money, Bowie soon had to learn how to procure financial means. He had a talent for this. Along with his brothers he started a business in the cane sugar industry which was starting to prosper, then he changed to a more lucrative business by becoming a slave smuggler. He took part in many fights and duells, and he always seemed to be on the winning side. Soon everyone knew who James Bowie, the bearer of the Bowie knife, was. His knife helped to establish his fame at any rate. Designed by his brother, Jim Bowie made his two-bladed knife so popular, that it was commonly copied, and later produced in England for export to the United States.It is still sold today ( see appendix 4.3.5). Frontiersmen like Bowie never rested and so he did not stick to the slave smuggler-business. In 1828 he went to Texas, attracted by the possibilities of land speculation there. He settled down in San Antonio de Bexar, became a Mexican citizen, and married the young daughter of a high Mexican official. No wonder that he was not bothered with the first revolutionary movements, as his whole background was Mexican. He was rather interested in his land purchases and in looking for legendary silver mines. The turning point of his life took place in 1833, when his wife, his children and their entire famlily died in a cholera epidemic. In the “historically accurate” ⁷⁹ movie “The Alamo” from 1960 the death of his wife takes place during the siege, making it more tragic. He joined the Texas volunteers in 1835, and fought in nearly every battle of the war.⁸⁰ The motivation for his engagement in the Texas Army are not quite clear. In the movie “The Alamo” he is shown as a staunch American patriot, which is doubtful. After all he was a Mexican citizen. But considering the fact that Bowie owned 750000 acres of land in Texas⁸¹, it is likely that one reason for his action against the Mexicans is, that he wanted to save his land from Santa Anna and the Mexican rule. He arrived at the Alamo on January 19th, 1836, carrying orders from Houston to demolish the fortifications there, though some historians believe these orders were discretionary.⁸²

When Travis arrived and claimed full command of the Alamo, Bowie did not accept this, and his Texas Volunteers followed him, causing a serious disagreement between himself and Travis, whom he had never liked. Eventually they agreed on a joint command. On February 24th, Bowie´s active role in the military action ended. Some sources mention that he was caught under a cannon causing him a “terrible concussion”⁸³, others say he fell from a platform⁸⁴, but this is nowadays doubted by historians. Most likely he suffered from thyphoid, which is of course less heroic than “fighting” with a cannon.

He spent the rest of the siege apart from the others, afraid of infecting the defenders. This fact is totally neglected in many works about the Alamo. In the Academy Award winning film “The Alamo” from 1960, Bowie does not show the slightest sign of sickness, and plays an active role during the whole siege and the battle. No one really knows, if he died during the siege or if he was killed during the attack on the Alamo. There are many accounts concerning Bowie´s death however. Susanna Dickinson stated that “he was killed in his bed and his body mutilated”⁸⁵, wheras another account says that he committed suicide. In another he was the last survivor, whose tongue was cut out before he was burned.⁸⁶ And of course there are versions that glorify Bowie´s death: “One specifer has it that he killed two with his pistols and managed to knife into the vitals of three more before he was overwhelmed.”⁸⁷

A terminally ill man, killing five soldiers from his deathbed; This is the mould a real hero is cast in. Yet one thing is certain: James Bowie died in the Alamo.

2.3.1.2 David (Davy) Crockett

David Crocket (see appendix 4.3.6), like James Bowie, was a living legend. Born in 1786 in Tennessee, he never received any higher education. He ran away from home in 1799 and worked as a day labourer. In 1802 he returned home. David, or Davy as he was called, Crockett built his own farm, served honourably in the military against the Indians and had been married twice by 1817, his first wife having died. In 1821 he ran for a seat in the Tennessee legislature. He won the election and from then on a political career was his primary goal. He cared about the frontier people and often attacked the President´s policies which made him unpopular with many but showed he had a backbone. In 1827 he was given a seat in the House of Represantives. He was a real attraction Washington, for he was a true yarn-spinner and he soon gained national prominence. He was the archetype of the frontiersman, and that made him intersting for authors who soon published biographical and ficticious stories about him. Life and Adventures of Colonel David Crockett of West Tennessee was published in 1833 and reprinted the same year under the more accurate title of Sketches and Eccentricities of Colonel David Crockett of West Tennessee. Much of the same material spilled over into the first few issues of a series of comic almanacs published under Crockett's name from 1835 to 1856 which on the whole, embodied a body of outrageous tall tales about the adventures of the legendary Davy rather than the historical David Crockett. In 1835, however, David got sick of politics. Considering himself a serious presidential candidate, he was not even elected into Congress. That was an immense disappointment for David Crockett and he blamed his constituency, which made him leave Tennessee.⁸⁸ He reportedly told his constituents: “You may all go to hell and I will go to Texas.”⁸⁹ He was yearning for frontier life again, new adventures had to be experienced. Accompanied by his Tennessee Company of Mounted Volunteers, he rode to Texas and offered his service for the “noble cause”⁹⁰ of the Texian Revolution. Ratherly by accident he arrived at the Alamo on the 7th or 8th of February 1836, where he was celebrated as the legend he was. Later Crockett was assigned to one of the weakest points of the Alamo, the palisade of the South wall, by Colonel Travis. So much for the facts. His action during the siege is as unknown to us as his death, of which there is perhaps more contoversy and speculation, than about any another event in the Texas War for Independence. With no one eyewitnessing his death, this fact is the ideal breeding ground for myths.

One example: In an article about the Alamo in the German magazine “PM history”, one reads, that Crockett surrendered and survived the battle, only to be executed by Santa Anna the same day. This is presented as fact. In “THE ALAMO” written 52 years earlier in 1948, Myers Myers writes that this story was completely invented by an adolescent to “impress some greenhorns from the States.”⁹¹ And further:”That tale, fabricated within ten days of the fall of the Alamo, is now cited in encyclopedias and dictionaries.” ⁹² But even more confusion is added, when reading “1836 Facts about the Alamo...” by Mary Deborah Petite. She writes, that this very story was spread by Mexicans, and she names a Mexican Colonel as having given this account.⁹³ An argument, speaking against the execution is, that Santa Anna himself wrote or dictated that Bowie, Crockett and Travis had all been killed. But he neither mentioned Crockett´s surrender nor his execution, which he likely would haver done had it happened. After all this would have been a brilliant oppurtunity to degrade a Texian hero.⁹⁴ In Tinkle´s “13 Days to Glory”, this version of Crockett´s death does not appear at all. Instead, he comes up with several other accounts, such as the one by Santa Anna´s cook, Ben, who claimed that Crockett was found surrounded by “no less than sixteen Mexican corpses”.⁹⁵

This version appears several times, each time with Crockett having gathered “the biggest pile of dead Mexicans around him”⁹⁶ before having been killed himself.⁹⁷ And yet, there seems to be a never-ending number of other versions. Again, the only thing that can be considered factual is that David Crockett died at the Alamo. Considering all the speculation and conjecture about the death of David Crockett, one tends to raise the question whether there are not more important and significant issues about the Alamo than whether or not the hero from Tennessee piled up fourteen, fifteen or sixteen foes, before either being shot, bayoneted or sabered.

2.3.1.3 William Barret Travis

Unlike Bowie or Crockett, William Barret Travis (see appendix 4.3.7) had no claim to fame aside from his work in the Texas War for Independence.⁹⁸ But he is certainly one of the most tragic figures that can be found in this war. He was born in South Carolina in 1809 but moved to Alabama as a child. He received a profound education for those days, read law and was admitted to the Alabama bar in the age of 19. His life seemed pre-ordained. He would make an excellent lawyer. He married in 1829, practiced law and was the publisher of a regional newspaper, the Claiborne Herald ⁹⁹. But similar to Bowie and Crockett, a crucial turning point took place in his life. In 1831 he left his family, his son and his wife, who was pregnant with their second child. Why he abandoned all he had is not clear. The common story is, that his wife had committed adultery and the unborn child of hers was not Travis´s. In consequence he is supposed to have killed the man his wife had an affair with.¹⁰⁰ Yet this story is not proven. Another account says that he ran away from a debt.¹⁰¹ However he arrived in Texas and settled down in Anahuac. He did not care about the fact that his immigration into Texas was a violation against the Mexican policy, which shows his attitude toward the remote rulers in Mexico City.Travis recognized that the Texian colonies were being exploited and he became filled with rage. The immigration laws, the enormous tarifs, the inadequacies concerning jurisdiction of any kind, all this led to a festering aggrevation.¹⁰² Travis became an extremist about the idea of an independence for Texas and he was involved in the Texas War from the first moment on. He had joined the militia earlier and by the winter of 1835 he had had some claim to fame and was commisioned as a lieutenant colonel.¹⁰³ He was known as a dutiful, brave, proud and puritanical man and thus he was appointed the new commander of the Alamo. His dutifulness and his puritanism were two traits that conflicted with Bowie´s notorious drinking and that is why both never got on well together. With Bowie sick at the second day of the siege, Travis was in charge of the Alamo. He did a good job motivating the garrison by repeatedly promising help from Fannin and the rest of Texas. But his real talent was his gift with words. His appeals for help that went out of the fort are brillantly written and his letter to “The People of Texas and All Americans in the world” (see appendix 4.5) is regarded as one of the “masterpieces of American patriotism”.¹⁰⁴ When he learned that there would be no help from Fannin he must have been devastated. After all he was the leader of men who had put their faith in him and who had believed him that defending the Alamo was sensible due to the prospect of reinforcements. Now he knew that the Alamo was lost. It is at this point that an well known event is supposed to have taken place. He ordered an assembly of the entire garrison, and told them that he had deceived them with the promise of help and that there was neither a chance to withstand the enemy nor to make a way through the enemy lines. He apologized for having misled the men, and then made the famous gesture. He drew a line in the dirt with his sword and said¹⁰⁵: “I now want every man who is determined to stay here and die with me to come across this line. Who will be the first? March!”¹⁰⁶ Every man except one followed him, the handicapped Bowie had to be carried. Of course this story is very pathetic and many historians consider it to be nothing but a myth. It was first published in 1873 by the family with whom Louis Rose, the one who did not cross the line, spent the rest of his life. He is supposed to have told them ths story word by word. He had managed to escape from the fort unnoticed, he claimed. But of course a lot of words and gestures can be made up in 37 years time.

However, Mrs Dickinson reported that Travis adressed the garrison, then left the decision to stay for everyone to make on his own.¹⁰⁷ As opposed to Bowie and Crockett there is not much confusion about the death of William Barret Travis. Ironically he was one of the first to die during the assault from a shot in the forehead. This account was given by his slave and was confirmed by a Mexican soldier who wrote a newspaper article about the battle. Still there is speculation. A report by Texians claimed that Travis comitted suicide, another one says that a Mexican General beheaded his dead body, again another one says that Santa Anna himself mutilated Travis´s corpse.¹⁰⁸

2.3.2 Brave Texians vs. Evil Mexicans?

Legends always tend to see things in black and white. The American point of view can in this respect somewhat be described as “Brave Texians vs. Evil Mexicans”. I am going to try to qualify this picture as far as possible.

2.3.2.1 The Texians

At least 183 men died defending the Alamo, though it has benn suggested that 250 casualties is a more accurate number.¹⁰⁹ Who were these men and why did they fight such a hopeless battle?

2.3.2.1.1 Were the defenders Texian soldiers?

The most remarkable thing about the Alamo garrison is, that there was not one professional soldier among them. They were lawyers such as Travis, doctors, clerks or farmers. Even a Baptist preacher chose to defend the fort. Their average age was twenty-nine. They all fought for the sake of the independence of Texas. Thus it is astonishing that only a minority of the defenders were genuinely from Texas. The birthplaces of 174 men are known to us. Only nine Texian natives are among them, surprisingly all of an Mexican background, thus they were Tejanos ¹¹⁰. Thus it is strictly speaking wrong, to call the defenders of the Alamo “Texians”. The vast majority of the garrison came from the United States. 121 U.S.-Americans defended the Alamo and almost every state was represented. But fighting for independence was obviously not a purely American intention, as 44 men of the garrison were Europeans. Great Britain was represented by twenty eight men, Ireland by eleven , Germany by five and Denmark by one. Some of the volunteers were certainly desperadoes but the Alamo garrison consisted mainly of free men, who had sought to make a living in Texas. The fact that nearly everyone in the Alamo, though not professional members of an army, had gained some kind of military title, is not hard to understand considering the customs of the old Southwest, where everybody could pretend to be whatever he liked.¹¹¹ Or as Myers Myers puts it: “The man who couldn´t collect a fine-souding title in the old Southwest either didn´t have any friends or any imagination.”

2.3.2.1.2 Why did the defenders not surrender?

Although greatly outnumbered, the garrison of the Alamo did not surrender. From the very start of the siege, defending the Alamo with the given force was an all but hopeless undertaking. But against all odds the regulars¹¹² and volunteers fought to the bitter end. There are certainly more reasons for that behaviour than unlimited heroism. One has to proceed in chronological sequence here. When the siege began, things did not look that bad at all. No one estimated the number of Mexican troops to be as high as they were and after all, the garrison expected a large number of reinforcements from Colonel Fannin and from the rest of the state. The motivations to take part in the fight were of course very different. Some, though very few, had homes to protect in Texas. Some volunteers from the United States planned to settle down in Texas after the war, thus had a proprietary interest. A greater number fought for the sake of their loyalty to their leaders. Travis had brought his regulars, Crockett had his Tennesseeans who would never have left him and Bowie led a large number of volunteers. After all, they were organised in an army-like structure and therefore one followed the orders of one´s superior. Surely not all of the defenders “were willing to fight and die for the cause of liberty.”, as Petite claims. Of course it has to be admitted, that striving for liberty was a motivation, too. Many of the defenders were children or grand-children of Revolutionary War veterans, so they had been raised with a sense for liberty. Another intention that some defenders could have had for their involvement in the battle, were rather ethnic reasons. During the years before the war, the Anglo-Americans had been treated very unfairly by the Mexicans, and thus some had developed a feeling of detestation of Mexicans.¹¹³ But the question is: Would the majority of the Alamo have set a foot into the fort, had they known that they were stepping into their graves? For Travis and for some others, this question can probably be answered in the affirmative. The 24-year old defender Daniel William Cloud wrote on December 26, 1835:”...death in the cause of liberty and humanity is not cause for shuddering...”¹¹⁴, Travis in his famous `To the People...´, “I shall never surender or retreat.”¹¹⁵ And he always concluded his letters with “VICTORY or DEATH”.¹¹⁶ But the majority certainly would not have fought for such a lost cause as keeping the Alamo in the first place. But why did no one, except Louis Rose, escape, after it had become clear that there was no chance of survival? Why did the whole garrison cross Travis´s line in the dust, supposing this event really happened? The reasons for this are quite simple. The first is, that they would not have made their way out through the enemy lines, anyway. There were thousands of Mexicans outside the fort and the odds that about 200 men could escape unnoticed are very unfavourable. The oppurtunity to surrender on honourable terms, which means to be taken prisoner, had been forfeited since the first day of the siege. The red flag at the church tower in San Antonio, indicating that no mercy would be given, was a constant reminder of that fact. Surrendering would have been nonsense.

Another reason, that no one tried to escape was the feeling that it was impossible to “quit on the team”. Thus the entire garrison stayed within the walls of the Alamo and fought to the end. Yet, during the battle some 40-80 defenders chose to withdraw from the fight for liberty and tried to save their lives by running away instead, wheras it is not known that anyone of them succeded.¹¹⁷

2.3.2.2 The Mexicans

In the common picture that is drawn of the Alamo, the Mexicans naturally play the role of the “baddies”. They are shown as oppressors who cowardly and cruely kill a small number of men who are fighting for their rights. At their head is a merciless tyrant, whose only goal is infinite power. Is this picture justified?

2.3.2.2.1 Santa Anna- an evil butcher?

The siege of the Alamo was undoubtedly initiated by General Santa Anna¹¹⁸. His act of abolishing the liberal Mexican Constitution of 1824, also was one of the primary causes of the Texas War for Independence. But it has to be bourne in mind that he had several reasons to lead a war against the Texian rebels.

Texas, which had belonged to Mexico for centuries was a large and promising region. It was more suited for agriculture than the dry areas of northern Mexico. It had ample resources, even though oil had not gained any importance yet. It was geographically and strategically extremely significant, being a part of North America. Thus it is not difficult to understand why Santa Anna wanted to keep Texas. In his opinion it was an affront that more and more Anglo-Americans spread into Mexico´s state.¹¹⁹ And therefore he acted like politicians nowadays, by passing fiercer immigration laws. He knew that people in the U.S. commonly considered Texas to be a part of the Louisana purchase from Napoleon and thus a part of the United States and he wanted to put that assumption to a definite end. His motivation was to make Texas a state with a Spanish or Hispanic population and he knew that a Texas with a high number of Anglo-American inhabitants would be a long-term problem in achieving this goal. After all he knew exactly what it meant to fight for independece, having played a major role in the Mexican War of Independence in the 1820´s.¹²⁰

The actual realization of this plan can be seen ambivalently. From the start, he made it clear that no mercy would be given to the defenders of the Alamo, if they did not surrender within the first day. But this behaviour is understandable considering the fact that he dealt with rebels. And the defenders of the Alamo surely were rebels. On the other hand, Santa Anna was never interested in harming non-combatants. On February 29, he offered amnesty to any Tejano¹²¹ within the Alamo willing to leave the fort.¹²²

This shows that he only concentrated on the Anglo-Americans in the Alamo. General Santa Anna played no direct role in the battle, indeed.¹²³ He watched it from San Antonio in a safe distance. It can be disputed whether he ordered or permitted any war crimes. In fact, women and children were spared, and even the slaves of Travis and Bowie were not harmed,¹²⁴ and released soon after the battle. The sick defenders in the hospital of the Alamo were all killed, however.

The most merciless and humiliating act of the General was certainly the burning of the dead, which was a “final, cruel insult to the dead”¹²⁵ to speak in Petite´s words. Of course this was a terrible act, considering the Christian belief, that the body has to be buried in order to resurrect the Second Coming.¹²⁶ After all, cremation was not commonly practiced yet. The reason for this unusual treatment are not known to us, but it can be assumed that he wanted to give “an example to all the revolutionaries in North America (...) of what would happen to those who followed their `manifest destiny´.”.¹²⁷ Indeed it had a certain effect as the Texians took the burning of the Alamo garrison “as final evidence of his (Santa Anna´s) evil.”

2.3.2.2.2 Cruel Mexicans?

The behaviour of the Mexicans seems particularly cruel.With such an overwhelming majority in numbers one might argue, it would not have been neccessary to fight in such a frenzy, mutilating corpses, killing sick, or just shooting at everything that moved.¹²⁸ Tinkle writes of an “orgy of violence”¹²⁹ quoting a Mexican officer who reported that his comrades “became uncontrollable and (...) fell to killing one another, not being able to distinguish friend from foe.”¹³⁰

It would be too simple to say that the Mexicans were just obeying their leader Santa Anna who had ordered that no mercy should be given. One has to be aware of what had happened during the siege. After all, not one Texian had been killed before the final assault, wheras the Mexican Army had suffered many casualties due to the excellent marksmen within the Alamo walls. Having lost many comrades against a faceless enemy, the Mexicans sought revenge. Also, with the attacking columns completely exposed to the enemy, the assault was something like a kamikaze mission and it is not very surprising that, face to face of death, many Mexicans must have lost their minds and become killing machines.

It is a sad fact that every war has its atrocities and the Texians were by no means more sensitive than the Mexicans. At the battle of San Jacinto the Texians killed 650 Mexicans, which equals, according to Petite, the number of fallen Texians in the entire revolution. The wartime atrocities that are reported about that event, are not one bit less cruel than the ones that the Mexicans committed on the morning of March 6th , 1836.¹³¹ This is no justification for the war crimes of the battle of the Alamo but blaming the Mexicans for their outstanding cruelty shows a very one-sided perspective.Thus it is highly dissapointing that neither Tinkle nor Myers Myers critisise the Texians for the slaughter of San Jacinto but report of the Mexican atrocities extensively. Seen from this point of view, the title of the chapter in which Myers Myers deals with San Jacinto, “THE PAY-OFF” is very cynical.

2.3.2.3 Why were there nearly no reinforcements?

During the entire siege the Alamo garrison hoped for reinforcements. But apart from the “Gonzales Thirty-Two” no one arrived to support the beleaguered fort. Why was this the case?

The man Colonel Travis put his entire faith in, was Colonel Fannin. He was the commander of almost 500 volunteers from the U.S., who were stationed in Goliad, a fort located about 100 miles from the Alamo. James Walker Fannin was very indecisive about acting on this issue. When he received Travis´ pleas for help on February 25th , he felt justified in his opinion that the Alamo should never have been garrisoned. Nevertheless he did act. Accompanied by 400 of his men and several pieces of artillery he headed for San Antonio on February 28th. But they were inadequately equipped, lacking ammunition, food rations and even clothes, a circumstance that made the group move very slowly. Halfway to the Alamo, Fannin chose to return to Goliad. He had been reported that there were Mexican troops heading for this fort and he felt it was his primary duty to defend it.¹³² If he had not hesitated for three days, he would probably have arrived at the Alamo, but it is doubtful that his 400 men would have made a difference to the outcome of the siege, considering the fact that they would never have made their way into the Alamo.

Another question is why no one else came to support the Alamo. All of Travis´s requests for help had been successfully delivered and the people in Texas knew what was going on in San Antonio de Bexar. But his pleas were obviously not taken seriously by some. Sam Houston was one of those. According to one report Houston “swore that he believed it (Travis´s report) to be a damn lie (...) for there were no Mexican forces there..”¹³³. He believed that Travis planned to sustain his popularity. With such an important man doubting the siege of the Alamo it is understandable, why many Texians did the same. And those who did believe Travis, probably hesitated because going to the Alamo with a small number of men meant nothing less than suicide.

2.3.3. Contradictory numbers

When dealing with the Alamo one has to be very tolerant concerning numbers and statistics for every source has different ones for every single event of the Alamo.

This starts with the garrison. In one letter written midway in the siege, Travis said he had 150 men. But this number was doubted very soon after the battle, even Dr. Sutherland who had been in the Alamo before the siege indicated that this number was wrong. According to Myers Myers the garrison, meaning combatants, counted close to 200, the reinforcements from Gonzales not included.¹³⁴ Petite says that “at least 183 men died defending the Alamo, although evidence suggests that as many as 250 to 260 lost their lives...”¹³⁵. An American scholastic work claims that “approximately 140 men waited inside the Alamo...”¹³⁶ Tinkle writes about a “story how 182 men fought a losing battle...”¹³⁷. There is quite a gap between the various accounts, however

But this gap is nothing compared to the one concerning the number of the Mexican forces. Petite claims that the last batch of reinforcements brought the Mexican force to “some 2500 men”¹³⁸.Travis himself wrote that the enemy force “has been estimated (...) from 1500 to 6000 men.”¹³⁹ Myers Myers states that the strength of the Mexican force “can be given with reasonable accuracy.”¹⁴⁰ The number he mentions is 4000 men. The “historically accurate”¹⁴¹ movie “The Alamo” speaks of 7000 Mexicans.¹⁴² The muddle of numbers, gets worse when it comes to the question of casualties.

Texian casualties naturally equal the number of defenders as no one was spared, but the number of Mexican casualties really creates confusion. Petite says that the number of Mexican dead was about 200.¹⁴³ The scholastic folder offers a precise but excessively higher number: “...1544 Mexicans killed...”¹⁴⁴, which was the first number to be spread by newspapers¹⁴⁵, and Myers Myers also considers Mexican casualties “well over 1500”¹⁴⁶. There are dozens of accounts, each one claiming to give the accurate number, a number which is indeed very hard to determine, as most of the Mexicans did not receive proper burials, but were thrown in the river.¹⁴⁷

2.4“Remember the Alamo”: A common saying

The phrase „Remember the Alamo“ is commonly used in the United States. It is applied in the context of a tragic event which shook the whole nation, an event which required and demanded casualties for the American cause. “Remember the Maine” is the phrase used in conjunction with the Spanish-American War, “Remember the Lusitania” with World War One or “Remember Pearl Harbour” for World War Two are typical examples. Each time America was attacked and beaten yet each time the Americans fought back and won eventually. Recently, “Remember 9/11” has been established. This is appropriate because the World Trade Center is a place , “where another group of common people made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom."¹⁴⁸, as the president of the Daughters of Texas points out. The phrase is also used when an idea, such as democracy is attacked or threatened. Thus Al Gore, who had to take a knife-edge defeat in the 2000 election proclaimed in a speech he made in March 2002: "In Texas they say, 'Remember the Alamo.' Across America, we say, 'Remember Florida in 2000.' "¹⁴⁹ He claims that democracy was defeated in the peculiar proceedings which ended with George W. Bush being “declared” president and it implies that the Democrates are going to fight back. Also there are less fitting allusions such as “Remember the Enron”¹⁵⁰, for the well-known economic disaster or “Remember The Titans”, which is a movie about a black football coach.

3. Conclusion

In conclusion I want to deal with the question, as to why the Alamo has become so famous.

In my opinion the popularity of the battle of the Alamo is not based on the fact that some 200 men died there for the cause of the Texian Independence. In fact, the same thing happened to the larger Goliad garrison, yet no one has ever heard of “Remember Goliad”. The actual reasons why this battle has its fixed place in the history books of the United States, are more profound. Yet, I have to remark that I do by no means intend to disparage the deeds of the defenders who lost their lives in a hopeless fight. Firstly, with Bowie and Crockett, two living legends died in the battle of the Alamo and thus it became a matter of public interest as soon as news of their death spread.

Besides, Colonel Travis´s highly pathetic letters helped to create a nimbus of martyrdom which always glorifies events and deeds. Furthermore the phrase “Remember the Alamo” had a self-intensifying effect. It was the battlecry of San Jacinto and therefore the battlecry for the Texian/American victory over the Mexicans. It showed that the sacrifice of lives was a means of attaining liberty.This leads to the next point. The Alamo was a sacrifice by the entire U.S. Most of the defenders came from the States and thus the Alamo represents the general American spirit of “fighting for liberty”, a spirit of which the population of “the home of the Brave and the land of the Free” are immensely proud of. Actually, this motivation makes the Alamo a very current issue. With war in Iraq looming, Americans are more and more forced to justify their behaviour. Apart from the issue of weapons of mass destruction, America brings forward that they intend to bring liberty and democracy to Iraq, a country ruled by a “despotic dictator”. The parallel to the Alamo is that in 1836, Americans brought liberty and democracy to Texas by snatching it from another “despotic dictator”. Coincidentally, George W. Bush is a Texan. All in all, I have to say that it is comprehensible that “The Alamo is a piece of history that every American knows about, if only for recalling the phrase 'Remember The Alamo!'¹⁵¹. It is tragic, pathetic, heroic and it represents the American objective of striving for freedom and liberty. Yet dealing with the Alamo also demonstrates, what is surely not an American virtue: Historical sensitivity and accuracy.

4. Appendix

4.1 Endnoten

4.2 Literaturverzeichnis :

4.2.1 Bücher :

- Katzin, Jana. “The Alamo”,Instant Social Studies Activities,Scholastic, Inc., New York, 2002
- Myers Myers, John.“The Alamo“, E.P.Dutton Company, 1948; Reproduced by Bison Books, Lincoln/London, 1973
- Petite, Mary Deborah. “1836 Facts about The Alamo & the Texas War for Independence”, Savas Publishing Company, Mason City, 1999
- Tinkle, Lon. “13 Days to Glory”, McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York, Toronto and London, 1958

4.2.2 Internet (s.a. Quellennachweis)

http://www.whatsontheplanet.com/wow/ptnr/united/page.jsp?fx=event&event_id=32916 aufgerufen : 1.01.03

http://www.democraticunderground.com/whopper/01/12/04_enron.html aufgerufen:25.01.03

http://www.claremont.org/writings/crb/fall2002/kesler.html aufgerufen: 12.01.03

http://www.thealamo.org/visitor_information.htm aufgerufen :12.01.03

http://www.magazinusa.com/cityguide/tx_sanantonio/c_s_thealamo.asp aufgerufen :27.01.03

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/BB/fbo45.html aufgerufen :20.01.03

http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/TT/ftr3.html aufgerufen :7.01.03

http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/csrpl/RINVol5No3/9-11%20on%20mind.htm aufgerufen :27.01.03

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/04/23/opinion/lynch/main506943.shtml ; 16.04.02 aufgerufen :25.01.03

4.2.3 Sonstige (s.a. Quellennachweis) : VHS-Hülle zum Film «The Alamo », United Artists, 1960

4.3 Erläuternde Bilder:

4.3.1 Titelbild: von http://www.thealamo.org

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

4.3.2 SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAR 1836: von http://www.gnelsonstudio.com/postcrd.html mit Abänderungen

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

4.3.3 The.Alamo.1836.mit.Erläuterung:abgeändert.von http://www.gnelsonstudio.com/postcrd.html

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

4.3.4 James Bowie: von http://www.lsjunction.com/people/bowie.htm

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

4.3.5 The Bowie knife: von http://www.thealamo.org/cgi-bin/ePages.storefront/1570332416/Product/View/9337-399457

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

4.3.6 David Crockett: von http://www.lsjunction.com/people/crockett.htm

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

4.3.7 William Barret Travis: von http://www.lsjunction.com/people/travis.htm

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

4.3.8 The Alamo heute im Herzen von San Antonio: Abgeändert von : http://www.gnelsonstudio.com/sarailalla.html

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

4.4 Karten

4.4.1 San Antonio de Bexar + The Alamo von: http://thealamo.org/bexar/maps&%html

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

4.4.2 Texas1836 mit wichtigen Eintragungen:abgeändert von www.thealamo.org/htm.=kol.tx1836

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

4.4.3 Original-Schlachtplan Santa Annas: von www.thealamo.org/htm.=kol.battleplan

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

4.5 Dokument: Travis´s letter „To the people of Texas & all Americans in the world”

Commandancy of the Alamo --

Bejar, Feby. 24th, 1836 --

To the people of Texas & all Americans in the world --

Fellow citizens & compatriots --

I am beseiged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna -- I have sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man -- The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken -- I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls -- I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch -- The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country -- VICTORY OR DEATH.

William Barret Travis

Lt. Col. comdt.

P.S. The Lord is on our side -- When the nemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn -- We have since found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels and got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves -- Travis

Ich erkläre hiermit, dass ich die Facharbeit ohne fremde Hilfe angefertigt und nur die im Literaturverzeichnis angeführten Quellen und Hilfsmittel benutzt habe.

Abbildung in dieser Leseprobe nicht enthalten

^...

---

¹ Quoted according to: http://www.whatsontheplanet.com/wow/ptnr/united/page.jsp?fx=event&event_id=32916

² “What Is A Texian?” Taken from http://www.thealamo.org/faqs.html#six The word "Texian" was used throughout the period of the Texas Revolution and Texas Republic in place of the word "Texan." The following passage, taken from the November 7, 1835, edition of the Telegraph and Texas Register, investigates the matter:

"The proper name for the people of Texas seems to be a matter of doubt or contrariety: some calling them Texians, while others speak or write Texans, Texonians, Texasians, Texicans. We believe that, both by the Mexican and American residents of the country, the name commonly used is Texians . . . "¹⁴ The word gradually disappeared from popular use following statehood although it could still occasionally be found. Historians often use the term to describe early Texans.

³ comp. http://www.democraticunderground.com/whopper/01/12/04_enron.html

⁴ comp. http://www.claremont.org/writings/crb/fall2002/kesler.html

⁵ comp. http://www.thealamo.org/visitor_information.htm

⁶ Myers Myers John.“The Alamo“, (E.P.Dutton Company, 1948; Reproduced by Bison Books, Lincoln/London 1973); further reference: Myers Myers

⁷ Tinkle, Lon. “13 Days to Glory”, (McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York, Toronto and London, 1958) further reference: Tinkle

⁸ Petite, Mary Deborah. “1836 Facts about The Alamo & the Texas War for Independence”, (Savas Publishing Company, Mason City, 1999) further reference: Petite

⁹ quoted according to Myers Myers, „The Alamo“, p. 242

¹⁰ compare Myers Myers, 15

¹¹ comp. Petite, p. 128

¹² comp. Myers myers, p. 14

¹³ according to: Myers Myers, p.13

¹⁴ comp. Petite, p. 129

¹⁵ comp. Petite, p.127

¹⁶ comp. Myers Myers, p. 16

¹⁷ according to: http://www.magazinusa.com/cityguide/tx_sanantonio/c_s_thealamo.asp

¹⁸ comp. Tinkle,p. 22

¹⁹ quoted according to: Myers Myers , p. 54

²¹ comp. Myers Myers, pp. 55-56

²² comp. Petite 145

²³ comp. Petite Introduction iii

²⁴ comp. Myers Myers, p. 61

²⁵ comp. Tinkle, p. 24

²⁶ quoted according to: Tinkle, p. 24

²⁷ quoted according to : Petite Introduciton iii

²⁸ comp. Petite, p. 163

²⁹ comp. Petite pp.9-10

³⁰ comp. Tinkle, p. 15

³¹ comp. Myers Myers, p.73

³² quoted according to: Myers Myers, p.73

³³ comp. Petite, p. 54

³⁴ comp. Tinkle,p. 16

³⁵ comp. Myers Myers,p. 73, Petite,p. 17, Tinkle, p. 24

³⁶ comp. Myers Myers, p. 174

³⁷ comp. Myers Myers, p.175

³⁸ comp. Petite, p.32

³⁹ comp. Petite, p. 2

⁴⁰ comp. Myers Myers p. 33

⁴¹ comp. Myers Myers pp. 181-183

⁴² comp. Petite, p. 33

⁴³ comp. Myers Myers, p. 183

⁴⁴ comp. Petite, p. 35

⁴⁵ comp. Peitite,p. 35

⁴⁶ comp. Myers Myers, p. 182

⁴⁷ comp. Tinkle, p.21

⁴⁸ quoted according to : Petite, p. 96

⁴⁹ comp. Petite, p. 44

⁵⁰ quoted according to : Petite, p. 97

⁵¹ quoted according to: Petite, p. 99

⁵² comp. Petite, p. 99

⁵³ comp. Myers Myers, p. 196

⁵⁴ comp. Petite p.100 and see 2.3.1.1

⁵⁵ Myers Myers, pp. 197-203

⁵⁶ comp. Petite, p. 133

⁵⁷ comp. Tinke pp.170,172

⁵⁸ quoted according to: Tinkle, p. 175

⁵⁹ comp.Petite, p. 104

⁶⁰ see 2.3.1.3

⁶¹ comp. Myers Myers, p. 208

⁶² quoted according to Myers Myers 208

⁶³ comp. Myers Myers 210

⁶⁴ quoted according to: Myers Myers, p. 211

⁶⁵ comp. Myers, p. 212, Petite, p. 165

⁶⁶ comp. Myers Myers, p. 214

⁶⁷ quoted according to: Petite, p.159

⁶⁸ quoted according to : Myers Myers, p. 214

⁶⁹ comp. Petite, pp.111-117

⁷⁰ comp. Myers Myers, pp. 228-232

⁷¹ comp. Petite 166

⁷² quoted according to: MyersMyers, p. 233

⁷³ comp. Petite, pp.140,141

⁷⁴ comp. Petite, p. 141, Myers Myers, p. 234

⁷⁵ quoted Myers Myers,p.242 (paperback)

⁷⁶ quoted according to: Petite: p. 199

⁷⁷ quoted according to: Myers Myers, p. 91

⁷⁸ quoted according to: Myers Myers, p.91

⁷⁹ quoted according to: “The Alamo”, United Artists, 1960, cover

⁸⁰ comp.Myers Myers, pp. 91-108

⁸¹ comp. Petite, p. 41

⁸² comp. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/BB/fbo45.html

⁸³ comp. Tinkle, p. 90

⁸⁴ comp. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/BB/fbo45.html

⁸⁵ quoted according to: Petite, p.120

⁸⁶ comp. Petite, pp. 120/121

⁸⁷ comp. Tinkle, p. 226

⁸⁸ comp. Myers Myers, pp. 135-152

⁸⁹ quoted according to : Petite,p. 42

⁹⁰ quoted according to: Petite, p. 42

⁹¹ quoted according to: Myers Myers, p. 15

⁹² quoted according to: Myers Myers, p. 15

⁹³ comp. Petite, p.123

⁹⁴ comp. Petite, p. 124

⁹⁵ quoted according to: Tinkle, p. 214

⁹⁶ quoted according to: Petite, p. 124

⁹⁷ comp. Petite, p. 124, Tinkle, p. 214, Myers Myers, p. 223

⁹⁸ comp. Myers Myers 114

⁹⁹ comp. Petite,p. 51

¹⁰⁰ comp. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/TT/ftr3.html

¹⁰¹ comp. Petite 51

¹⁰² comp. Myers Myers, pp. 118-119

¹⁰³ comp. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/view/TT/ftr3.html

¹⁰⁴ quoted according to: Petite, p. 52

¹⁰⁵ comp. Tinkle, pp. 182-183

¹⁰⁶ quoted according to: Tinkle, p. 182

¹⁰⁷ comp. Petite 106

¹⁰⁸ comp. Petite, pp. 121-123

¹⁰⁹ comp. Petite 61

¹¹⁰ « Tejano » : term used to describe a resident of Texas of Hispanic background ; compare Petite, p.143

¹¹¹ comp. Myers Myers, pp. 187-188

¹¹² regulars: semi professional combatants in an organised, army like structure

¹¹³ comp. Myers Myers, p. 189

¹¹⁴ quoted according to : Petite, p.61

¹¹⁵ comp. Myers Myers, p. 190

¹¹⁶ comp. Myers Myers, p. 190

¹¹⁷ comp. Peite, p. 114

¹¹⁸ complete name : General Antonio López de Santa Anna Perez de Lebron (1794-1876) ;comp.Petite,p.53

¹¹⁹ comp. Myers Myers, p. 54

¹²⁰ comp. http://hotx.com/alamo/santaanna.html

¹²¹ « Tejano » : term used to describe a resident of Texas of Hispanic background ; compare Petite, p.143

¹²² comp. Petite, p. 103

¹²³ comp. Myers Myers, p. 226

¹²⁴ comp. Petite, p. 117

¹²⁵ quoted according to Petite: p. 139

¹²⁶ comp. Petite, p. 139

¹²⁷ quoted according to: Tinkle, p. 237

¹²⁸ comp. Petite, pp. 137-138

¹²⁹ quoted according to: Tinkle, p. 219

¹³⁰ quoted ccording to: Tinkle, p. 220

¹³¹ comp. Petite, pp. 140-141

¹³² comp. Tinkle, pp. 159-160

¹³³ quoted according to: Petite, p. 154

¹³⁴ comp. Myers Myers, pp. 187-188

¹³⁵ comp. Petite, p. 61

¹³⁶ quoted according to: Katzin, Jana. “The Alamo”,(Instant Social Studies Activities,Scholastic, Inc., New York, 2002)

¹³⁷ quoted according to: Tinkle, p. 258 (cover)

¹³⁸ quoted according to: Petite, p. 105

¹³⁹ quoted according to: Tinkle, p. 174

¹⁴⁰ comp. Myers Myers, p. 212

¹⁴¹ quoted according to: “The Alamo”, United Artists, 1960, cover

¹⁴² comp. “The Alamo”, United Artists, 1960, cover

¹⁴³ comp. Petite, p. 165

¹⁴⁴ quoted according to: Katzin, Jana. “The Alamo”,(Instant Social Studies Activities,Scholastic, Inc., New York, 2002)

¹⁴⁵ comp. Tinkle, p. 245

¹⁴⁶ comp Myers Myers, p. 227

¹⁴⁷ comp Petite, p. 133

¹⁴⁸ quoted according to : http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/csrpl/RINVol5No3/9-11%20on%20mind.htm

¹⁴⁹ quoted according to: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/04/23/opinion/lynch/main506943.shtml

¹⁵⁰ comp. http://www.democraticunderground.com/whopper/01/12/04_enron.html

¹⁵¹ comp. http://www.whatsontheplanet.com/wow/ptnr/united/page.jsp?fx=event&event_id=32916