explicitly said they were fighting for slavery. hide caption. And thats whats missing right now in our society, is the nuance.. Its one of the most famous historic places in the world, he said. As the Texans were facing the whole Mexican army, desertions are not surprising. But three writers, all Texans, say the common narrative of the Texas revolt overlooks the fact that it was waged in part to ensure slavery would be preserved. And in the end, Santa Anna lost the war, going down in defeat within six weeks. Slaves could not be imported. Mexican general Santa Anna appeared in short order at the head of a massive army and laid siege to the Alamo. The Underground Railroad. Among them was Susanna W. Dickinson, widow of Capt. Because Joe could speak Spanish, he was able to be interrogated afterward. Although slavery was part of the Texas revolution, it wasnt one of the main issuesrevolutionaries were fighting for. Their accounts provided much of the backbone of what was known about the Alamo. Handbook of Texas Online, According to legend, fort commander William Travis drew a line in the sand with his sword and asked all of the defenders who were willing to fight to the death to cross it: only one man refused. And yet it spoke to a certain cross section of American and international viewers. They told us how glorious that battle was. History Early History One of these was Susannah Dickinson, the wife of Captain Almaron Dickinson (who was killed) and her infant daughter Angelina. . Joe traveled with one of the widows, Susanna Dickinson, and her young daughter, to the other Texian forces. Nearly half of the board members of the nonprofit raising funds for the Alamo renovation resigned in protest raising doubts about where the rest of money would come from. https://www.tshaonline.org, https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/joe. Sam, James Bowie's slave, was also reported to have survived the battle, but no further record of him is known to exist. After the battle, Santa Anna sent Susanna and Angelina to Sam Houstons camp in Gonzales, accompanied by one of his servants and carrying a letter of warning intended for Houston. Santa Anna's Mexican army killed virtually all of the roughly 200 Texans (or Texians) defending the Alamo, including their leaders, Colonels William B. Travis and James Bowie, and the legendary. Though Sam Houston, the newly appointed commander-in-chief of the Texan forces, argued that San Antonio should be abandoned due to insufficient troop numbers, the Alamos defendersled by Bowie and Travisdug in nonetheless, prepared to defend the fort to the last. Pennybacker describes the line-drawing episode and puts in another footnote: "The student may wonder if none escaped from the Alamo, how we know the above to be true. But no one knows exactly how Joe got there. There is no evidence Davy Crockett went down fighting, as John Wayne famously did in his 1960 movie The Alamo, a font of misinformation; there is ample testimony from Mexican soldiers that. My view, which is shared by the vast majority of San Antonians and Texans, is that regardless of your feelings on the Cenotaph moving, its not moving. "It was the thing that the two sides had been arguing about and shooting about for going on 15 years. Sending Out Veterans' Benefits, The Executive Branchs Response to the Flood of 1927, The Case For Calling the Language "American", America Fought Its Own Battle Over Books Before it Fought the Nazis. Nifty speech, and since Wayne was directing he got to say it any way he wanted. This was mirrored very much in the kind of ethnic cleansing that went on after the revolution in which hundreds of Tejanos were pushed out of San Antonio, in Victoria and existing towns, their lands taken, laws passed against their ability to marry white women and hold public office. In 1883, the state of Texas purchased the Alamo, later acquiring property rights to all the surrounding grounds. The church was still not completed when it was transferred to civil authorities in 1792. As more slaves came into the Republic of Texas, more escaped to Mexico. Joe claimed that when Gen. Antonio Lpez deSanta Anna's troops stormed the Alamo on March 6, 1836, he armed himself and followed Travis from his quarters into the battle, fired his gun, then retreated into a building from which he fired several more times. The social, economic, and legal positions of enslaved people have differed vastly in different systems of slavery in different times and places. Paul D. Lack, "Slavery and the Texas Revolution," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 89 (July 1985). Military troopsfirst Spanish, then rebel and later Mexicanoccupied the Alamo during and after Mexicos war for independence from Spain in the early 1820s. Last year, Patrick threatened to wrest control of the Alamo away from the General Land Office, which is led by George P. Bush, a potential political rival and son of former Florida governor Jeb Bush. But then you have to understand: The Texas revolt, for 150 years, was largely ignored by academics, in part because it was considered dclass, it was considered provincial, and because the state government of Texas, much as they're doing now, has for 120, 130 years, made very clear to the University of Texas faculty and to the faculty of other state-funded universities that it only wants one type of Texas history taught and that if you get outside those boundaries, you're going to hear about it from the Legislature. Houston was indecisive, lacking a clear plan to meet the Mexican army, but by either chance or design, he met Santa Anna at San Jacinto on April 21, overtaking his forces and capturing him as he retreated south. On February 23, a Mexican force. Davy Crockett, a famous frontiersman and former U.S. congressman, was the highest-profile defender to fall at the Alamo. The Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation, an Indigenous group, is still fighting to have the complex treated as a cemetery and to tell the story of the Indigenous people buried there, said Ramn Vsquez, one of its leaders. Thats how we came to know of Joe just Joe, any other names he had are lost to history now. Once the rebels succeeded in breaking Texas away from Mexico and establishing an independent republic, slavery took off as an institution. A band of badly outnumbered Texans fought against oppression by the Mexican dictator Santa Anna, holding off the siege. Matamoros in the 1840s had a large and flourishing colony of ex-slaves from Texas and the United States. slavery was the driving issue in the showdown at the Alamo. After his report to the Texas Cabinet, Joe was returned to Travis's estate near Columbia, where he remained until April 21, the first anniversary of the battle of San Jacinto. A 2013 BexarCounty reportpredicted a $100 million benefit to the local economy and more than 1,000 new jobs if the sites receive heritage status. Then, there was a counter-story switching good guys and bad guysthe Americans were all racist, taking the Mexicans land. "Most academics now believe, based on Mexican accounts and contemporary accounts, that, in fact, [Crockett] did surrender and was executed," Burrough says. William Fairfax Gray, From Virginia to Texas, 1835 (Houston: Fletcher Young, 1909, 1965). The siege of the Alamo was memorably depicted in a Walt Disney series and in a 1960 movie starring John Wayne. Both of those stories are way overly simplistic.. Last summer, the Cenotaph was spray-painted with graffiti decrying white supremacy. San Antonio was built around it. Though exact. Its one-room exhibit space can hold only a fraction of key artifacts. Share your thoughts about this episode on Twitter at: @MandoFun and on our Facebook group. The new colonists brought enslavement with them. Do you value our journalism? They used to take us there when we were schoolchildren, she told the New York Times Magazine in 2010. Some Texians and Tejanos wanted the federalist constitution back, some wanted centralist control to be based in Mexico: That was the main basis for the turmoil in Texas, not independence. A woman named Andrea Castan Villanueva, better known as Madam Candelaria, later made a career of claiming to be a survivor of the Alamo, but many historians doubt her story. Part of the problem with the historical record is that slaves weren't necessarily accounted for by name. (Her husband, Dr. Horace Alsbury, had left the fort in late February, likely in search of a safe place for his family.) Once he saw the fort's defenses, Bowie decided to ignore Houston's orders, having become convinced of the need to defend the city. The 4.2-acre site includes some original structures dating back to the mission period. Minster, Christopher. A $450 million plan to renovate the site has devolved into a five-year brawl over whether to focus narrowly on the 1836 . Joe was on the wall with Travis during the final battle and saw Travis die. Another survivor was a former Mexican soldier named Brigido Guerrero, who fought with the defenders but apparently escaped death by convincing the Mexicans he had been taken captive. These men only listened to Jim Bowie, who disliked Travis and often refused to follow his orders. It includes recently discovered facts about William Travis, Susana Dickinson, Davy Crockett, and Joe himself. It probably didnt happen. But they remained, trusting their defenses and their skill with their lethal long rifles. For many years afterward, the U.S. Army quartered troops and stored supplies at the Alamo. But as the smoke cleared after the bloody battle, around 15 survivors of the battle on the Texan side remained. Disclosure: Texas Historical Commission has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. None of the defenders survived. In 1829, the Mexican government outlawed the practice, specifically to discourage that influx since it was not an issue there. Spanish settlers built the Mission San Antonio de Valero, named for St. Anthony of Padua, on the banks of the San Antonio River around 1718. Enslaved people who attempted to resist going to their new masters were whipped and thrown in jail until they relented and promised not to run away during the new arrangement. By mid-February 1836, Colonel James Bowie and Lieutenant Colonel William B. Travis had taken command of Texan forces in San Antonio. He installed an 18-pounder cannon and mounted a half-dozen other cannons. When I grew up I learned that the heroes of the Alamo were a bunch of drunks and crooks and slaveholding imperialists who conquered land that didnt belong to them. Not until the late 1890s did two women, Adina De Zavala and Clara Driscoll, collaborate to preserve the Alamo. Now, neither we nor the academic authors who first found this say that this means anybody was a coward. "One of the reasons that it matters most is that Latinos are poised to become a majority in Texas, according to census data," he says. Someof the men defendingthe Alamo were slaveholders, and manyof them werent even Texans: they were Americans paid by New Orleans merchants who saw the potential for big profits if the state seceded. Between 1836 and 1840, the slave population doubled; it doubled again by 1845; and it doubled still again by 1850 after annexation by the United States. They in turn sent Stephen Austin to Mexico City to complain. In the early 20th century, the Alamo was seen as a symbol of Texas pride and Americans fighting for freedom. Fannin had decided that the logistics of reaching the Alamo in time were impossible and, in any event, his 300 or so men would not make a difference against the Mexican army and its 2,000 soldiers. The 1836 battle for the Alamo is remembered as a David vs. Goliath story. A popular historical anecdote is the design of the famous M1 carbine by convicted murderer David Marshall Williams. Joe was last reported in Austin in 1875. In early March, Nirenberg took the unusual step of replacing a city council member, Roberto Trevio, who had been leading two committees coordinating the project and had been staunchly in favor of moving the Cenotaph. Todd Hansen, editor of The Alamo Reader, found an account of Bettie staying with the Mexican troops at first, but later working as a servant and fleeing to Mexico to avoid being enslaved again in Texas. The Cenotaph at Alamo Plaza in San Antonio. May 10, 202110 AM Central. Joe did so and was struck by a pistol shot and bayonet thrust before a Mexican captain intervened. On March 20 Joe was brought before the Texas Cabinet at Groce's Retreat and questioned about events at the Alamo. The boards decision necessitated a new vote by the San Antonio City Council to authorize the project. In December 1835, in the early stages of Texas war for independence from Mexico, a group of Texan (or Texian) volunteers led by George Collinsworth and Benjamin Milam overwhelmed the Mexican garrison at the Alamo and captured the fort, seizing control of San Antonio. "Remember the Alamo!". Elected leaders have talked for decades about redeveloping the Alamo complex, which lies in the heart of San Antonio, not far from the famous River Walk. Pennybacker included a later often-quoted speech by Travis, with a footnote reporting that "Some unknown author has written the following imaginary speech of Travis." The Barista Express grinds, foams milk, and produces the silkiest espresso at the perfect temperature. The Battle of the Alamo was part of the Texas Revolution, in which American settlers in the Mexican state of Texas fought for secession fromthe increasingly centralized and autocratic Mexican government. The site is much bigger than just the 1836 battle, he said. He annulled the constitution and set up centralist control. And while the entire defending force was annihilated in the final assault and its aftermath, Joe survived, and his accounts of the siege and final battle form the basis of much of what we know about the Alamo from inside the fort. It still surprises me that slavery went unexamined for so long. Minster, Christopher. By and large, any time you've had any type of Latino voice come out and question the traditional Anglo narrative, they've been shouted down. The reality is a lot more complicated, says James Crisp, a historian at North Carolina State University whos written a book about the myths and the reality of the Alamo. Perhaps it goes without saying but producing quality journalism isn't cheap. Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, and at the time, Texas (or rather Tejas) was part of Mexico. Bridget Bentz and Molly Seavy-Nesper adapted it for the web. Older slaves were. On March 6, 1836, after 13 days of intermittent fighting, the Battle of the Alamo comes to a gruesome end, capping off a pivotal moment in the Texas Revolution. Joe was the slave of William B. Travis, the commander of the Alamo during Mexican dictator Antonio Lopez de Santa Annas siege of the Texian fort. To an amazing degree, maybe because the Texas media [are] still dominated by Anglos as well as the Texas government, that viewpoint has just never really gotten into the mainstream. About this time it was renamed the Alamo ("cottonwood" in Spanish), after the Spanish military company that occupied it. Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) Trevio, who represents much of central San Antonio, said his push to move the Cenotaph had been aimed at telling a more inclusive story. He also supported carving into the monument the names of enslaved people and Tejanos native Texans of Mexican descent who were present at the 1836 battle. It was finished when Spanish troops arrived in 1805 but it was used as a hospital. During the first couple of days, however, Santa Anna made no attempt to seal the exits from the Alamo and the town: the defenders could very easily have slipped away in the night if they had so desired. Sign up for The Brief, our daily newsletter that keeps readers up to speed on the most essential Texas news. The Alamo remained a symbol of courage, and in the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848, U.S. soldiers revived the "Remember the Alamo!" Ten years after Texas won its independence and shortly after it was annexed by the United States, U.S. soldiers revived the "Remember the Alamo!" And it's also pretty clear [Wayne] was ardently pro-Nixon in the 1960 presidential campaign and ardently anti-Kennedy and in his mind, believed that this type of huge shout-out of American patriot values could somehow defeat John F. Kennedy. Owing to itscomplicated history, the Alamo has been controversial in the cityfor decades. That left at least $200 million to be raised through donations. The domestic slave trade, also known as the Second Middle Passage and the interregional slave trade, was the term for the domestic trade of enslaved people within the United States that reallocated slaves across states during the Antebellum period.It was most significant after 1808, when the importation of slaves was prohibited. On how the 1960 John Wayne movie The Alamo perpetuated these myths. This is their journey. While scant information exists on the states pre-Hispanic era, the Huastecos, Chichimecas and read more, Guanajuato, the birthplace of famed muralist Diego Rivera, is also the site of Alhondiga de Ganaditas, a former town granary that became a revolutionary symbol after the heads of insurrectionists Hidalgo, Allende, Aldama and Jimenez were posted at the four corners of the read more, From the renowned beaches of Acapulco and Ixtapa to the silversmiths of Taxco, Guerrero is known as a mecca for ocean-loving tourists and sports fisherman. The small (63 feet wide and 33 feet tall) adobe structure known as the Alamo was started in 1727 as a stone and mortar church for the Spanish Catholic Mission San Antonio de Valero. The 1793 law enforced Article IV, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution in authorizing any federal district judge or circuit court judge, or any state magistrate . Although Texas declared itself an independent republic in 1836, the Mexican state did not recognize Texas until the signing of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. The new colonists brought enslavement with them. Houston defeated the Mexican army in just 18 minutes. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/joe. The main economic drivers in the states central valley region are agriculture and livestock breeding. [Mexican Gen. Antonio Lpez de] Santa Anna is coming north with 6,000 troops. He was listed as a resident of Harrisburg in May 1833. After the U.S. Department of the Interior nominated the Alamo for UN recognition last year, State Senator Donna Campbell introduced a bill preventing any foreign entity from gaining any ownership, control, or management" over the fort. Both sides included prominent Mexican citizens. Dan Patrick (R), who has closely aligned himself with former president Donald Trump. It represents to the Southwest what the Statue of Liberty represents to the Northeast: a satisfying confirmation of what we are supposedly about as a people. In 1845, the United States annexed Texas. The Alamo has been commemorated on everything from postage stamps to the 1960 film The Alamo starring John Wayne as Davy Crockett. Private Visions, Public Culture: The Making of the Alamo, San Fernando Cathedral and the Alamo: Sacred Place, Public Ritual, and Construction of Meaning. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. In Section 9 of the General Provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Texas, it is stated how the new republic would resolve their greatest problem under Mexican rule: All persons of color who were slaves for life previous to their emigration to Texas, and who are now held in bondage, shall remain in the like state of servitude Congress shall pass no laws to prohibit emigrants from bringing their slaves into the republic with them, and holding them by the same tenure by which such slaves were held in the United States; nor shall congress have power to emancipate slaves.. As a nonprofit newsroom, we rely on members to help keep our stories free and our events open to the public. He was born around 1815. There can be no doubt that the symbolism of the Alamo is at the center of the creation myth of Texas: that the state was forged out of a heroic struggle for freedom against a cruel Mexican dictator, Santa Ana. At a time when newsroom resources and revenue across the country are declining, The Texas Tribune remains committed to sustaining our mission: creating a more engaged and informed Texas with every story we cover, every event we convene and every newsletter we send. The early depictions of Texas history was good guys against bad guys, white guys against brown guys, democracy against tyranny, Crisp said. One of the points that often gets lost amid the flag-waving and coonskin caps is that by the time of the Texas Revolution, Mexico had abolished slavery, and Texas hadn't. The mayor of San Antonio, however, claimed to have seen Crockett dead among the other defenders, and he had met Crockett before the battle. During the Mexican War of Independence, it briefly (1818) housed Mexican forces under the command of Jose Bernardo Maximiliano Gutierrez and William Agustus Magee. Amelia W. Williams, A Critical Study of the Siege of the Alamo and of the Personnel of Its Defenders (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas, 1931; rpt., Southwestern Historical Quarterly 3637 [April 1933-April 1934]). The movie, most reviewers would tell you, is a mess. Many myths and legends have grown about the Battle of the Alamo, but the facts often give a different account. Summary "Among the fifty or so Texan survivors of the siege of the Alamo was Joe, the personal slave of Lt. Col. William Barret Travis. "So if there's ever been a time for there to be a robust civic conversation about this, about the place of the Alamo in our history, about Texas history itself, we hope it was now. In early April 1836, Santa Anna had the structural elements of the Alamo burned, and the site was left in ruins for the next several decades, as Texas became first a republic, then a state. The Tejanos, who were the Texians' key allies and a number of which fought and died at the Alamo, were entirely written out of generations of Texas history [as it was] written by Anglo writers. Houston's men were the first to shout. To others, its a monument to slave-holders and racism. Meanwhile, Alamo Plaza became a focus of San Antonios Black Lives Matter protests. In point of fact, there's large disagreement about how many men Travis commanded at the fort, anywhere from 182-250. You have to remember that this city is predominantly Hispanic. Legendary frontiersman Jim Bowie, suffering from a debilitating illness, asked to be carried over the line. The Alamo became a symbol of resistance to oppression and the Texas fight for freedom. Its just that not everyone inside the Alamo died that day. And the surrounding plaza is a tourist circus, packed with novelty shops and a Ripley's Believe It or Not museum. A popular telling of the battle holds that in early 1836 a small group of brave Texans defended the mission-fort known as the Alamo against thousands of Mexican soldiers, knowing it meant certain death. 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. Beginning in the early 1800s, Spanish military troops were stationed in the abandoned chapel of the former mission. But the truly perplexing thing is that in the two weeks leading up to the arrival of Santa Anna's forces in San Antonio, Travis and Bowie are getting almost daily warnings of the progress. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. Bowie was known as a legendary fighter; the large Bowie knife is named after .