The Battle of the Alamo lasted from February 23 to March 6, 1836. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar (modern-day San Antonio, Texas, United States), killing all of the Texian defenders. Santa Anna's cruelty during the battle inspired many Texians—both Texas settlers and adventurers from the United States—to join the Texian Army. Buoyed by a desire for revenge, the Texians defeated the Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836, ending the revolution. Several months earlier, Texians had driven all Mexican troops out of Mexican Texas. About 100 Texians were then garrisoned at the Alamo. The Texian force …show more content…
Aware that his garrison could not withstand an attack by such a large force, Travis wrote multiple letters pleading for more men and supplies, but the Texians were reinforced by fewer than 100 men. In the early morning hours of March 6, the Mexican Army advanced on the Alamo. After repelling two attacks, the Texians were unable to fend off a third attack. As Mexican soldiers scaled the walls, most of the Texian soldiers withdrew into interior buildings. Defenders unable to reach these points were slain by the Mexican cavalry as they attempted to escape. Between five and seven Texians may have surrendered; if so, they were quickly executed. Most eyewitness accounts reported between 182 and 257 Texians died, while most historians of the Alamo agree that around 600 Mexicans were killed or wounded. Several noncombatants were sent to Gonzales to spread word of the Texian defeat. The news sparked both a strong rush to join the Texian army and a panic, known as The Runaway Scrape, in which the Texian army, most settlers, and the new Republic of Texas government fled eastward toward the United States ahead of the advancing …show more content…
The last group of Mexican soldiers in the region—commanded by Santa Anna's brother-in-law, General Martín Perfecto de Cos—surrendered on December 9 following the siege of Béxar. By this point, the Texian Army was dominated by very recent arrivals to the region, primarily adventurers from the United States. Many Texas settlers, unprepared for a long campaign, had returned home. Angered by what he perceived to be American interference in Mexican affairs, Santa Anna spearheaded a resolution classifying foreigners found fighting in Texas as pirates. The resolution effectively banned the taking of prisoners of war: in this period of time, captured pirates were executed immediately. Santa Anna reiterated this message in a strongly worded letter to United States President Andrew Jackson. This letter was not widely distributed, and it is unlikely that most of the American recruits serving in the Texian Army were aware that there would be no prisoners of war.When Mexican troops departed San Antonio de Béxar. Texian soldiers established a garrison at the Alamo Mission, a former Spanish religious outpost which had been converted to a makeshift fort by the recently expelled Mexican Army. Described by Santa Anna as an irregular fortification hardly worthy of the name, the Alamo had been designed to withstand an attack by native tribes, not an artillery-equipped army. The complex sprawled
After the Alamo Santa Anna was chasing Houston and the Texas army. Houston retreaded but the government, citizens and his own army did not take well to his actions and called it “ The Runaway Scrape". Even
Many factors led to the Texicans’ decision to declare their independence. The declaration was due to a lack of tolerance for religion, the repealing of the constitution of 1824, an unstable government with an unstable president, and the closure of the Mexican legislature, a congress of nine declared Texas independent from Mexico, followed by a formal declaration on March 2, 1836. After the declaration, General Samuel Houston was appointed commander-in-chief for the Texican government. Immediately after the declaration, hostilities between Mexico and Texas began. Santa Anna sent back up to Texas, but the Texicans fought them off with bows and spears (Mckeehan). Santa Anna’s first mistake was his decision to go to Texas with 10,000 men behind him with no intention of mercy.
San Antonio, Texas-- The Battle of the Alamo, a battle in San Antonio, against the Mexicans broke out, marks the most important of the battles so far during the Texas fight for independence. The battle began on February 23, 1836 and ended two days ago on March 6, 1836, lasting for 13 days. General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, leader of the Mexican force, planned to seize the fort with an army of thousands. Unprepared, the Texans had an army of around 200 men, including well- known congressman David Crockett and James Bowie and not so well-known William Barret Travis.
Sixteen are killed in the Mexican attack along the Rio Grande! In 1821, Mexico freed itself from Spain. Mexico is equal in size to the United States. The Mexican government wanted to increase population, so they invited Americans to settle in Texas. These settlers did not want to abide by Mexico’s rules and laws.
James W. Fannin took over the garrison at Goliad manning it with 350 untrained volunteers with guns, who would be considered pirates to Mexico. When he heard that they were closer than thought he sent Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett with 187 men in all to man the Alamo, The Mexicans sent a man with a white flag to get them to surrender but they fired a cannon ball at him, the Mexicans were so offended about them firing on a white flag that they vowed to fight to death. The battle of the Alamo lasted thirteen days and on the last day in less than thirty minutes all 187 men were dead. To add insult to injury they killed them, stripped them of their clothes and set their bodies on fire (Nardo, 2011). The final assault on the Alamo was brutal. The Mexicans numbered several thousand while there were only one hundred and eighty-two Texans. This historic event allowed spreading of independence, formation of a revolutionary government and the drafting of a constitution. If Santa Anna had struck the Texan settlements immediately, he might have disrupted the proceedings and driven all insurgents across the Sabine River (Survivor
At the start of the film we are set in the year 1836 in the Mexican State of Coahuila and Tejas town of San Antonio de Bexar, the site of the Alamo. We can see massive amounts of fallen Texan Defenders and the Mexican Army invaders dispersed around the battle site. The film then flashes back to the year 1835 where we see Dennis Quaid, Sam Houston, attending a party where he is trying to persuade others at the party to migrate to Texas. Houston meets David Crockett, Billy Bob Thornton, and discusses what Crockett will receive if he moves to Texas. We are later presented with a shot of a group of people having a meeting discussing the matter of what action to take after
With the battle of Gonzales, the Texas Revolution was started officially. More and more volunteers kept coming to Gonzales. Besides, they also set up a temporary state government and a Texan army, who under Sam Houston won several minor battles in the fall of 1835. In mid-February 1836, to avenge for the reputation of Mexico, Santa Anna decided to retake Texas. Mexican General Urrea led his troops and defeated all the Texans on the Goliad campaign up the Texas coast. On April 21st, the battle of San Jacinto started, which was also the sign of the end of the Texas Revolution. Houston’s army defeated Santa Anna’s troops with a shocked engagement that lasted just eighteen minutes. Santa Anna was also captured and was a loser and prisoner of the war. Therefore, he had to sign the peace treaty that led his army to go back to Mexico, indicated the Republic of Texas had become an independent country. On December 9th, 1845, Texas was admitted into the Union as the 28
On February 23, 1836, the arrival of General Antonio López de Santa Anna's army outside San Antonio nearly caught them by surprise. Undaunted, the Texians and Tejanos prepared to defend the Alamo together. The defenders held out for 13 days against Santa Anna's army. William B. Travis, the commander of the Alamo sent forth couriers carrying pleas for help to communities in Texas. On the eighth day of the siege, a band of 32 volunteers from Gonzales arrived, bringing the number of defenders to nearly two hundred. Legend holds that with the possibility of additional help fading, Colonel Travis drew a line on the ground and asked any man willing to stay and fight to step over — all except one did. As the defenders saw it, the Alamo was the key to the defense of Texas, and they were ready to give their lives rather than surrender their position to General Santa Anna. Among the Alamo's garrison were Jim Bowie, renowned knife fighter, and David Crockett, famed frontiersman and former congressman from Tennessee.
Now, the Mexican Revolution was just a small beginning for the eventual state of Texas. Back in 1809, Texas was just a provenance in the Spanish Empire and its inhabitants were mostly converted Native Americans and people of Spanish descent, but not native born of Spain. The Spanish born people had more rights and were, according to the law, superior to all others. This and more oppression by the Spanish against the Mexicans (i.e. the Native Americans and non-Spanish born), caused an uprising by the common people that was started by a Catholic priest in 1809. It would take 16 more years before Mexico had won its independence from Spain like the US had from Great Britain.
The siege, fall and ensuing massacre of nearly two hundred Alamo defenders at the hands of Mexican General, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna y Perez de Lebron’s army of over five thousand was a defining moment in both Texan, and American history. For 13 days against insurmountable odds, a small, but very determined Texan garrison force fended off an equally determined Mexican Army ordered to capture it. I’ll discuss the events and political climate leading up to the siege, key historic figures involved on both sides, the siege itself, along with events immediately following the battle. The iconic phrase, “Remember the Alamo!” would later go on to become a rallying cry at the Battle of San Jacinto.
The Texas Revolution was a rebellion against the centralist Mexican government. The rebellion took place between October 2, 1835 and April 21, 1836. The primary participants were the occupants of the Mexican province of Texas. Political and cultural differences prior to the beginning of the Texas Revolution lead to the occurrence. By the end of the rebellion Texas became the 28th state of the United States.
With Santa Anna moving to control Mexico, and taxes increasing, Texans grew restless and rowdy. A Texan, William B. Travis, and a small group of Texans attacked a squad of Mexican troops in Anahuac with the motive that “taxes should not thus be collected from them to support a standing army in their own country” (SOS 1) and soon drove them back. Travis retreated to San Felipe and was assisted by Bexar. Skirmishes and the threat of war with Mexico soon followed. Come 1835, the idea of independence was extremely popular within the territory of Texas.
The Alamo, originally named Mission San Antonio de Valero, became occupied by the Americans. James Bowie, William Travis, and Davy Crockett later on arrived at The Alamo with men to help protect it. Baur discusses that Santa Anna caught the Americans by surprise. They were unprepared and had to quickly gather any supplies or food they could find. The battle lasted 12 days resulting in the victory of the Mexicans. Baur states that “The Alamo is hallowed ground in Texas and memorializes those who died in a struggle for freedom.” To honor and celebrate the Battle of the Alamo, stamps have been issued to portray
was the big problem with the American Settlers, which with in a few years out numbered the Mexican population twice if not more in Texas. The United States had been trying to purchase Texas and other territories unsuccessfully. A movement began to stir in Texas
The Mexican-American war determined the destiny of the United States of America, it determined whether or not it would become a world power and it established the size of the United States of America. Perhaps the war was inevitable due to the idea of Manifest Destiny - Americans thought they had the divine right to extend their territory. The Mexican-American War started mainly because of the annexation of the Republic of Texas (established in 1836 after breaking away from Mexico). The United States and Mexico still had conflicts on what the borders of Texas was, the United States claimed that the Texas border with Mexico was the Rio Grande, but the Mexicans said that it was the Nueces River, so the land in between were disputed and claimed by both the United States and Mexico.