The Alamo: Almost A Hero

By Joe Bob Newman

What were the last few minutes of fighting like in the Alamo? Who was the first man killed? Did Davy Crockett surrender? Who was the last man to leave the Alamo alive? All serious questions that are addressed in the book and the novel “Almost A Hero.” The novel is about the last man out alive. It describes the fighting in minute detail and brings in Susanna Dickinson, the last woman out alive. Susanna was taken back into the Alamo by Santa Anna to identify the bodies of the fallen hero’s, Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and William Barrett Travis. The bodies of the fallen defenders were then burned, and as such there are no graves for them. The Alamo church still stands today as a shrine to Texas Independence. In 1846, the Republic of Texas was trimmed to its current size and became the state of Texas in the United States of America.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Joe Bob Newman
• Release date: Dec 22, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311866233

Joe Bob Newman

I have been writing mystery and fiction books since 1982. I have never considered having any published until now. My career has been in writing technical documents for the defense industry. By profession I am a mechanical engineer, P.E. I have six grand children.. During the summer months, I spend a lot of time in the mountains of New Mexico. Watching wildlife and observing the ecology. i also enjoy riding my 4-wheeler. I built a cabin by myself, just above a stream filled with trout, perhaps i should say am building, I have been working on it for twenty years and it is still not finished, but it is livable, it has electricity, running water and a septic system. With that, I am happy to live there in the summer months and for a week or two in the winter, but I have found that I am not much of a "snow" person.I do hope you read and enjoy my books as much as I enjoyed writing them! Thanks for visiting my page.Joe Bob Newman

Book preview

THE ALAMO

ALMOST A HERO

JOE BOB NEWMAN

Copyright © 2014 Joe Bob Newman

Cover Design by Laura Shinn

Smashwords Edition

License Notes

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, without the prior written permission of the above copyright owner.

The novel is based on actual events occurring in the state of Texas and at the Alamo, the story is a work of fiction. Actual names, events and places are used; some names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents may either be the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

Printed in the United States of America.

This book is dedicated to my oldest son,

Jonathan Newman!

He is a native Texan who enjoys history and hunting.

Other Books by Joe Bob Newman

The Craft (Science Fiction)

When Time Stood Still (Science Fiction)

Phantom Canyon (Western)

The Rig (Action/Romance)

The Executive (Suspense/Romance)

Cabin Fever (Adventure/Romance)

Cabin Cruiser (Action/Romance)

One for the Heart (Adventure/Romance)

Texas Football (Sports)

Lady Texas Ranger (History, Action)

Mystic Moon Man (Adventure, Action)

The above paperback books can be purchased at:

www.amazon.com

www.barnesandnoble.com

(Search for Joe Bob Newman)

Ebooks can be purchased at: www.smashwords.com

Check out these books and connect with the author at:

www.joebobnewman.com

AUTHORS NOTE

The Alamo is an old Spanish Mission in San Antonio, Texas. The original Alamo was actually a compound composed of many different buildings and walls. It took up nearly three acres. In the center of the compound was a rectangular bare space about the size of a city block that was called the Plaza or Parade Grounds. The south side of the plaza was made up of a one-story building called the low barracks. This side also contained the main entrance. Along the west side was several small adobe huts protected by a twelve foot high stone wall. The north side was similar to the west side, except for a twenty foot breech. Along the east side runs a two-story building called the long barracks. Behind the long barracks is the corral which gives the long barracks extra protection; however, the long barracks are shorter than the east side leaving over a hundred foot gap.

Partly filling the gap that this leaves is the Alamo church or chapel, which was in ruins. The church was still the strongest building with four foot thick walls. Various rooms of the church served as storage facilities and as the powder magazines. The center of the church was turned into a raised platform so that the artillery could use it to command the entire area. However, the church is set far back and leaves a gap between it and the low barracks, or the south wall. Refer to Figures 1 and 2, for the approximate layout of the Alamo grounds and surrounding area.

Figure 1 shows the relative positions of San Antonio de Bexar, La Villita and Alameda. It also shows the San Antonio River as well as various creeks and water ways in the area. The locations of the three major Mexican Army groups are shown with their charge routes on the morning of March 6, 1836. The major breech in the Alamo wall was on the north side by the troops of General Cos and Romero.

Figure 2 is a simplified sketch of the Alamo during the siege of 1836. Refer to the legend prior to Figure 2 for additional location. This Figure also shows where cannons were located as well as major building locations. It also shows the location of where Crocket, Bowie and Travis were killed. Susanna Dickinson and the rest of the non-combatants were in the church during the final battle. Note that there are almost two thousand feet of lateral walls to be defended by less than two hundred men. That works out to one man every twenty or so feet, not a desirable defendable ratio. Considering the cannon crews, officers and injured men, that ratio was probably closer to one man every twenty-five to thirty feet. It was a miracle that they beat the Mexican Army charges back two times.

In order to use the Alamo as a fort, the space between the church and the low barracks was filled with a wooden palisade. Also, the Texans had to build parapets and places to put cannons so the Texans could fire over the walls. The irrigation ditch which provided water to the fort could be blocked from the outside, so the Texans dug a well. The Texans also dug trenches in the plaza to give protection from Mexicans should they get inside the walls. The locations of these trenches have been lost to time.

Near the southwest corner of the compound was a small wooden town called La Villita. This town was usually occupied by whatever soldiers occupied the Alamo. The buildings were quite close to the Alamo's walls, so the Texans eventually burned the buildings down.

On the southwest corner of the compound, on top of a roof structure, sat the Texans eighteen pounder cannon. This was the largest cannon on either side, and was responsible for the deaths of many of Santa Anna’s forces and the destruction of his weaponry. Very quickly, the Mexican forces learned to stay out of its range.

The Siege and the battle for the Alamo lasted from February 23, to March 6, 1836. 1836 just happened to be a leap year, that is, there were twenty nine days in February. Santa Anna led the Mexican troops. Jim Bowie and William Travis led the Texans or Texians as they were called.

It is generally agreed that the actual battle of March 6, lasted about ninety minutes. One of the first Texians killed was William Travis; he was standing on the wall and was shot in the head. Rumors of Davy Crockett surrendering or being captured seem to be false. Susanna Dickinson clearly states that she saw his body as she left the Alamo Church building. She was requested by General Santa Anna to show him the bodies of Crockett, Bowie and Travis. There does seem to be some truth that a small band of Texians tried to escape and were cut down by the Mexican Calvary. If in fact there was an escape, the men’s names are unknown as well as how many there might have been.

For almost one hundred and eighty years the story of the siege and fall of the Alamo has been told and retold, the story is now more legend than factual. How many Texans died in the Alamo? How many Mexican Soldiers died there? Where were the ashes of the Texans finally buried? These questions will probably remain unsolved for all time. In honor of the men in the Alamo, I have listed the names of the known men in the Alamo, but others are and always will be a mystery.

By the time of the actual battle, the men in the Alamo were the best of the best; they were all fighting men, stubborn men who would literally fight to the death as they did.

The story in this book is a fictionalized account of men who were larger than life. Though the story is fiction, the men listed in the book were real. Thomas (Stuttering Tom) Bilbrey was a real person; he was my third great, grand Uncle. There is no evidence that he was at the Alamo, nor was ever in Texas, but he certainly lived through the time period. He lived in Tennessee and certainly knew of, if not actually knew Davy Crockett.

In this novel, I have taken the writers liberty of placing Tom Bilbrey, in San Antonio, Texas, during the Texas Revolution. Tom went on to meet Bowie, Travis, Crockett and a whole host of other men, who actually fought and died in the Alamo. He met and escorted Susanna Dickinson out of San Antonio. I have interwoven actual facts and people into a fictionalized account of the Battle of the Alamo. I have tried to keep actual events as they happened, filling in gaps with my own events.

The Battle for the Alamo did not have to happen. The Texans were supposed to destroy the fortress and return back to Houston’s Army. Santa Anna had no reason to attack the Alamo. He could have gone on; found Houston’s Army and destroyed it, retaking Texas as Mexican property. However, the fact that he did fight the Texans in the Alamo gave the rest of Texas the battle cry, Remember the Alamo. It gave Texas a cause to fight for!

The fall of the Alamo and the massacre of its garrison, which in 1836 opened the campaign of Santa Anna in Texas, are still remembered with deep feeling and great excitement. The details of the final assault have never been fully and correctly narrated, not a single combatant of the Alamo survived. Mexican reports of the battle are not reliable. I have taken many accounts of the battle and blended them into my story. I have done my best to keep the story historically correct. Accounts of how many men were in the Alamo vary, but I have selected the number at 191. The Mexican Army was large; most estimates were that it totaled about 6,000 men including music bands and other non combatants. It would have taken a good thousand men or more to defend the Alamo properly. I have estimated that at 191 men, that would work out to one man for every fifteen to twenty feet of wall area. That estimate assumes that all the men were on the wall, which they weren’t. Some were hospitalized and others manned the cannons.

The men in the Alamo called themselves Texians, which was later shortened to today’s Texans. They came from every field; there were doctors, lawyers, farmers and professional soldiers. There was an ex-Congressman, but no General.

At the time of the fall of the Alamo, San Antonio was a town of about 2,500 to 7,000 people. Many of them watched the battle from a distance.

The real Tom Bilbrey was born in North Carolina in 1792, married Hannah Copeland, and had many children. He died in Tennessee in 1860. As the rest of my Bilbrey male relatives have been very big men, I suspect that Tom was too. Tom was called Stuttering Tom as he really did have a speech impediment.

Any story that deals with the Battle of the Alamo is exciting. This story is especially interesting, as it weaves actual facts with what if fiction together, to make an even more exciting novel of Texas history! I have researched countless facts and stories of the Alamo and come to the conclusion that this story could very well have happened.

This book does not cite any references or sources. I have taken great pains to keep the story historically accurate. Many authors have considered what happened at the Alamo, but few have explored it in a time line. The story has changed through the years, I have taken great pains to go back in time and fill in the blanks as accurately as possible.

I spent a year doing research for this book to get the facts straight. I learned much and hope you benefit from my work.

I sincerely hope you enjoy the story of The Alamo - Almost A Hero!

Joe Bob Newman

Figure 1 Map of Area - Not to Scale

Legend for Figure 2

1. Powder Magazines - 2 Places

2. Dickinson & Esparza Families

3. Well - 2 Places

4 Small Cannon’s - 11 Known Places

5. Hole in North Wall, First Breach of

the Alamo was Here

6. Travis’s Quarters

7. Travis Killed Here

8. 18 Pounder Cannon

9. Guard House - Prison

10. Bowie’s Quarters

11. Kitchen

12. Crockett Killed Here

13. Flagpole

14. Low Wall

15. Hospital

16. Large Pecan Tree

17. Place Where Bodies of Texians

were Burned - 3 Places

HISTORICAL NOTE:

As a Native Texan I always felt that I knew a lot about the Alamo, that was until I started doing research on it. I have found much information that I did not know and probably the reader does not know. Included in this book is that data and I was happy to find that it is all public data. I spent countless hours putting this data together in this book.

Spanish Missionaries built many Missions around San Antonio. One was called The Mission of San Antonio de Valero, in 1718. Spanish soldiers named it the Alamo in 1793. The soldiers were from Alamo de Parras in Mexico and they stayed at the Mission for some time. The Spanish word "Alamo means Cottonwood tree," when literally translated into English.

The purpose of the Mission was to convert local Indians to the Catholic religion. The missionaries failed badly. The powerful Comanche’s, the Caddo’s, and the Tonkawa’s refused to be dominated by the Spanish. Not even the Spanish military could handle them.

After the Missionaries left, the Mission was little used by anyone until about 1830. Large pieces of the adobe and limestone walls were missing. Particularly on the north side, the remaining buildings were in a severe state of disrepair. The chapel was the sturdiest of the buildings. It had four foot thick walls, but some of the roof had caved in.

By 1835, Mexican General Cos began repairs on the Alamo to make it a fortress. By the end