Nice post, Roy.
I have visited the Alamo many times as well as other historical sites relating to Texas Independance and consider myself somewhat of an amateur historian on the subject (Not an expert by any means). One of my reasons for being so interested in the subject, is that siege in the little mission represents the pivotal event that defines the nature of how our views on Liberty and the views of our North American neighbors (North and South) differ, and also what could have been a much different way of life for Spanish speaking people in the western Hemisphere.
It is difficult to explain what the Alamo was about, without reviewing the context that lead up to it. I have recently been researching a far bloodier battle just south of San Antonio, called the Battle of Medina. It occurred on August 18, 1813. With the bicentenniel of this bloody massacre only two years away, there is renewed interest in why so many Americans died, even soldiers that fought under Geo. Washington took part in what was possibly the second highest one day loss of combat soldiers to occur on North American soil. Hundreds of Americans fought alongside the rebels that year. About 1400 soldiers fought against the Spanish Army at the Battle of Medina, but because of a miscue by a Mexican rebel officer nearly all of them were massacred. There were nearly 400 residents of San Antonio that were executed as well.
When I say renewed interest, I mean a handful of amateurs like myself are digging for new details. The battle shares some similarities to the Alamo in some interesting parallels:
1. Many of the Americans came from parts of the deep south that had experienced land disputes with the Spanish government that resulted in Spanish armies attacking Americans in places like "Western Florida" and parts of modern day Louisiana and when told of the attacks on San Antonio by the residents of the city and how they wished to have an American style constitution, the Americans strongly sympathized.
2. The Americans were invited by the Spanish/Mexican people to defend them and assist them against attack and to liberate them.
3. The attacking Royalist army was sent by a rogue regime whose authority was under dispute and in the midst of open rebellion by a majority of its people. In 1813, the Spanish army that came to attack San Antonio had just left a small city on the Rio Grande, where they beheaded Father Hidalgo and left his head on a spike in the town square. Father Hidalgo is considered the father of the Mexican war of Independance and the Spanish Army considered the rebels in Texas as part of the War for Independance. During the 1836 war, two thirds of Mexico was in rebel hands. I have an actual newspaper from the period describing the massacre of the people of the Mexican city of Zacatecas as Santa Anna crushed opposition en route to Texas.
4. An officer by the name of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna took part in both the massacre of 1813 and then later used the same atrocities against Travis and his men in 1836, as well as the massacre at Goliad.
5. Both Hispanic rebels and American born Anglos took part in both battles.
6. When the Americans committed to fight alongside the rebels a series of hard fought battles were won that would not have been achieved had the Americans not come to their aid. But, When massive armies from the south arrived, many hispanic rebels switched sides or melted back into the countryside.
7. Just as Simon Bolivar had fought to have an "American style" constitution, so had the Mexican people. In 1824, only 3 years after winning independance, they created the constitution of 1824, which was almost a cut and paste of the masterpiece that Madison, Franklin, Sherman and our American founding philosophers. It was Santa Anna that took over the government, suspended the constitution and started the war that the Alamo was a part of. For that reason, the flag that flew over the Alamo, was emblazoned with "1824".
As the Mexican people celebrated the bicentenniel of their war of independance a year ago, will they in August of 2013 remember the names of Augustus Magee, Samuel_Kemper, or Reuben Ross who fought in 1813 on their behalf so they could share the blessings of Liberty.
Ironically, many of the ancestors of the Spanish rebels of San Antonio now live with those freedoms today, but only because Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna in a swamp just south of the Metropolis that bears his name. The ancestors of Zacatecas, south of the Rio Grande lost that chance, and so did their great great grand children. So now those ancestors gain those freedoms by means that are dangerous, but not nearly as dangerous as those employed by Magee, Kemper, Ross, Travis, Crockett, Bowie, and Houston..... they cross a river and climb a fence.
One can only wonder what might have been for his countrymen, had Santa Anna never been born.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Kemperhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Medinahttp://alamostudies.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=alamohistory
