question for texans?

Question

why is it you hold the alamo is such high regard, if you knew that the men inside it were fighting to keep slavery an option in the texas area?

mexico did a great job in making native american and blacks citizens.

actually you would be surprised to know i DID read this in a history book, and wondered why this was so.

A war that arose over disputes concerning the governing of Texas. Local Mexican and Anglo residents resisted and resented the incompetent and remote administration from Mexico City. The right to import slaves was a key issue for the Texans and was opposed by the Mexican government. Fighting first broke out in October, 1835 between troops sent by the Mexican government and Texans. Forces of Texans were hastily organized and not very well prepared, but had admirable leadership under Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston. The battle of the Alamo, in which the nearly 200 Texans defending were all killed, was the rallying point of the war. Tactical errors on the part of Antonio López de Santa Anna led to his finally being defeated at San Jacinto. He was captured and signed a treaty pledging recognition of Texas as a republic, though the Mexican congress repudiated this.

http://www.answers.com/topic/texas-revolution-and-annexation

Answer 1

As a Mexicana from South Texas I admit I hold a respect for the Alamo not really for what happened there but more for its historical significance. A lot of the Davy Crockett and Sam Houston "stories" are of course full of lies and misrepresentations. I respect any building that still stands today that once was a vital part of the city. The Alamo was a mission here in San Antonio long before people died there. It was a Mission and the center of San Antonio. The rest of the "john Wayne' type of stories are just that......

Today in San Antonio- the hispanic is the majority, our city is filled with hispanics, whites and blacks that pretty much get along and have respect for each other. I love our great city.

**Edit to Add correct info: The Alamo was built around 1724 as a mission not a fort. The Alamo had nothing to do with Pancho Villa. The Fight at the Alamo took place around 1836 and Pancho Villa made fools of The soldiers chasing him around the US and Mexico around 1914.

Answer 2

the Alamo was about the "few" standing up to the "many" still fighting even though they were grossly outnumbered. the Alamo has absolutely nothing to do with slavery as far as i know. it was about the Mexican army led by Pancho villa taking back the Texas lands.

Answer 3

Hot flash..! The men of the Alamo fought for independence from Mexico, not to perpetuate slavery. If you have trouble with the multi-syllabic words try a dictionary...and a history book.

Answer 4

Thanks to the Tin Man for this lesson in history althought I have read about the past he did enlighten me again on some facts i did not know. Mexicans are jealous because they have ruined ole Mexico and the Anglos made a huge success of the United States.

Answer 5

Oh yes, Mexico has really done a great job for its citizens... that's why the citizens want to leave.

Answer 6

Mexico made slaves out of there own people

Answer 7

There you go again. Believing what you read in MAD Magazine and the National Enquirer.
What a bozo.

Answer 8

There you go again. Re-writing history.

Answer 9

In 1821, Mexico won independence from Spain and claimed all the land that Spain owned that included Texas. In 1824, Mexico created a democratic constitution based on the United States Constitution. Mexico opened Texas for colonization, offering land very cheaply to new settlers. Many people, both Americans and Europeans, relocated to the area which offered the opportunity for a fresh start. In 1833, a Mexican general, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, was elected President of Mexico, but it wasn't long before he turned his presidency into a dictatorship. He began to collect hi-h taxes and passed harsh and unreasonable laws, making the settlers very unhappy with their new home. By 1835. many colonists began to threaten revolt. Alarmed by these threats. Santa Anna sent his brother-in-law,. General Martin de Cos, to reinforce the Alamo. General Cos arrived in San Antonio, quartered himself and his troops in the Alamo, and converted the old mission into a fortress. Declaring martial law, he jailed people for no reason and soon the threat of revolution became a reality. Almost two months after Cos' arrival, a force of 400 Texans led bv Ben Milam made their way into San Antonio and engaged General Cos in battle. After several days of fighting Cos surrendered by raising, a white flag above the Alamo.

The Texan force of 400 suffered 19 casualties while defeating Mexican forces of l,1OO and gained the most important military stronghold north of the Rio Grande. General Cos fled to Mexico promising not to return. The defeat of Cos angered Santa Anna. It became a matter of honor to teach the Texans a lesson and he began to raise an army which he would personally lead to San Antonio.

In the meantime, despite the obvious importance of the Alamo location, Texas Army Commander Sam Houston ordered the Alamo abandoned and destroyed. Feeling that the outpost was far too isolated, he sent Colonel James Bowie with 30 men to carry out his orders. After arriving in San Antonio somehow Bowie couldn't bring himself to destroy the old mission. Hearing that Santa Anna was marching toward The Alamo, he became even more determined to save the Alamo.


Unsheathing his sword during a lull in the virtually incessant bombardment Colonel William Barret Travis drew a line on the ground before his battle-weary men. In a voice trembling with emotion he described the hopelessness of their plight and said, "those prepared to give their lives in freedom's cause, come over to me."

Without hesitation, every man, save one, crossed the line, Colonel James Bowie, stricken with pneumonia, asked that his cot be carried over.

For twelve days now, since February 23, when Travis answered Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's surrender ultimatum with a cannon shot, the defenders had withstood the onslaught of an army which ultimately numbered 4,000 men.

Committed to death inside the Alamo were 189 known patriots who valued freedom more than life itself. Many, such as the 32 men and boys from Gonzales who made their way through the Mexican lines in answer to Travis's plea for reinforcements, were colonists. Theirs was a fight against Santa Anna's intolerable decrees. Others were volunteers such as David Crockett and his "Tennessee Boys" who owned nothing in Texas, and owed nothing to it. Theirs was a fight against tyranny wherever it might be. A handful were native Texans of Spanish and Mexican descent who suffered under the same injustices as the other colonists.

Now with the ammunition and supplies all but exhausted, yet determined to make a Mexican victory more costly than a defeat, those who rallied to the Texas cause awaited the inevitable.

It came suddenly in the chilly, pre-dawn hours of March 6. With bugles sounding the dreaded "Deguello" (no quarter to the defenders) columns of Mexican soldiers attacked from the north, the east, the south and the west. Twice repulsed by withering musket fire and cannon shot, they concentrated their third attack at the battered north wall.

Travis, with a single shot through his forehead, fell across his cannon. The Mexicans swarmed through the breach and into the plaza. At frightful cost they fought their way to the Long Barrack and blasted its massive doors with cannon shot. Its defenders, asking no quarter and receiving none, were put to death with grapeshot, musket fire and bayonets.

Crockett, using his rifle as a club, fell as the attackers, now joined by reinforcements who stormed the south wall, turned to the chapel. The Texans inside soon suffered the fate of their comrades. Bowie, his pistols emptied, his famous knife bloodied, and his body riddled, died on his cot.

Santa Anna, minimizing his losses which numbered nearly 600, said, "It was but a small affair," and ordered the bodies of the heroes burned. Colonel Juan Almonte, noting the great number of casualties, declared, "Another such victory and we are ruined."

The Texans' smoldering desire for freedom, kindled by the funeral pyres of the Alamo, roared into flames three weeks later at Goliad when Santa Anna coldly ordered the massacre of more than 300 prisoners taken at the Battle of Coleto Creek.

On April 21, forty-six days after the fall of the Alamo, less than 800 angered Texans and American volunteers led by General Sam Houston launched a furious attack on the Mexican army of 1,500 at San Jacinto. Shouting "Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!", they completely routed the Mexican army in a matter of minutes, killing six hundred and thirty while losing nine. Santa Anna was captured. Texas was free; a new republic was born.

An independent nation for nearly 10 years, Texas was officially annexed to the United States on December 29, 1845. With the change in government, and the lowering of the Texas flag on February 19, 1846, outgoing President Anson Jones declared, "The final act in the great drama is now performed; the Republic of Texas is no more."

Answer 10

Sorry, revisionist history doesn't apply. Please see TinMans response and educate yourself on the true facts.