Battle of the Alamo

Battle of the Alamo, battle during the Texas Revolution that occurred from February 23 to March 6, 1836, in San Antonio, Texas. It ended in a decisive victory for Mexican forces over “Texian” volunteers, who were annihilated. It also became a symbol of fierce resistance for the people of Texas and a rallying cry during the Mexican-American War.

The Texas Revolution began in October 1835 with a string of Texan victories that drove the Mexican federal forces south of the Rio Grande by December. This success was short-lived, however. A Mexican army under General Antonio López de Santa Anna advanced north to put down the rebels, and most of the victorious Texas volunteer rebel army went home. Small garrisons were left at several towns, including San Antonio de Béxar (San Antonio), where the Texans occupied a former Spanish mission called the Alamo, named for the tall cottonwood trees that surrounded it. It consisted of three one-story adobe buildings, with log palisades enclosing open plaza areas. Nineteen cannon lined the walls.

Texas Revolution Events

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Battle of the Alamo

February 23, 1836 - March 6, 1836

Battle of San Jacinto

April 21, 1836

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Sam Houston, the commanding general of the revolutionary army, had earlier left the mission with the main body of his troops, believing it could not be easily defended. A small militia force remained. The co-commanders, William Travis and James Bowie, did not credit warnings that Santa Anna was coming and did little to lay in food, supplies, or ammunition. They were surprised on February 23 when Santa Anna arrived with his advance detachment. (Estimates of the eventual size of Santa Anna’s army vary widely, from perhaps 1,800 men to as many as 6,000.) His demand for unconditional surrender was answered with a cannon shot. Angered, he gave orders that no quarter was to be given, and a 13-day siege began. The Mexican forces set up artillery opposite the south and east walls and began a steady bombardment, with their cannonballs being shot back by the Texan defenders until the order came to conserve powder. Santa Anna’s infantry maneuvered closer to the Alamo but were careful to stay outside the range of the Texans’ rifled muskets.

Cold winter weather made life difficult for both sides. Small skirmishes took place with few casualties. On two occasions, a small group of Texan reinforcements broke through the Mexican lines, raising the garrison to what is now believed to 257 men (though estimates vary, with 189 defenders on the official roll) plus families, but many more men joined Santa Anna. Occasionally Texan couriers managed to slip out of the surrounded Alamo with pleas from Travis for reinforcements, but the disorganized provisional Texas government was unable to put together any relief force. On March 3 the last element of Santa Anna’s army arrived, and he prepared his attack.

Before dawn on March 6, four columns of Mexican infantry attacked from different directions. There were no loopholes or firing ports at the Alamo, so the defenders had to expose themselves to fire over the walls. Texan cannon, loaded with nails, horseshoes, and old iron, fired into the Mexican forces and, together with the rifle fire, repulsed the first assault. Regrouping, the Mexican infantry tried again but were driven back. Travis died opposing a mass attack against the weak north wall that finally penetrated the compound. When a cannon covering the south was turned around to meet the attack, Mexican soldiers went over that wall and captured the gun.

When Texan defenders retreated to the adobe barracks buildings for cover, Mexican gunners rolled up cannon and blew down the heavy doors. Infantry then rushed in, and, for more than an hour, room-to-room fighting took place. Bowie died there. Two groups of Texans trying to escape were cut down outside the walls by the cavalry posted there. The last bastion to fall was the chapel, where a small Texan detachment controlled their last cannon. They fired once as Mexican infantry broke through the doors and were then killed in hand-to-hand fighting. The Texan families sheltered there were spared by the Mexicans, but any surviving fighters were executed. Nearly all of the Texan defenders were killed during the battle. Among the dead, famously, was the former Tennessee congressman David “Davy” Crockett. Estimates of the number of Mexican soldiers killed vary significantly, from 600 to 1,600; hundreds more were wounded.

The siege at the Alamo and the fate of its defenders prompted a mass exodus of Texian settlers from numerous towns, an event called the “Runaway Scrape.” Most of those settlers returned to their homes when news arrived of Houston’s victory over Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto. The battle cry of Houston’s troops there was “Remember the Alamo!”