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Although all of the Mexican troops had been evicted from Texas, Sam Houston realized that the rebels were dangerously overexposed, so he sent Jim Bowie with 30 men to blow up the Alamo, and then take all of the artillery and troops to Gonzales. However, when Bowie arrived on January 18, he and Lt. Col. James Neill, the garrison’s commander, decided to hold the Alamo, essentially disobeying an order, although they were far from the first. It is true that the Alamo blocked one of the two main routes into Texas but Houston wanted to fortify a line from Copano north through Goliad and then Gonzales, which would block the invasion routes just as well. To be fair, all of the draft animals had been taken by the Matamoros Expedition, so Bowie could not have dragged the artillery away even if he had wanted to.

Neill left on February 13 because his family was sick but Bowie’s hope for an independent command suffered a setback. Since Travis was a regular officer and Bowie was only a volunteer officer, Neill naturally handed over command to Travis. However, the tough volunteers had no respect for Travis and elected Bowie as CO, who promptly threw a party that lasted several days. During their more sober moments, Bowie and Travis basically agreed to disagree, so Travis commanded the regulars and volunteer cavalry, while Bowie took the volunteers.  

A small party of reinforcements, including Davy Crockett, arrived at the Alamo on February 8. Although he refused any rank other than private, a dance was held in Crockett’s honor two days later and the Tennessee men were busy staring at the Mexican women in their low cut blouses when a message arrived from Juan Seguin saying that the Mexican army was on its way. Even though Seguin was the only Tejano leader to support the rebels, Travis ignored the message and the men continued to dance all night. A second warning on February 20 was also disregarded because all of the rebels believed that the Mexican army would not be able to come until after spring but Santa Anna had his own plan.

Travis only became concerned on February 23 when he noticed that the locals were fleeing the town. Actually, the townspeople were a little fed up with the Anglos by this time since their town had been occupied, their cattle and horses stolen, and a number of their women raped. They had little desire to share with Travis the fact that Mexican soldiers had already arrived and told the people to evacuate the town. After hours of questioning Travis was finally told that Santa Anna had arrived but he still refused to accept it until a couple of volunteers rode out of town and saw the advance units of the Mexican army. This lack of awareness should not come as a surprise since Travis had neglected to organize patrols, so Santa Anna’s army was only a mile and a half from the Alamo when it was discovered. The Anglos immediately retreated into the Alamo and by 3PM the Mexicans had taken control of the town without having fired a shot. Only twenty to thirty residents of San Antonio joined the rebels in the Alamo, mainly the rebels’ women or followers of Juan Seguin.

Although Bowie and Travis had agreed to share command, Travis did not even notify Bowie before ordering the eighteen-pounder to be fired, thus signifying that the defenders would hold the fort. Bowie did not share Travis’ romantic desire to defend the fort to the last man and tried to negotiate with Santa Anna, also without consulting Travis. However, Santa Anna was feeling full of himself and would only accept unconditional surrender.

The Mexican soldiers who had formerly held the Alamo knew its weaknesses well. It was merely a strongly built mission, not a presidio (fort), so it did not have firing terraces or firing holes. The North wall was especially weak because the rebel soldiers had been unwilling to dig the earth needed to build a supporting bank of earth 8 to 10 feet thick outside the wall, but the wooden braces that had been constructed by the Mexican garrison to support the earth were still there. Once the Mexican army appeared, the rebels frantically piled dirt against the inside of the wall but it would prove to be too late. However, the Alamo had more cannon than Santa Anna did, and his heaviest guns, 12 pounders, were still far behind the army.  

Command soon fell to Travis because Bowie’s most recent drunken binge was one too many for his immune system and he was laid flat by an unknown disease, most likely tubercolis, pneumonia or typhoid, on February 23. It was so serious that he had to be quarantined, putting his two sisters-in-law into the care of Travis. This situation did not cheer Bowie’s men, since they had little faith in Travis as a leader. Bowie was known to be a tough, determined fighter, who knew how to handle men, understood Mexican attitudes, spoke Spanish, and had moved among the Mexican elite for years, while Travis had no experience and had spent most of the war burning prairie grass to ensure that the Mexican cavalry had no forage.    

The situation was grim. The rebels had twenty days of food but were quickly running out of powder. Within a week, they would only be able to fire a few rounds of artillery a day. Although relatively undisciplined, the rebels in the Alamo were horribly ill-suited to handle a siege but they were effective guerrilla fighters since they were aggressive and fast-moving. Actually, they probably could have slipped out during the first few days since it took the Mexicans several days to dig trenches all around the Alamo and Mexican cavalry assigned to prevent any Anglos from entering or leaving the area were too few to maintain tight control.

If they could have escaped, then why did they stay? There has been a considerable debate about Travis’ motives. One possible interpretation is that Travis deliberately put his troops in a dangerous position in the hope that Sam Houston would be forced to rescue him. If so, it proved to be a dangerous miscalculation since Houston did not have the necessary troops or supplies. Furthermore, Travis was known as someone who liked to stir up trouble, so Houston was probably not inclined to take his reports seriously at first, and to be honest, Houston was not the most stable personality. Travis was learning the hard way that the reality of war is quite different from books and he apparently returned to his true skill, writing flowery prose. He spent much of his free time writing reports on his situation that included stirring messages asking for help. Since a total of sixteen messages were sent to Fannin, which makes since he had the largest rebel force and was most likely to rescue the Alamo's garrison.

A frontal probing assault on February 25 failed miserably, which undoubtedly lifted the morale of the Anglos. However, Santa Anna was more preoccupied examining the terrain and the Alamo was surrounded by cannon by February 28. The defenders endured heavy shelling for a week without taking any casualties, although it had not been restful, especially with fake nightly assaults to keep the garrison on edge. The rebel sharpshooters took a toll of the troops manning the cannon but Mexican soldiers armed with Baker rifles made any movement outside of the walls dangerous.  

The time-honored myth that the gallant defense of the Alamo gained valuable time for Texas has no basis in reality. Santa Anna could easily have bypassed the Alamo and left a small force to monitor the rebels as he advanced into Texas. He halted in San Antonio because most of his artillery was still two hundred miles away, so he was waiting for the rest of his army to show up. As far as he was concerned, he was ahead of schedule, since he had planned to occupy San Antonio by March 2 but he was there by February 23.  

Santa Anna’s declaration that he would not give quarter to the defenders of the Alamo was opposed by many of his officers. However, the experience of watching General Arredondo ruthlessly crush the 1812-1813 filibuster by executing hundreds of Anglo rebels had made a deep impression on him. Santa Anna also ignored the advice of several of his generals to wait a couple of more days for the rest of his artillery and thus avoid wasting soldiers in an unnecessary frontal assault. Unfortunately for the Mexican soldiers, their lives mattered less to Santa Anna than his position in the political pecking order. He worried that General Jose Urrea was acquiring too much glory cutting up the rebel forces in the south, and if cannon knocked down the walls, Travis might surrender, depriving him of a glorious and bloody victory.  

Given the large number of messages that he had sent, Travis had hoped to be relieved by a well-supplied army, but the only reinforcements who reached the Alamo were 32 hungry men without powder or supplies from Gonzales. Since the initial battle had taken place at their town, they felt duty bound to relieve the garrison at the Alamo. On March 3, he received a message saying that Fannin was not coming. Once Fannin had learned that Urrea had destroyed both Colonel Johnson and Colonel Grant’s forces, he decided to stay at Goliad where it was safe. To be honest, this was probably the right decision, since although messengers had no trouble penetrating the Mexican lines, it seems doubtful that hundreds of men could have reached the area without being noticed and would likely have been cut up in the open by the professional Mexican cavalry.

Travis knew that he was surrounded and several people had pushed for a nighttime escape, which seemed likely to succeed. Even if some would have been captured the majority would have escaped, which was better than the alternative. It is believed that Travis was willing to surrender because he doubted that Santa Anna would really have them executed but his troops wanted to keep fighting, although there is no clear evidence either way.

Santa Anna selected his best troops for a dawn attack on March 6 but he wanted to preserve the element of surprise, so the suggestion of an artillery barrage to soften up the defenders was rejected. The men were divided into four columns and each column was assigned a wall. Three guards had been posted outside the walls but they were either asleep or were killed before they could warn the garrison, so the duty officer, Captain John Baugh, was the first to sound the alarm. The Mexican soldiers gave away their location by cheering and paid the price when grapeshot tore holes in the initial waves of the Mexican troops. The carnage would have been greater if the rebels had had the trained artillerymen needed to quickly reload the cannon.  

If the fort had been properly defended, the attack would have been easily beaten off. The Mexicans regularly fired their weapons in a rush because they were badly disciplined, and since they were packed tightly in ranks, they often shot the man in front of them. Worse, they fired their guns from the hip not the shoulder, so probably more Mexican soldiers died from friendly fire than from the rebels. The exquisitely planned attack quickly degenerated into chaos as the men that made it to the walls found that none of the ladders had arrived. However, the Mexican troops continued to push forwards despite the slaughter and they eventually swarmed over the North Wall. If the wall had been built properly, the attack might have run out of steam but men were able to climb the braces up to the top of the wall. It was not done in an organized fashion, too many soldiers climbed at once, they did not receive covering fire and many fell down dead or wounded, but they kept coming because there was nowhere else to go, so twenty minutes after the battle started, the North wall had fallen.

When enough Mexican troops had made it over the wall, the surviving rebels retreated to the rooms lining the east and west sides of the plaza, where they had dug loopholes into the walls. Many of the Mexican troops who came charging down the huge ramp of dirt inside the wall were cut down but the rebels’ cannon were soon turned around and used to blow open the doors to rooms. Although the bayonet proved to be more effective than Bowie knives or long rifles without bayonets it still took an hour to clear out the nests of rebels in the long barracks. At the same time, friendly fire continued to hit Mexican troops because of the confusion that occurs when soldiers in an enclosed space are shooting in every direction.

Even the Mexican commanders admitted that they lost control of their army, which should not come as a surprise given the savage bloodlust needed to take a fort. To be fair, a number of Mexican officers successfully ensured that non-combatants were spared. Bowie was not one of the spared, although accounts differ as to whether he killed several Mexicans first or was too weak to defend himself and was shot in cold blood. At least one man tried to blow up the magazine but was killed and several men tried to jump over the walls and escape but they were hunted down by cavalry. Travis had been badly wounded at the beginning of the battle and apparently kept fighting until the end.
In the end, a dozen non-combatants were saved, including Travis’ slave Joe, Juana Alsbury, her baby, her sister Gertrudis Navarro, Susannah Dickinson and several other Mexican women and children. Six rebels, possibly including Crockett, were captured by General Manuel Fernandez Castrillon before soldiers could kill them. When the prisoners were presented to Santa Anna, he was disgusted and annoyed that one of his generals had contradicted his orders, so he had them all killed on the spot.

182 rebels had been killed at a cost of over 600 Mexican casualties, and many if not most of the wounded died during the next couple of months because of a lack of medical attention. Santa Anna still had an army of 5,000 men but he had not planned on so many casualties, although the number of Mexican deaths would not have been so high if there had been any doctors to care for the wounded. The Mexicans were buried in the local cemetery, but the Anglo rebels were cremated since they were heretics, which was a huge insult to the Americans since it was believed at the time that bodies needed to be whole for the Second Coming.

Once the dead were buried, Santa Anna decided to be gracious, so he had brief meetings with the survivors, giving each a blanket and two silver pesos before freeing them. Since Joe had been Travis’ slave, he was interrogated closely by Santa Anna’s officers, both about the battle and the size of the rebel army. He then freed Joe and let him return to the rebel army, knowing that he would tell all of the slaves in Texas that they would also become free if they made it to the Mexican army.

Within a week of the Alamo’s capture, Santa Anna had devised his strategy for the next stage of the campaign. General Gaona would move north towards Camino Real, General Ramirez y Sesma was to take the center, advancing into the heart of the Anglo colonies, and General Urrea was given the southern approach through Goliad, and all three prongs were to meet at San Felipe, the heart of the colonies.

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Related Movies:

Heroes of the Alamo (1937)
Directed by Harry L. Fraser, starring Earle Hodgins and Bruce Warren
When Mexican dictator Santa Anna forbids further American emigration into Mexico, the colonists in Texas eventually decide to revolt after they learn that Santa Anna refuses to negotiate. At first, the Mexican troops are easily defeated but when Santa Anna brings an army of 5,000 men the colonists prepare to defend the Alamo to the last man.   

The Last Command (1955)
Directed by Frank Lloyd, starring Sterling Hayden and Arthur Hunnicutt
Disillusioned with the Mexican dictatorship, Jim Bowie joins the rebellion and takes command of the troops at the Alamo, where he is joined by volunteers led by Davy Crockett. Although hopelessly outnumbered by Santa Anna’s army, the men vow to fight to the death.

The Alamo (1960)
Directed by John Wayne, starring John Wayne and Richard Widmark
As Santa Anna’s army advances deep into Texas to crush the young republic, General Sam Houston sends a small force under Colonel Travis to hold the Alamo long enough for him to organize a proper army. Joined by volunteers led by Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett, the men face hopeless odds but refuse to surrender. (please click here to read the review)

The Alamo (2004)
Directed by John Lee Hancock, starring Dennis Quaid and Billy Bob Thorton
As Santa Anna’s army advances deep into Texas to crush the young republic, General Sam Houston sends a small force under Colonel Travis to hold the Alamo long enough for him to organize a proper army. Joined by volunteers led by Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett, the men find themselves facing hopeless odds but refuse to surrender. Lacking enough troops, Houston refuses to relieve the Alamo and leads the Mexican army deeper into Texas where he wins a huge victory at San Jacinto. (please click here to read the review)

Further reading:

Duel of Eagles: The Mexican and US Fight for the Alamo-Jeff Long, New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc, 1990.

It is simply an excellent book that covers the entire Texan War of Independence and punctures pretty much every myth about Texan independence. Brief yet insightful biographies introduce all of the major participants. The final chapter quickly covers the Republic’s short history and the Mexican War that followed the American annexation of Texas but focuses more on the tragic lives of Travis’ slave Joe and Susannah Dickinson, as well as the further misadventures of Santa Anna. Long’s writing is entertaining although occasionally a bit too melodramatic, which was probably the result of reading so many diaries filled with florid language. I imagine a great number of Texans must have been offended when his book came out.

Lone Star Rising: The Revolutionary Birth of the Texas Republic-William C. Davis, New York: Free Press, 2004.

A surprisingly long section of the book is an in-depth look at the Mexican revolution and previous attempts by American filibusters and other foreign schemers, including the Lafitte syndicate, to seize control of Mexico that took place during the chaos of the revolution. The infighting among American filibusters, the Lafitte syndicate, former followers of Napoleon, and Mexican revolutionaries makes for fascinating reading. Another lengthy chapter is devoted to the story of Austin’s land grants and the development of legitimate colonies, where the colonists learned to depend on themselves. I am pleased that Davis does not just compare the Mexican Revolution to the American Revolution but also to the revolutions in Central and South America, which is a more valid comparison. However, no mention is made of the steady drinking that accompanied the majority of decisions during the Texan revolution and he fails to make the main actors come to life. Unfortunately, the detailed examination of the background and situation in Mexico means that the battle for the Alamo is covered in a single chapter. Davis also gives some credence to the hallowed myth that Bowie and Travis decided to hold the Alamo to buy time for Houston to build an army, believing that it is an important part of Texan history.

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