Monday, May 9, 2016

Remember the Alamo!

One wonders how any San Antonio visitor could forget it, located smack-dab as it is in the very heart of the city!


Tim and I certainly couldn't!  Ergo, we--along with a hundred other tourists--squeezed into Texas' most famous mission for a look at the artifacts gathered by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT) who, in 1892, began trying to preserve the Alamo.


Thirteen years later, Adina Amelia de Zavala and Clara Driscoll finally convinced the Texas legislature to purchase the property and allow the DRT to act as its custodian.


If the other San Antonio missions (Concepcion, San José, San Juan and Espada) tell how Franciscan missionaries converted the Indians, the mission-turned-military-outpost Alamo tells the story of how Texas became a Republic.  


Outnumbered ten-to-one, 189 Texans fought to their deaths against thousands of soldiers led by the ruler of Mexico, General Santa Anna. James Bowie, Davy Crockett, and William Travis, along with the rest of the Alamo defenders, held off the Mexican army for 13 days until a daybreak assault on March 6, 1836 ended in a massacre of all the Alamo's men.


"Remember the Alamo" became the rallying cry of General Sam Houston used to spur his forces at the Battle of San Jacinto two months later.  That decisive battle of the Texas Revolution turned Texas into a sovereign nation, a status of which Texans today still boast.

Six Flags Over Texas: United States, Confederate States of America, Republic of Texas, Mexico, France, Spain

This is the stuff of legends!  Tim should know; he has watched the John Wayne movie more times than I can count.  There was no way he was leaving this town before he visited the site that inspired that movie.  I was more than willing to go along!




2 comments:

  1. We took the kids to San Antonio for spring break once upon a time. We also "remembered the Alamo." Thanks for the trip back!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Alamo is impressive. I'm sure Brent and Jill will remember that trip for a lifetime!

      Delete