The Alamo
San Antonio Travelog #4
The Alamo - Sun, 28 May 2023, 12pm
This morning we went to see the Alamo. You didn't think we traveled to San Antonio just to cruise the Riverwalk and would... forget the Alamo, did you?
The Alamo was built originally as a church, part of Mission San Antonio de Valera, and was constructed in the early 1700s. By the late 1700s its use as a church had dwindled, and the Catholic mission moved to another location. The remaining buildings were then used for other purposes, often as barracks for troops. It took on the name "The Alamo". Alamo is the Spanish word for cottonwood tree. There are some cottonwoods growing around the area.
The Alamo took on a new role in American history and an indelible role in Texas history in the battle that occurred here in 1836. Texans, or Texians as they were variously called at the time, were fighting for independence from Mexico. General Santa Anna led an army of thousands in to the state of Texas to quell the revolt. San Antonio de Béxar, as it was called at the time, was further west than most of the settlements in Texas, but it was a growing town at an important crossroads. An ill trained force of fewer than 200 Texians defended the fort, across the river from San Antonio.
Santa Anna besieged the fort for several days, demanding the rebels' surrender. The rebels answered his offer by firing a cannonball. "Victory or death" was their position. Equally, in response, Santa Anna raised the red flag of No Quarter. Santa Anna's forces attacked en masse in the pre-dawn hours. Every defender was either killed in action, or executed in the immediate aftermath, and their bodies burned on big pyres.
Santa Anna had hoped that winning in a complete route at San Antonio would demoralize the Texians and break their revolt. Instead it galvanized political will in Texas to fight for independence. "Remember the Alamo!" would become a rallying cry for volunteers. The Texian army, led by Gen. Sam Houston, later sacked Santa Anna's forces near San Jacinto. Santa Anna himself, not just general of the army but also President of Mexico, was captured hiding in a ditch. He conceded defeat to the Texians to spare his life.
The Alamo, once a church, has since become a shrine, a memorial to the dead who were denied proper burial.
In terms of the building itself, note that from the time of its construction through the battle for independence (and for many years after) the mission had no room. It was just walls. The light colored, domed roof you can see in the interior picture here was added years later, after Texas joined the US, by the US Army. The building has many of the features of a Spanish missionary church from the early 1700s, though all the religious furnishings were removed in the late 1700s.
The Alamo - Sun, 28 May 2023, 12pm
This morning we went to see the Alamo. You didn't think we traveled to San Antonio just to cruise the Riverwalk and would... forget the Alamo, did you?
The Alamo was built originally as a church, part of Mission San Antonio de Valera, and was constructed in the early 1700s. By the late 1700s its use as a church had dwindled, and the Catholic mission moved to another location. The remaining buildings were then used for other purposes, often as barracks for troops. It took on the name "The Alamo". Alamo is the Spanish word for cottonwood tree. There are some cottonwoods growing around the area.
The Alamo took on a new role in American history and an indelible role in Texas history in the battle that occurred here in 1836. Texans, or Texians as they were variously called at the time, were fighting for independence from Mexico. General Santa Anna led an army of thousands in to the state of Texas to quell the revolt. San Antonio de Béxar, as it was called at the time, was further west than most of the settlements in Texas, but it was a growing town at an important crossroads. An ill trained force of fewer than 200 Texians defended the fort, across the river from San Antonio.
Santa Anna besieged the fort for several days, demanding the rebels' surrender. The rebels answered his offer by firing a cannonball. "Victory or death" was their position. Equally, in response, Santa Anna raised the red flag of No Quarter. Santa Anna's forces attacked en masse in the pre-dawn hours. Every defender was either killed in action, or executed in the immediate aftermath, and their bodies burned on big pyres.
Santa Anna had hoped that winning in a complete route at San Antonio would demoralize the Texians and break their revolt. Instead it galvanized political will in Texas to fight for independence. "Remember the Alamo!" would become a rallying cry for volunteers. The Texian army, led by Gen. Sam Houston, later sacked Santa Anna's forces near San Jacinto. Santa Anna himself, not just general of the army but also President of Mexico, was captured hiding in a ditch. He conceded defeat to the Texians to spare his life.
The Alamo, once a church, has since become a shrine, a memorial to the dead who were denied proper burial.
In terms of the building itself, note that from the time of its construction through the battle for independence (and for many years after) the mission had no room. It was just walls. The light colored, domed roof you can see in the interior picture here was added years later, after Texas joined the US, by the US Army. The building has many of the features of a Spanish missionary church from the early 1700s, though all the religious furnishings were removed in the late 1700s.