This week we'll be looking closer at the magnificent and historic city of San Antonio, Texas.
Founded on the site of earlier Indian villages during the early 1700s, San Antonio holds a special place in both Southern and American history. Established by the Spanish as a mission center and presidio (fort), the city was already over 100 years old by the time of the Texas Revolution in 1835-1836. The remains of five beautiful old Spanish missions can still be seen in San Antonio, as can the historic "Spanish Governor's Palace" which appears to have been completed in 1749.
San Antonio, of course, was the scene of a monumental battle during the Texas Revolution when a small band of heroes defended the Alamo, a fortified old mission, against an also brave but overwhelming Mexican army led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. The Alamo fell on March 6, 1836 and the bodies of such noted American frontiersmen as Jim Bowie, David Crockett and William B. Travis were found in the rubble. They chose to go down fighting rather than surrender (Note: Please click here to read more about the true facts of Crockett's death).
The chapel and long barrack of the Alamo still stand in the heart of downtown San Antonio and the remains of the Alamo heroes are enshrined at the nearby San Fernando Cathedral.
There are many other points of historic interest in San Antonio, among them the Alamo Cenotaph and the city's famed River Walk. To learn more about this wonderful city, please check back over the coming days. Until then you can read more by visiting our new San Antonio pages at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/sanantonio.
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