PRPG:
Alamo Facts

Remembering the Alamo

March 6, 2014

On this day in 1836, the Battle of the Alamo ended. Here are some little-known facts about one of the most famous and important battles in history.

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  • The Alamo, the building, was built in the early 1700s by the Spanish military to serve as a mission, to convert Native Americans to Christianity. Among the first in Texas, the Mision San Antonio de Valero helped spur European settlement of the region. It was named after the second Marquis de Valero, Don Baltasar de Zuniga, Sotomayor, Mendoza y Guzman, a Spanish viceroy in charge of New Spain (of which Texas was part) from 1716 to 1722.
  • The Alamo, now a museum, sits in downtown San Antonio, and this is where the battle was fought. This was the third and final location of the mission/fort, however. It was built at the headwaters of the San Pedro Creek, moved a few miles south a year later, then to its present location in 1724 after a storm damaged much of the previous version.
  • When Mexico became independent from Spain (and Texas was a part of Mexico), the name was changed to the Alamo, which means “cottonwood.”
  • In 1835, the drive for an independent Texas culminated when about 200 Texas soldiers, led by Jim Bowie and Dave Crockett, attacked the Alamo, a stronghold of Mexico. Mexican general Santa Anna responded to the push with an army of 6,000—a 30 to 1 ratio.
  • Texan commander William Barrett Travis asked for assistance from the Texas and American governments. He didn’t get a response from either. However, 32 Rangers from Gonzales, Texas, did arrive to help. All died in the battle.
  • The Texas army held back the Mexican military for 13 days before ultimately being defeated. In all, 187 men died, including Bowie and Crockett.
  • The battle was lost but not the war. Six weeks later, Sam Houston’s Texas army defeated Mexican soldiers at the Battle of San Jacinto, where Texas its independence from Mexico. Santa Anna avoided execution and signed a treaty in Washington, then retreated to his residence in Jalapa, Mexico.
  • The famous “Remember the Alamo!” battle cry is usually attributed to Sam Houston at the Battle of San Jacinto. He didn’t say it—Texas general Sidney Sherman did.
  • A couple more lighthearted Alamo facts: No vending machine in the U.S. brings in more money than the ice cream vending machine located at the Alamo. Oh, and Pee-Wee Herman in Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure wasn’t searching in vain: The Alamo does have a basement.