Memorial Day, Part Five - The Alamo, Texas

Continuing our special Memorial Day series, there are few places in the world as recognizable or moving as an old mission chapel in the heart of San Antonio, Texas.

Since it fell to overwhelming odds on a cold March morning in 1836, the Alamo has been a focal point of emotion. And despite revisionist history that often seems pre-determined to tear apart its story rather than interpret it, the Alamo still stands as a dramatic symbol of liberty and a fight for independence.

Originally built during the 1700s as Mission San Antonio de Valero, the Alamo originally served as a place of peace. Resident friars ministered to local Native Americans, working to bring the Indians to Christianity and helping them raise better crops for the support of their community and families. Its Christian purposes fulfilled, the mission was abandoned by the Church in 1793 and for a decade was allowed to crumble.

In 1803, however, it gained new life as a military post. Assigned to the original garrison was the Second Flying Company from the Alamo de Parras area of Mexico. Some believe it was from the presence of this unit that the structure gained its present name, but others believe the name originated from the Spanish name for a grove of cottonwood trees that once grew on the site.

Captured in 1835 by Texas revolutionaries, the old mission soon became the scene of a monumental battle. In February and March of 1836, a small garrison of defenders held the crumbling mission against an overwhelming Mexican army led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. For thirteen days the mission held out against determined and brave attacks by Santa Anna's troops.

On the final day of the battle, Santa Anna attacked the Alamo from all four sides. Mexican soldiers went up and over the walls in a bloody battle to the death. By the time the bloodshed ended, only two men who took up arms in defense of the mission are known to have survived: a Tejano patriot who was confused for a Mexican prisoner of war and Joe, a man who had been a slave of Colonel William B. Travis until the fall of the Alamo. Several women and children also survived. Lying dead at their posts, however, were such men as the famed frontiersman David Crockett, Alamo commander William B. Travis, famed knife inventor Jim Bowie and many others.

The Alamo today is a shrine located in the heart of downtown San Antonio. To learn more, please visit www.exploresouthernhistory.com/alamo1.

The Alamo - San Antonio, Texas

If you've been watching television today, you have probably seen video of the massive Tea Party at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. Thousands of people were on hand but, uniquely, they did not walk on the grass in front of the historic chapel.

In Texas, the Alamo is sacred ground. Originally built as the Spanish mission San Antonio de Valero, the complex was later converted into a fortified post by Spanish soldiers. In 1835 it was captured by Texans and in February and march of 1836, because the setting for one of the most dramatic events in American history.

For thirteend days, a force of fewer than 200 volunteers held the Alamo against overwhelming odds as thousands of Mexican troops led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna attacked the crumbling mission. Their stand was among the most heroic in American history and the defenders included Texas-born Tejanos, volunteers from across the South and at least one free African American. Leaders inside the mission included William B. Travis, David Crockett and Jim Bowie.

The defenders held out knowing that they would die if the Alamo fell. Santa Anna had raised a blood red flag of no quarter from a church tower in San Antonio. Instead of slipping away while they still could, however, Travis and his men remained and fought to the death. With the exception of a few noncombatants, a Tejano soldier who was mistaken for a Mexican prisoner of war and possibly one man that went over the wall on the last night, every man in the Alamo died.

In recent decades, revisionists have tried to recast the nature of the fight at the Alamo, even using extremely sketchy evidence to suggest that David Crockett surrendered near the end of the battle. The strongest evidence, however, indicates that Crockett went down fighting and despite such efforts, the story of the Alamo remains one of the most inspiring in American history.

To learn more, please visit our new Alamo pages at www.exploresouthernhistory.com/alamo1.