The Battle at the Alamo

The battle at the Alamo is one of the most significant events in the Texas Revolution, as well as in both Mexican and American history. For Mexican President and General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, it was a tale of determination and holding to the principles of a strong, central government. For Americans living in Texas, the Alamo was a venture of small scale Revolutionary ideals; a people should be able to democratically express how they feel their homeland to be governed. As we know, both countries experienced the extreme opposites of their desired outcomes, if only initially. The tales of this specific point in time are many, though some certainly contain many varying details from the next. However, most can hardly be proven, as nearly no one survived the raid, at least on the American side. Those who survived for the Mexican army either had to have their story transcribed and translated, no doubt with various details being lost, or simply chose not to record the events at all. Other than a few scattered letters, the Texas Declaration for Independence, and the small number of tales that escaped that fateful day, we have hardly any documentation or hard evidence of the actual events surrounding those who took place in and around the Alamo affair.

The actual time of the battle was short, its events often vague or at least varied depending on the narrator’s perspective, and the arena for the battle was that of a Roman-Catholic mission. For the Mexican people, the Alamo would eventually lead, though perhaps not directly, to the severe reduction of their country’s lands and open the door to the Mexican-American War. For the Americans, the epic tale of the Alamo’s events would forge myths, convert men into legends, and serve as t...

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