“Remember the Alamo”

10 .1 Remember the Alamo• At San Antonio, command was

past down to James Neill• James Fannin was commanding a

force at Goliad• Santa Anna is heading towards

Texas to:1. Reestablish Texas under Mexican rule

2. Rid Texas of Anglo Americans and Tejano rebels

• Texans were not prepared at all for the arrival of Santa Anna.

Texnas were: 1. scattered 2. unorganized 3. unprepared

• Because of this-----Texans would pay a huge price! The Battle of the AlamoBattle of the Alamo is known as the most famous clash in Texas History.

• The battle cry, Remember the Alamo, was chanted by the Texans in their last battle of the Texas Revolution (San Jacinto) and people are still saying it today.

Movement of the Mexican Troops

• Two roads came into Texas from Mexico:

1. The Atascosito Road was to be defended by James Fannin’s men

in Goliad. Mexican Gen. Jose Urrea would be bringing troops

on this road.

2. The Old San Antonio Road would be defended by James Neill’s men at San Antonio. Santa Anna came down this road.

• James Neill in San Antonio at the Alamo gets help from Green Jamison to strengthen the walls of the Alamo.

• Texans fortified the Alamo with 21 cannons.

Wanted: Volunteers to Fight• James Neill, at the Alamo, had only 30 men.

• Sam Houston ordered James Bowie and his men to destroy the Alamo upon their arrival at the Alamo, however, they decided to stay and fight.

• W. B. Travis and his group of 29 men arrive at the Alamo on February 3.

• David Crockett (former member of the congressman from Tennessee) arrived at the Alamo with his 12 men on February 8.

• Mid-February: Neill leaves the Alamo, Travis and Bowie both become the commander. Two weeks later, Travis is the lone commander.

• Travis has Juan Seguin and James Bonham carrying letters to Goliad and Gonzales asking for HELP!!

• Santa Anna arrives in San Antonio on February 23 and the 13 day siege of the Alamo begins. This forces Travis to write the most heroic document in Texas History. P. 217

Fall of the Alamo• Santa Anna is said to have attacked the Alamo

for one reason; POLITICAL

• For 13 days, the Alamo was under siege, with a constant bombardment of cannon balls.

• By March 5, 1,800 Mexican troops surrounded he Alamo and raised a blood-red flag that symbolized “no mercy”!

• Santa Anna orders the attack to begin early in the morning of March 6. Mexican buglers blared the “Deguello” (tune to play that starts a battle).

• Travis’s troops were awakened by the shout----”The Mexicans are coming!”

By 8:00, only 90 minutes after fighting began, Texans were silent. Hundreds of Texans and Mexican soldiers laid dead. Travis was the 1st to fall. Bowie was killed on his sick bed.

Causalities and Survivors:

• Most historians say all of the 189 Texans and about 600 Mexicans were killed.

• Crockett and 6 others attempted to surrender---says de la Pena (in his diary), however Santa Anna ordered them to be shot.

• 9 Tejanos were defenders of the Alamo

• Several women and children and African American slaves were spared by Santa Anna.

Susanna DickinsonAngelina (Babe of the Alamo)Joe (Travis’ slave)

• Survivors were spared so they could spread the word that “Santa Anna is coming to drive the Texans out of Texas”!