The Alamo

The history of the Alamo is normally told by the Tejanos/Anglo settler’s side of view, so the Mexican perception of what happen is normally overlooked. Originally named Misión San Antonio de Valero, the Alamo served as home to missionaries and their Indian converts for nearly seventy years. Construction began on the present site in 1724. In 1793, Spanish officials secularized San Antonio's five missions and distributed their lands to the remaining Indian residents. The soldiers referred to the old mission as the Alamo (the Spanish word for "cottonwood") in honor of their hometown Alamo de Parras, Coahuila.

On February 23, 1836, the arrival of General Antonio López de Santa Anna's army outside San Antonio nearly caught them off guard. Surprised, the Texians and Tejanos prepared to defend the Alamo together. The defenders held out for 13 days against Santa Anna's army massive army. William B. Travis, the commander of the Alamo sent forth couriers carrying pleas for help to communities in Texas. Many of these pleas were not answered. On the eighth day of the siege, a band of 32 volunteers from Gonzales arrived, bringing the number of defenders to nearly two hundred. At this time Colonel Travis drew a line on the ground and asked any man willing to stay and fight to step over, only one person didn’t cross the line. They were ready to give their lives rather than surrender their position to General Santa Anna and his army.

Among the Alamo's garrison were Jim Bowie, an awesome knife fighter, and David Crockett, famed frontiersman and former congressman from Tennessee. The Battle Alamo is known as heroic struggle against impossible odds — a place where brave men made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.