HISTORY'S GREATEST CONUNDRUMS AND MYSTERIES SOLVED
Why should people “remember the Alamo”?
SHORT ANSWER The battle cry helped Texas snatch victory from the jaws of defeat
LONG ANSWER The 13-day defence of the Alamo, a mission stationturned-fort in San Antonio de Bexar, Texas, ended in catastrophe. When Texans revolted against Mexican rule a few months earlier, the response of General Antonio Lopes de Santa Anna – the self-proclaimed ‘Napoleon of the West’ – was to lead a punitive force to retake the land.
From 23 February to 6 March 1836, thousands of Mexican troops besieged the garrison holed up at the Alamo, a ragtag bunch of some 200 Texans led by Colonel William B Travis and James Bowie who managed to repel wave after wave of assaults. But the pressure finally told: the Mexicans broke through, captured the Alamo, and left few defenders alive. Not long afterwards, Santa Anna ordered the massacre of prisoners from another battle, at Goliad.
Although a crushing defeat, the Alamo immediately passed into legend for theand sacrifice of its defenders and inspired men to come forward in huge numbers to fight. It shifted the course of the revolution. When the Texans achieved a decisive victory at the battle of San Jacinto just six weeks later, they were crying out as they chased down the retreating enemy: “Remember the Alamo!”
