Today In Western History: The Alamo Falls

Today at 5:00pm, in 1836, a dreadful silence breaks out over a former mission and important but indefensible, and undermanned fort as the shelling stops. The shelling is over, and the uneasy quiet is louder than the shelling that had preceded it.  The leader of the men in the makeshift fort, Col. William Barrett Travis  uses the time to separate

William Barrett Travis, Commander of the Alamo
William Barrett Travis,
Commander of the Alamo

the men from the boys as he takes his sword and draws a line in the sand.  Anyone who wishes to leave the fort may do so without question or shame, as those who stay behind are aware they are fighting to the death.   One hundred and eighty-seven men will cross the line to stand beside him.  Of these men, some are recognizable names to the world.  One is a former congressman from Tennessee, David Crockett, known to all as Davy Crockett.  Another man

Davy Crockett, Indian fighter, politician, and hero of the Alamo
Davy Crockett, Indian fighter, politician, and hero of the Alamo

is a citizen of the bayous, and a well-known fighter in his own right, known for the fancy piece of cutlery named in

Bowie knife 300px

 

James Bowie, Hero of the Alamo
James Bowie,
Hero of the Alamo

his honor.  He is James Bowie, known to all as the great knife-fighter, Jim Bowie.  The men at the Alamo know what they are dying for, it is their task to buy time for General Sam Houston to turn his undisciplined Texas forces into

Sam Houston
Sam Houston, Texas Governor and Hero of Texas’s War of Independence

a real army to defeat General Santa Anna.  Across the way, General Antonio De Lopez Santa Anna prepares for the

General Antonio Lopez de    Santa Anna
General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

coming battle.  The fort itself is not the real issue, the real reason for taking the fort is sending a message to the rebels about the uselessness of resistance to his will.  He will take the fort, and punish the traitors and rebels for their insolence and disrespect of his power.  He will not be defeated by this rabble.

                                                                                      

                                                                                      

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Photo courtesy of wikipedia.com