13 Days to Glory - The Alamo

[rosco11]

Live! Current conditions

[18ncs]

Thanks for the photo.

[Czechoholic]

Thanks for the thread!

[Tmag]

Day Eight – Tuesday March 1, 1836

Thirty-two reinforcements from Gonzales arrive. The total number of Alamo defenders now stood at between 180 and 190.

General Sesma advances towards Goliad to seek out Texian reinforcements coming to the aid of the Alamo. Finding none, he returns to Bexar.

The Alamo's 12-pound gunnade fires two shots, one of them hitting Santa Anna's headquarters.

Gertrudis Navarro (1816-1895)
The sister of Juana Narvarro Alsbury, Gertudis entered the Alamo at the same time as Juana and James Bowie. She is listed as an Alamo survivor.

Enrique Esparza (1828 – 1917)
The eight-year-old son of Alamo defender Gregorio Esparza, Enrique was one of the youngest eyewitnesses to the battle who later recorded his memories of the fateful day. His oft-quoted testimony was given to a San Antonio paper in 1907.

[JWF]

Texas history is awesome

[Jeremy7306]

Awesome stuff


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[Tmag]

Day Nine – Wednesday March 2, 1836

Travis receives a report that there is corn at the Seguin ranch. He sends a detatchment headed by Lt. Menchaca to retrieve it.

Mexican forces discover a hidden road within pistol shot of the Alamo and post the Jimenez battalion there to cover it.

Unknown to the defenders, Independence has been declared at Washington-on-the-Brazos.

On this day down south near Aqua Dulce, following the battle of San Patricio, Gen. José de Urrea's men ambushed Dr. James Grant and Col. Francis W. Johnson's men near a creek crossing; all except six were killed or captured. Grant was killed.

David (Davy) Crockett
Age: 50
Rank: Colonel
Birthplace: Tennessee
In early February Crockett arrived at San Antonio de Béxar; Antonio López de Santa Anna arrived on February 20. Susanna Dickinson, wife of Almaron Dickinson, an officer at the Alamo, said Crockett died on the outside, one of the earliest to fall. Joe, Travis's slave and the only male Texan to survive the battle, reported seeing Crockett lying dead with slain Mexicans around him and stated that only one man, named Warner, surrendered to the Mexicans (Warner was taken to Santa Anna and promptly shot). When Peña's eyewitness account was placed together with other corroborating documents, Crockett's central part in the defense became clear. Travis had previously written that during the first bombardment Crockett was everywhere in the Alamo "animating the men to do their duty." Other reports told of the deadly fire of his rifle that killed five Mexican gunners in succession, as they each attempted to fire a cannon bearing on the fort, and that he may have just missed Santa Anna, who thought himself out of range of all the defenders' rifles. David Crockett proved a formidable hero in his own right and succeeded Daniel Boone as the rough-hewn representative of frontier independence and virtue. In this regard, the motto he adopted and made famous epitomized his spirit: "Be always sure you're right-then go a-head!"

[Etxbuckman]

David (Davy) Crockett
Age: 50
Rank: Colonel
Birthplace: Tennessee
In early February Crockett arrived at San Antonio de Béxar; Antonio López de Santa Anna arrived on February 20. Susanna Dickinson, wife of Almaron Dickinson, an officer at the Alamo, said Crockett died on the outside, one of the earliest to fall. Joe, Travis's slave and the only male Texan to survive the battle, reported seeing Crockett lying dead with slain Mexicans around him and stated that only one man, named Warner, surrendered to the Mexicans (Warner was taken to Santa Anna and promptly shot). When Peña's eyewitness account was placed together with other corroborating documents, Crockett's central part in the defense became clear. Travis had previously written that during the first bombardment Crockett was everywhere in the Alamo "animating the men to do their duty." Other reports told of the deadly fire of his rifle that killed five Mexican gunners in succession, as they each attempted to fire a cannon bearing on the fort, and that he may have just missed Santa Anna, who thought himself out of range of all the defenders' rifles. David Crockett proved a formidable hero in his own right and succeeded Daniel Boone as the rough-hewn representative of frontier independence and virtue. In this regard, the motto he adopted and made famous epitomized his spirit: "Be always sure you're right-then go a-head!"

That is very interesting to know. I hate that there is so much that is not known about what really happened there that day.

[18ncs]

Day Eight – Tuesday March 1, 1836

Thirty-two reinforcements from Gonzales arrive. The total number of Alamo defenders now stood at between 180 and 190.

General Sesma advances towards Goliad to seek out Texian reinforcements coming to the aid of the Alamo. Finding none, he returns to Bexar.

The Alamo's 12-pound gunnade fires two shots, one of them hitting Santa Anna's headquarters.

Gertrudis Navarro (1816-1895)
The sister of Juana Narvarro Alsbury, Gertudis entered the Alamo at the same time as Juana and James Bowie. She is listed as an Alamo survivor.

Enrique Esparza (1828 – 1917)
The eight-year-old son of Alamo defender Gregorio Esparza, Enrique was one of the youngest eyewitnesses to the battle who later recorded his memories of the fateful day. His oft-quoted testimony was given to a San Antonio paper in 1907.

Anybody have a link to this or other testimony?

Day Nine – Wednesday March 2, 1836

Travis receives a report that there is corn at the Seguin ranch. He sends a detatchment headed by Lt. Menchaca to retrieve it.

Mexican forces discover a hidden road within pistol shot of the Alamo and post the Jimenez battalion there to cover it.

Unknown to the defenders, Independence has been declared at Washington-on-the-Brazos.

On this day down south near Aqua Dulce, following the battle of San Patricio, Gen. José de Urrea's men ambushed Dr. James Grant and Col. Francis W. Johnson's men near a creek crossing; all except six were killed or captured. Grant was killed.

David (Davy) Crockett
Age: 50
Rank: Colonel
Birthplace: Tennessee
In early February Crockett arrived at San Antonio de Béxar; Antonio López de Santa Anna arrived on February 20. Susanna Dickinson, wife of Almaron Dickinson, an officer at the Alamo, said Crockett died on the outside, one of the earliest to fall. Joe, Travis's slave and the only male Texan to survive the battle, reported seeing Crockett lying dead with slain Mexicans around him and stated that only one man, named Warner, surrendered to the Mexicans (Warner was taken to Santa Anna and promptly shot). When Peña's eyewitness account was placed together with other corroborating documents, Crockett's central part in the defense became clear. Travis had previously written that during the first bombardment Crockett was everywhere in the Alamo "animating the men to do their duty." Other reports told of the deadly fire of his rifle that killed five Mexican gunners in succession, as they each attempted to fire a cannon bearing on the fort, and that he may have just missed Santa Anna, who thought himself out of range of all the defenders' rifles. David Crockett proved a formidable hero in his own right and succeeded Daniel Boone as the rough-hewn representative of frontier independence and virtue. In this regard, the motto he adopted and made famous epitomized his spirit: "Be always sure you're right-then go a-head!"

I like that motto.

[Backwoods101]

Great read Tmag, thanks

[Tmag]

Anybody have a link to this or other testimony?

Here is what I found on the net.

https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fes14

http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/ccbn/dew...h/esparza.html

http://jamarattigan.livejournal.com/459616.html

Seems he was between 8 and 12 years old at the time of the Alamo and lived to be 112 years old.

[18ncs]

tshaonline.org is a great website.


Thanks for the links TMAG

[Tmag]

Day Ten – Thursday March 3, 1836

James Butler Bonham arrives with news of reinforcements, he is the last friendly person to enter the Alamo. Bonham reports that sixty men from Gonzales are due and that an additional 600 would soon be en route. Travis receives a letter from his friend Major Robert M. “Three-Legged Willy” Williamson carried in by James B. Bonham that details efforts to send aid to the Alamo. In the letter, Williamson asks Travis to hold out a little longer until help arrives.

The Texians fire several shots into the city in celebration.

Santa Anna receives word of Mexican General Urrea's victory at San Patricio. In celebration, the Mexcians ring church bells and there is revelry in the camp.

The lead elements of General Gaona's Brigade arrive, Santa Anna receives 1,100 reinforcements These are reinforcements needed for a successful assault. They now have 2400 men and 10 cannons.

Travis sends out his last known appeals for assistance, stating, “I am determined to perish in the defense of this place, and may my bones reproach my country for her neglect.”

James Bonham
Age: 29
Rank: Second Lieutenant
Birthplace: South Carolina
Bonham reached Texas in November 1835 and quickly involved himself in political and military affairs. On December 1, 1835, he wrote to Sam Houston from San Felipe volunteering his services for Texas and declining all pay, lands, or rations in return. On December 20, 1835, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Texas cavalry, but apparently was not assigned to any specific unit. He had time to set up a law practice in Brazoria and was advertising the fact in the Telegraph and Texas Register by January 2, 1836.

Bonham and Houston quickly developed a mutual admiration. On January 11, 1836, Houston recommended to James W. Robinson that Bonham be promoted to major, for "His influence in the army is great–more so than some who `would be generals'." Bonham probably traveled to San Antonio de Béxar and the Alamo with James Bowie and arrived on January 19, 1836. On January 26 he was appointed one of a committee of seven to draft a preamble and resolutions on behalf of the garrison in support of Governor Henry Smith.

He was sent by Travis to obtain aid for the garrison at Bexar on or about February 16, 1836. He returned to the Alamo on March 3, bearing through the Mexican lines a letter from Robert M. Williamson assuring Travis that help was on its way and urging him to hold out. Bonham died in the battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836. He is believed to have died manning one of the cannons in the interior of the Alamo chapel.

[Backwoods101]

[Preacher Man]

Love these. Keep em coming!