A Time to Stand: The Epic of the Alamo
Santa Anna’s arrival only strengthened the men’s resolve. Writing Jesse Grimes on March 3, Travis stated, “If independence is not declared, I shall lay down my arms and so will the men under my command. But under the flag of independence we are ready to peril our lives a hundred times a day… .”
Such a man was not likely to be flying any kind of Mexican flag three days later. Judging from Colonel Almonte’s diary, only one Texan banner was taken on March 6; and judging from the Mexican archives, this was the azure emblem of the New Orleans Greys. Full details on its capture were uncovered in 1934 by Dr. Luis Castrillo Ledon, Director of the Mexican National Museum of Archaeology, and there’s no reason to doubt his findings. So the Greys’ flag was the one Santa Anna sent home, complete with its boast of New Orleans help. As he pointed out, it clearly showed the designs of “abettors, who came from the ports of the United States of the North.”
The flag remains in Mexico City today, still with Santa Anna’s faded victory message attached to it. Kept at Chapultepec, it is not on exhibit but buried in the files … crumbling to pieces in brown wrapping paper. Thanks to the courtesy of the Mexican government, it was recently brought out once again, and enough of it pieced together to identify it beyond any doubt.
The Men Who Fell at the Alamo
AS THE YEARS PASS, new light is constantly thrown on the Alamo defenders. Descendants write in, correcting ages, home towns and spelling of names. A yellowed land grant shows that some new man should be added to the list; a long-forgotten file shows that some other “hero” wasn’t there at all.
It is now clear, for instance, that Sherod Dover was never in the Alamo. His murder in December, 1835—and the hanging of his killer—is fully described in the land application filed by his heirs. (General Land Office, Court of Claims Application 211, File C to D.)
It appears that several other names should be removed from the list. José María Guerrero, known as “Brigido,” survived by claiming he was a prisoner of the Texans. Toribio Domingo Losoya was in Seguin’s company at the storming of Bexar, but not in the Alamo. He was honorably discharged October 25, 1836. (General Land Office, Court of Claims Voucher 271, File H-L; Bounty Warrant 196.)
John G. King of Gonzales was probably another absentee. There were both a father and son of that name in Gonzales, but the father lived until 1856 and the son was married in 1848, according to the family Bible. Finally, John Gaston and John Davis of Gonzales are probably the same person. Gaston’s widowed mother married G. W. Davis, and the boy was often known by his stepfather’s name. The point is stressed in the application for land ultimately awarded Davis’ heirs. (General Land Office, Bounty Warrant No. 886.)
At the same time, M. B. Clark should be added to the list. The land application filed by his heirs was one of six supported by Louis Rose’s testimony and accepted by the Nacogdoches County Land Office. (Application 203, granted February 6, 1838.)
This process of addition and subtraction will go on. Meanwhile, it seems time to take stock. Here, then, is a revised list of the men who fell at the Alamo, together with their birthplaces and homes before coming to Texas (in that order). In the case of some early colonists, origin is unknown, and home in Texas is given instead.
Juan Abamillo—San Antonio
R. Allen
Miles DeForest Andross—San Patricio, Texas
Micajah Autry—North Carolina, Tennessee
Juan A. Badillo—San Antonio
Peter James Bailey—Kentucky, Arkansas
Isaac G. Baker—Gonzales, Texas
William Charles M. Baker—Missouri, Mississippi
John J. Ballentine—Bastrop, Texas
Richard W. Ballentine—Alabama
John J. Baugh—Virginia
Joseph Bayliss—Tennessee
John Blair—Tennessee
Samuel B. Blair—Tennessee
William Blazeby—England, New York
James Butler Bonham—South Carolina, Alabama
Daniel Bourne—England
James Bowie—Tennessee, Louisiana
Jesse B. Bowman—Red River, Texas
George Brown—England
James Brown—Pennsylvania
Robert Brown
James Buchanan—Alabama
Samuel E. Burns—Ireland, Louisiana
George D. Butler—Missouri
Robert Campbell—Tennessee
John Cane—Pennsylvania
William R. Carey—Maryland
Charles Henry Clark—Missouri
M. B. Clark—Nacogdoches, Texas
Daniel William Cloud—Kentucky, Arkansas
Robert E. Cochran—New Jersey
George Washington Cottle—Missouri
Henry Courtman—Germany
Lemuel Crawford—South Carolina
David Crockett—Tennessee
Robert Crossman—Massachusetts, Louisiana
David P. Cummings—Pennsylvania
Robert Cunningham—New York, Indiana
Jacob C. Darst—Kentucky, Missouri
Freeman H. K. Day—Gonzales, Texas
Jerry C. Day—Missouri
Squire Daymon—Tennessee
William Dearduff—Tennessee
Stephen Denison—Ireland, Kentucky
Charles Despallier—Louisiana
Almeron Dickinson—Pennsylvania, Tennessee
John H. Dillard—Tennessee
James R. Dimpkins—England
Lewis Duel—New York
Andrew Duvalt—Ireland
Carlos Espalier—San Antonio
Gregorio Esparza—San Antonio
Robert Evans—Ireland, New York
Samuel B. Evans—Kentucky
James L. Ewing—Tennessee
William Fishbaugh—Gonzales, Texas
John Flanders—Massachusetts
Dolphin Ward Floyd—North Carolina
John Hubbard Forsyth—New York
Antonio Fuentes—San Antonio
Galba Fuqua—Gonzales, Texas
William H. Furtleroy—Kentucky, Arkansas
William Garnett—Virginia
James W. Garrand—Louisiana
James Girard Garrett—Tennessee
John E. Garvin—Gonzales, Texas
John E. Gaston—Kentucky
James George—Gonzales, Texas
John Camp Goodrich—Tennessee
Albert Calvin Grimes—Georgia
James C. Gwynne—England, Mississippi
James Hannum—Refugio, Texas
John Harris—Kentucky
Andrew Jackson Harrison
William B. Harrison—Ohio
Joseph M. Hawkins—Ireland, Louisiana
John M. Hays—Tennessee
Charles M. Heiskell—Tennessee
Thomas Hendricks
Patrick Henry Herndon—Virginia
William D. Hersee—New York
Tapley Holland—Grimes County, Texas
Samuel Holloway—Pennsylvania
William D. Howell—Massachusetts
William Daniel Jackson—Ireland, Kentucky
Thomas Jackson—Kentucky
Green B. Jameson—Kentucky
Gordon C. Jennings—Missouri
Lewis Johnson—Wales
William Johnson—Pennsylvania
John Jones—New York
Johnnie Kellog—Gonzales, Texas
James Kenny—Virginia
Andrew Kent—Kentucky
Joseph Kerr—Louisiana
George C. Kimball—New York
William P. King—Gonzales, Texas
William Irvine Lewis—Pennsylvania
William J. Lightfoot—Virginia
Jonathan L. Lindley—Illinois
William Linn—Massachusetts
George Washington Main—Virginia
William T. Malone—Georgia
William Marshall—Tennessee, Arkansas
Albert Martin—Tennessee
Edward McCafferty—San Patricio, Texas
Jesse McCoy
—Gonzales, Texas
William McDowell—Pennsylvania
James McGee—Ireland
John McGregor—Scotland
Robert McKinney—Ireland
Eliel Melton—South Carolina
Thomas R. Miller—Virginia
William Mills—Tennessee, Arkansas
Isaac Millsaps—Mississippi
Edward F. Mitchusson—Kentucky
Edwin T. Mitchell—Georgia
Napoleon B. Mitchell
Robert B. Moore—Virginia
Willis Moore—Mississippi, Arkansas
Robert Musselman—Ohio
Andres Nava—San Antonio
George Neggan—South Carolina
Andrew M. Nelson—Tennessee
Edward Nelson—South Carolina
George Nelson—South Carolina
James Northcross—Virginia
James Nowlin—Ireland
George Pagan—Mississippi
Christopher Parker—Mississippi
William Parks—San Patricio, Texas
Richardson Perry
Amos Pollard—Massachusetts, New York
John Purdy Reynolds—Pennsylvania
Thomas H. Roberts
James Robertson—Tennessee
Isaac Robinson—Scotland
James M. Rose—Virginia, Tennessee
Jackson J. Rusk—Ireland
Joseph Rutherford—Kentucky
Isaac Ryan—Louisiana
Mial Scurlock—Louisiana
Marcus L. Sewell—England
Manson Shied—Georgia
Cleland Kinloch Simmons—South Carolina
Andrew H. Smith—Tennessee
Charles S. Smith—Maryland
Joshua G. Smith—North Carolina, Tennessee
William H. Smith—Nacogdoches, Texas
Richard Starr—England
James E. Stewart—England
Richard L. Stockton—Virginia
Spain Summerlin—Tennessee, Arkansas
William E. Summers—Tennessee
William D. Sutherland—Alabama
Edward Taylor—Liberty, Texas
George Taylor—Liberty, Texas
James Taylor—Liberty, Texas
William Taylor—Tennessee
B. Archer M. Thomas—Kentucky
Henry Thomas—Germany
Jesse G. Thompson—Arkansas
John W. Thomson—North Carolina, Tennessee
John M. Thurston—Pennsylvania, Kentucky
Burke Trammel—Ireland, Tennessee
William Barret Travis—South Carolina, Alabama
George W. Tumlinson—Missouri
Asa Walker—Tennessee
Jacob Walker—Nacogdoches, Texas
William B. Ward—Ireland
Henry Warnell—Arkansas
Joseph G. Washington—Tennessee
Thomas Waters—England
William Wells—Georgia
Isaac White—Kentucky
Robert White—Gonzales, Texas
Hiram J. Williamson—Pennsylvania
David L. Wilson—Scotland
John Wilson—Pennsylvania
Antony Wolfe—England
Claiborne Wright—North Carolina
Charles Zanco—Denmark
Sources
THE ALAMO HAS INTRIGUED writers for more than 125 years, but the contradictions and gaps in the story remain as exasperating as ever. In the end, the only solution was to go back to the original sources and start all over again. …
Accounts by Participants
Almonte, Colonel Juan Nepomuceno. Private Journal, recovered after San Jacinto. First carried in New York Herald in June, 1836, reprinted in Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. XLVIII, pp. 10-32. Description purportedly by Almonte of executions after the battle is contained in letter dated Galveston Island, July 19, 1836, from George Dolson to Detroit Democratic Free Press and reprinted in Journal of Southern History, August, 1960, pp. 373-374.
Alsbury, Mrs. Horace A. John S. Ford Papers, pp. 122-124, Texas University Archives. Although Mrs. Dickinson denied Mrs. Alsbury remained till the end, Enrique Esparza and Travis’ slave Joe both remembered her there; her story was also accepted by such contemporaries as Mrs. Sam Maverick, John Sutherland and Dr. J. H. Barnard.
Becerra, Sergeant Francisco. John S. Ford Papers, pp. 16-23, Texas University Archives. Probably the least reliable of all the Mexican accounts.
“Ben,” Colonel Almonte’s orderly. Newell, C, History of the Revolution in Texas (1838), pp. 88-89.
Caro, Ramón Martinez. Account as translated by Castañeda, C. E., The Mexican Side of the Texan Revolution (1928), pp. 101-104. This and all other Mexican accounts are highly flavored, yet essential to the story.
Dickinson, Susannah. Mrs. Dickinson gave five different interviews describing her experiences: Morphis, J. M., History of Texas (1874), pp. 174-177; “Testimony of Mrs. Hannig touching the Alamo Massacre, September 23, 1876,” Adjutant General’s Letters Concerning the Alamo, 1815-18, Texas State Archives; interview given in 1878 to unknown Ohio newspaper, reprinted San Antonio Express, February 24, 1929; interview, San Antonio Express, April 28, 1881; talk with the Rev. Walter Raleigh Richardson in 1881, included in Green, R. M., Memoirs of Mary A. Maverick (1921) pp. 135-136. Also valuable are Mrs. Dickinson’s depositions supporting following land claims, all on file at General Land Office: David Cummings, Court of Claims Vouchers 4271, File A-C; James M. Rose, Court of Claims Application 22, File M-R, also Petition 201; Henry Warnell, Court of Claims Vouchers 400, 1579, File S to Z. But the account by Mrs. Dickinson in A. J. Sowell’s Rangers and Pioneers of Texas was lifted from Morphis; and the highly dramatized piece in Rufus C. Burleson’s Life and Writings is too much at variance with her, other accounts to carry any weight.
Esparza, Enrique. Interview with Charles Meritt Barnes, San Antonio Express, May 12 and 19, 1907.
Filisola, General Vicente. Memorias Para la Historia de la Guerra de Tejas, published by R. Rafael (1849), Part II, pp. 347-390; also a somewhat different account, bearing same title and date but published by Ignacio Cumplido, pp. 3-17; Representación Dirigida al Supremo Gobierno, as translated by Castañeda {supra), pp. 163-203.
“Joe,” Travis’ Negro slave. Joe was examined by the Texas cabinet on March 20, 1836, and his story was written up by a number of those present. Most detailed account was a letter by William F. Gray to the Fredericksburg Arena, reprinted in the Frankfort, Kentucky, Commonwealth, May 25, 1836. (A much-condensed version is included in Gray’s From Virginia to Texas, pp. 136-138.) Other accounts of Joe’s examination, each giving a different slant, appear in the Columbia, Tennessee, Observer, April 14, 1836; National Intelligencer, April 30, 1836; New Orleans Commercial Bulletin, April 11, 1836.
Loranca, Sergeant Manuel. Interview in San Antonio Express, June 23, 1878.
Menchaca, Antonio. Memoirs, Yanaguana Society Publications II, 1937.
Nuñez, Sergeant Felix. Interview in Fort Worth Gazette, July 12, 1889.
Peña, José Enrique de la. Account originally published in Matamoros, September 1836, but suppressed by authorities. Republished as follows: Sanchez Garza, J., La Rebelion de Texas Manuscrito Inédito de 1836 por un oficial de Santa Anna (1955).
Rodriguez, J. M. Memoirs of Early Texas (1913), pp. 7-10.
Ruiz, Francisco. Texas Almanac, 1860, pp. 80-81, as reprinted in Frederick C. Chabot’s The Alamo, Mission, Fortress, Shrine.
Sánchez Navarro, Captain José Juan. Account contained in Carlos Sanchez Navarro’s La Guerra de Tejos (1938), pp. 127-151. A second account, in the form of a handwritten daily journal, can be found in two ledger books kept by the Captain, entitled Ayudentia de Inspección de Nuevo Leon y Tamaulipas, University of Texas Archives. Volume II of these ledgers also contains a plan of the storming of the fort; this plan is reproduced in the University of Texas Library Journal, Summer 1951, pp. 71-74. Finally, the account usually attributed to “An Unknown Mexican Soldier” in El Mosquito Mexicano, April 5, 18
36, also appears to have been written by Sanchez Navarro. It seems much too similar to the foregoing to come from a different hand.
Santa Anna, General Antonio López de. Reports addressed to Minister of War and Marine, dated February 27 and March 6, 1836; Letter addressed to the Senate and House of Representatives of Texas, October 12, 1836; Manifesto (1837), as translated by Castañeda, pp. 5-89; Mi Historia Militar y Politica, Memorias lnéditas (1874), as translated by Willye Ward Watkins, M.A. Thesis, University of Texas (1922), pp. 91-92.
Seguin, Juan N. Personal Memoirs of Juan Seguin (1858); Testimony given in land claim filed for Andres Nava, General Land Office, Court of Claims Application 416, File M-R; letter to W. W. Fontaine, June 7, 1890, contained in W. W. Fontaine Papers, University of Texas Archives.
Soldana, Captain Rafael. Account in DeShields, James T., Tall Men with Long Rifles (1935), pp. 162-164.
Sutherland, John. Narrative edited by Annie B. Sutherland, The Fall of the Alamo (1936). This is the most authoritative, least embellished of several versions of the same account. For others, see DeShields, pp. 134-150; the same author’s feature article in the Dallas News, February 5 and 12, 1911; and John S. Ford’s Memoirs, University of Texas Archives.
Urizza, Capt. Fernando. Experiences described in Labadie, N.D., “Urizza’s Account of the Alamo Massacre,” Texas Almanac, 1859, pp. 61-62.
Unknown Mexican Officer. Detailed account of the execution of six Texans at the battle’s end, as related to correspondent of the New York Courier and Enquirer. Letter dated Galveston Bay, June 9, 1836, and reprinted by Frankfort, Kentucky, Commonwealth, July 27, 1836. The narrator sounds suspiciously like Ramón Caro, but certain identification impossible.
Purposely omitted from the above is “Col. Crockett’s Exploits and Adventures in Texas, Written by Himself.” James Shackford’s biography of Crockett offers far too convincing evidence that this account is spurious. Also missing are all accounts by Madam Candelaria. None of the other participants remember her in the fort; her stories violently contradict one another; and too many of her details clash with the known facts.
Contemporary Letters
Next to accounts by participants, contemporary letters form the most important source material on the Alamo. Taken in order, they give perhaps the best picture of all. Here, then, is a chronological list of those most important to the story, covering the period December, 1835-March, 1836. Occasionally this list may duplicate other parts of the bibliography, but as a useful tool for anyone interested in the Alamo, it seems worth the risk: