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Reference Docs
Jurisdiction Reference
History of Social Security
John C. Calhoun on Nullification and State Sovereignty
Texas
Constitution and Bill of Rights
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The Battle of The Alamo
The
Story of "Drawing A Line In The Sand"
Unsheathing his sword during a lull in the
virtually incessant bombardment Colonel William Barret Travis drew a line on the
ground before his battle-weary men. In a voice trembling with emotion he
described the hopelessness of their plight and said, "those prepared to give
their lives in freedom's cause, come over to me."
Without hesitation, every man, save one, crossed the line, Colonel James Bowie,
stricken with pneumonia, asked that his cot be carried over.
For twelve days now, since February 23, when Travis answered Mexican General
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's surrender ultimatum with a cannon shot, the
defenders had withstood the onslaught of an army which ultimately numbered 4,000
men.
Committed to death inside the Alamo were 189 known patriots who valued freedom
more than life itself. Many, such as the 32 men and boys from Gonzales who made
their way through the Mexican lines in answer to Travis's plea for
reinforcements, were colonists. Theirs was a fight against Santa Anna's
intolerable decrees. Others were volunteers such as David Crockett and his
"Tennessee Boys" who owned nothing in Texas, and owed nothing to it. Theirs was
a fight against tyranny wherever it might be. A handful were native Texans of
Spanish and Mexican descent who suffered under the same injustices as the other
colonists.
Now with the ammunition and supplies all but exhausted, yet determined to make a
Mexican victory more costly than a defeat, those who rallied to the Texas cause
awaited the inevitable.
It came suddenly in the chilly, pre-dawn hours of March 6. With bugles sounding
the dreaded "Deguello" (no quarter to the defenders) columns of Mexican soldiers
attacked from the north, the east, the south and the west. Twice repulsed by
withering musket fire and cannon shot, they concentrated their third attack at
the battered north wall.
Travis, with a single shot through his forehead, fell across his cannon. The
Mexicans swarmed through the breach and into the plaza. At frightful cost they
fought their way to the Long Barrack and blasted its massive doors with cannon
shot. Its defenders, asking no quarter and receiving none, were put to death
with grapeshot, musket fire and bayonets.
Crockett, using his rifle as a club, fell as the attackers, now joined by
reinforcements who stormed the south wall, turned to the chapel. The Texans
inside soon suffered the fate of their comrades. Bowie, his pistols emptied, his
famous knife bloodied, and his body riddled, died on his cot.
Present in the Alamo were Captain Almeron Dickinson's wife, Susanna, and their
15-month-old daughter, Angelina. After the battle, Santa Anna ordered Mrs.
Dickingson, her child, and other noncombatants be spared. Other known survivors
were Joe, Travis servant; Gertrudis Navarro, 15, sister by adoption to James
Bowie's wife, Ursula; Juana Navarro Alsbury, sister of Gertrudis, and her
18-month-old son, Alijo; Gregorio Esparza's wife Ana, and her four children:
Enrique, Francisco, Manuel and Maria de Jesus; Trinidad Saucedo and Petra
Gonzales. Another survivor was Lewis "Moses" Rose, who by his own choice left
the Alamo on the fifth day of March.
Santa Anna, minimizing his losses which numbered nearly 600, said, "It was but a
small affair," and ordered the bodies of the heroes burned. Colonel Juan Almonte,
noting the great number of casualties, declared, "Another such victory and we
are ruined."
The Texans' smoldering desire for freedom, kindled by the funeral pyres of the
Alamo, roared into flames three weeks later at Goliad when Santa Anna coldly
ordered the massacre of more than 300 prisoners taken at the Battle of Coleto
Creek.
On April 21, forty-six days after the fall of the Alamo, less than 800 angered
Texans and American volunteers led by General Sam Houston launched a furious
attack on the Mexican army of 1,500 at San Jacinto. Shouting "Remember the
Alamo! Remember Goliad!", they completely routed the Mexican army in a matter of
minutes, killing six hundred and thirty while losing nine. Santa Anna was
captured. Texas was free; a new republic was born.
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