Remembering the Alamo> Mission-fortress sacred to Texans

SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Nestled in the heart of what San Antonians simply call “downtown,” the Alamo looks oddly out of place.

Dwarfed by hotels and commercial buildings which surround it, the Alamo and Long Barracks, the only structures to survive from the original mission-fortress complex, catch many visitors by surprise as they turn onto South Alamo in the city’s central business district from either East Houston or East CommerceCQ

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__________________________________ Yet the Alamo, meaning “cottonwood tree” in Spanish, is sacred ground to Texans who trace their state’s independence to a battle fought here 158 years ago Sunday. Maintained since 1905 by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, it remains the cradle of Texas liberty.

It was here, at 5 a.m. on Sunday, March 6, 1836, that Mexican buglers pierced the chilly, predawn darkness, with the shrill sounds of “Deguello,” signaling not only the start of the attack, but, also, that there would be “no quarter” or mercy shown for the men inside the Alamo.

By 6:30 a.m. it was over and 189 defenders, including Col. William Barret Travis, the garrison’s 26-year-old commander, Jim Bowie, James Bonham and Davy Crockett, lay dead.

Most of the Alamo’s defenders, however, were ordinary men. George C. Kimball was a hatter from New York; Micajah Autry, a lawyer and poet from

North Carolina; Henry Warnell a jockey from Arkansas. James M. Rose of Virginia was the nephew of former President James Madison.

Two were doctors. And others were farmers and ranchers. Each was a volunteer; none was a professional soldier.

Robert Crossman, John Flanders, William D. Howell, William Linn and Amos Pollard had traveled more than 2,000 miles from Massachusetts to make a new home in Texas. And 32 other volunteers found their way to San Antonio from Europe: 12 men were from England, 12 from Ireland, four from Scotland, two from Germany and one each from Wales and Denmark,

Texas, however, was Mexican territory in 1836, and the men staking a claim to San Antonio and Texas were seen by the Mexican president, Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, as rebels.

Santa Anna marched to San Antonio to quell the rebellion and reclaim the town, from which a smaller Mexican force had been routed only a few months before by many of the Alamo’s later defenders. Santa Anna would win his victory, but it would be a costly one, contributing to his own defeat to Sam Houston, six weeks later on April 21, at the Battle of San Jacinto.

Santa Anna had amassed an army of 5,000 Mexican soldiers during the 13-day Alamo siege. Of that, he committed 2,000 soldiers to the actual attack.

When the shooting stopped and the smoke cleared, 600 of his troops, or nearly one third of the assault force, lay dead or dying, casualties of fewer than 200 untrained volunteers armed only with muskets, Kentucky long rifles, shotguns and Bowie knives.

By order of Santa Anna, the Alamo’s defenders were placed between layers of dry wood and, at about 5 p.m., were torched. Their ashes were later collected from three sites and, on Feb. 27, 1837, interred in the parish church of Bexar County.

There were, however, survivors — mostly women and children — who had weathered the firestorm in a small room in the chapel. Among them were Susanna and Angelina Dickinson, wife and 15-month-old daughter of Capt. Almeron Dickinson, who died manning a cannon on the Alamo’s walls, and “Joe,” Travis’ servant.

The severely damaged mission-fortress went unrepaired until 1847, when the United States government leased the property from the Catholic Church. The church allowed the army to repair the chapel, adding the now familiar front parapet and covering the structure for the first time with a roof.

During the Civil War, Confederate troops used the Alamo as an armory. The U.S. Army returned after the war and resumed its use of the property as a quartermaster’s depot. The state eventually bought the mission building in 1883, paying the Catholic Church $20,000 for the property.

The Long Barracks, where many of the Alamo’s defenders converged in a prearranged battle plan to make their final stand, was sold in 1877 to a merchant who used the building as a warehouse. It remained in private ownership until 1904 when the Daughters of the Republic of Texas bought it, then gave the title to the state.

Today, the Alamo and Long Barracks are maintained as shrines and museums by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas. The DRT also operates a research library on the grounds.

Among the artifacts housed in the Alamo is “Old Betsy,” a flintlock rifle, later converted to a half-stock percussion rifle, which Crockett owned but left with his son before leaving for Texas. Also owned by Crockett and on display, are a tin box and beard brush found inside the Alamo after the battle, and a beaded buckskin vest with onyx buttons.

Bowie knives, guns, swords and rifle and cannon balls abound. But the most poignant reminder left behind by an Alamo defender is a gold ring with a cat’s-eye stone, worn by Travis during the siege.

On March 5, just hours before the battle, Travis removed the ring from his finger, slipped it on a piece of string and placed it around the neck of 15-month-old Angelina Dickinson.

The Alamo is open 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday; 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday and holidays; closed Dec. 24 and 25. For information call (210) 225-1391.