Exodus From the Alamo: The Anatomy of the Last Stand Myth

by Phillip Thomas Tucker

  37. Chariton, Exploring the Alamo Legends, pp. 29, 32.

  38. Sesma Report, March 11, 1836, Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional, Archivo Historico Militar Mexicano; San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878; Nelson, The Alamo, p. 53; Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, p. 66.

  39. Sesma Report, March 11, 1836, Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional, Archivo Historico Militar Mexicano; San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878; Nelson, The Alamo, p. 53; Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, p. 66; Borroel, The Texan Revolution of 1836, p. 59.

  40. Sesma Report, March 11, 1836, Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional, Archivo Historico Militar Mexicano; San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878; Maryland Gazette, November 26, 1836; Priddy, Across Our Wide Missouri, vol. 1, p. 142; Nelson, The Alamo, pp. 8–9, 54; Borroel, The Texan Revolution of 1836, pp. 68, 70, 81; Matovina, The Alamo Remembered, pp. 106, 113; Lindstrom, “Assault at Dawn,” Campaign, p. 14; Chartrand, Santa Anna’s Mexican Army, p. 23; Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, p. 177 note; Engineer Green B. Jameson map, The Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library at the Alamo, San Antonio, Texas; Groneman, Alamo Defenders, pp. 76, 101–102; Lord, A Time to Stand, p. 15.

  41. San Antonio Express-News, November 22, 1902.

  42. Guerra, The Missions of San Antonio, p. 30; Nelson, The Alamo, pp. 31–32; Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, p. 5; Young, ed., “The Siege of the Alamo: A Mexican Army Journal,” JABA, p. 33; Matovina, The Alamo Remembered, p. 113.

  43. Sesma Report, March 11, 1836, Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional, Archivo Historio Militar Mexicano; San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878; Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 370 and note 2; Nelson, The Alamo, pp. 4–5, 8–9; Borroel, The Texan Revolution of 1836, pp. 68, 70; James Gilchrist Benton sketch, “A view of the Alamo from the rear,” Amos Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas; Matovina, The Alamo Remembered, p. 113; Lord, A Time to Stand, p. 15.

  44. Sesma Report, March 11, 1836, Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional, Archivo Historico Militar Mexicano; San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878; Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 370; Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, p. 177 note; Borroel, The Texan Revolution of 1836, pp. 68, 70; Matovina, The Alamo Remembered, p. 113.

  45. Sesma Report, March 11, 1836, Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional, Archivo Historico Militar Mexicano; San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878; Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 370; Salas, Soldaderas, pp. 29–30; Borroel, The Texan Revolution of 1836, pp. 68, 70, 81; Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, p. 177 note; Matovina, The Alamo Remembered, p. 113.

  46. Sesma Report, March 11, 1836, Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional, Archivo Historico Militar Mexicano; San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878; Winders, Sacrificed at the Alamo, pp. 16–18; Roberts and Olson, A Line in the Sand, p. 18; Borroel, The Texan Revolution of 1836, p. 35; Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, pp. 5–16 and 177 note; Dimmick, Sea of Mud, p. 7; Borroel, ed. and trans., Field Reports of the Mexican Army During the Texan War of 1836, vol. iii, p. 26; Santos, Santa Anna’s Campaign Against Texas, p. 45; “Caminos de Guanajuanto,” American Airlines Mexo, p. 40; Fowler, Santa Anna of Mexico, pp. xi, xxii, 9, 13, 20.

  47. Sesma Report, March 11, 1836, Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional, Archivo Historico Militar Mexicano; Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, p. 177 note.

  48. San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878; Maryland Gazette, November 26, 1835; San Antonio Daily Express, February 24, 1929; Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, pp. 56, 457; Jackson, Alamo Legacy, pp. 85–88; Groneman, Alamo Defenders, p. 117; Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, pp. 2, 173,

  175; Lord,A Time to Stand, p. 165; Winders, Sacrificed at the Alamo, p. 57; Hardin, Texian Iliad, p. 113; Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 60.

  49. San Antonio Express-News, November 22, 1902; San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878; Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, p. 173

  50. Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, pp. 173, 175; Lord, A Time to Stand, p. 166.

  51. San Antonio Express, June 23, 1878; Matovina, The Alamo Remembered, pp. 55–56;Maryland Gazette, November 5, 1835.

  52. San Antonio Daily Express, January 5, 1878; Sesma Report, March 11, 1836, Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional, Archivo Historico Militar Mexicano; Borroel, The Texan Revolution of 1836, p.

  81; Matovina, The Alamo Remembered, p. 113.

  53. Jackie R. Booker, “Needed but Unwanted: Black Militiamen in Vera Cruz, 1760–1810,” The Historian, vol. 55, issue 2, (1993) p. 259–277.

  54. San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878; Rothenberg, The Art of Warfare in the Age of Napoleon, p. 69; Joseph E. Chance, Jefferson Davis’s Mexican Regiment (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1991), p. 97.

  55. San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878; Gaddy, Texas in Revolt, p. 26.

  56. San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878; Sesma Report, March 11, 1836, Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional, Archivo Historico Mexicano; Secretaria de la Defensa, Archivo Historico Militar Mexicano; Nelson, The Alamo, p. 50; Borroel, The Texan Revolution of 1836, p. 81.

  57. Nelson, The Alamo, pp. 50-51.

  58. San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878; DePalo, The Mexican National Army, p. 24; Borroel, The Texan Revolution of 1836, p. 81.

  59. San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878.

  60. San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878; New York Times, February 23, 1895; Fox, Archaeology, History, and Custer’s Last Battle, pp. 49–60, 260–262, 267–269; Perry, ed. and trans., With Santa Anna in Texas, pp. 50–52; Fox, Archaeology, History, and Custer’s Last Battle, pp. 46–50, 337.

  61. New York Times, February 23, 1895.

  62. Ibid; Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, pp. 2, 176–179; New York Herald, June 27, 1836; Long, Duel of Eagles, p. 244.

  63. San Antonio Express, June 23, 1878.

  64. New York Herald, June 27, 1836.

  65. Rothenberg, The Art of Warfare in the Age of Napoleon, pp. 68–70; Matovina, The Alamo Remembered, p. 106; Perry, ed. and trans., With Santa Anna in Texas, p. xvi; Georges Blond, La Grande Armée (London: Arms and Armour, 1997), p. 279.

  66. Stephen G. Fritz, Frontsoldaten, The German Soldier in World War II (Lexington, Ky: University Press of Kentucky, 1997), p. 70.

  67. San Antonio Express, June 23, 1878; Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 457; Uecker, The Archaeology of the Alamo, p. 41; Winders, Sacrificed at the Alamo, p. 117.

  68. San Antonio Express, June 23, 1878; Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 457; Lundstrom, “Assault at Dawn,” Campaign, p. 10; Nelson, The Alamo, pp. 48, 107; Uecker, The Archaeology of the Alamo, pp. 25–28, 31–32, 34; Hardin, Texian Iliad, p. 148.

  69. San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878; Sesma Report, March 11, 1836, Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional, Archivo Historico Military Mexicano; Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, pp. 370,

  477; Chemerka, Alamo Anthology, pp. 69–70; Groneman, Alamo Defenders, pp. 117–118; Walker, The Life of Andrew Jackson, p. 72.

  70. Sesma Report, March 11, 1836, Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional, Archivo Historico Militar Mexicano; Borroel, ed., The Texan Revolution of 1836, pp. 68, 81.

  71. Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 477.

  72. Ibid; San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878.

  73. New York Herald, June 27, 1836.

  74. Borroel, The Texan Revolution of 1836, p. 81.

  75. Sesma Report, March 11, 1836, Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional, Achivo Historico Militar Mexicano; Perry, eds and trans., With Santa Anna in Texas, p. 52.

  76. Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 477.

  77. Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 477; San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878.

  78. Ibid., p. 370.

  79. Borroel, ed., The Texan Revolution of 1836, p. 81.

  80. Sesma Report, March 11, 1836. Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional, Archivo Historico Militar Mexicano; Young, ed., “The Siege of the Alamo: A Mexican Army Journal,” JABA, p. 34.

  81. San Antonio Express, June 23, 1878; Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 370.

  82. Hansen, ed, The Alamo Reader, p. 371; Borroel, The Texan Revolution of 1836, pp. 81
, 83.

  83. Lundstorm, “Assault at Dawn,” Campaign, n.p.; Borroel, The Texan Revolution of 1836, pp. 81–82.

  84. Jackson, Alamo Legend, pp. 89–90.

  85. San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878; San Antonio Express-News, November 22, 1902; Lord, A Time to Stand, p. 161; Groneman, Alamo Defenders, pp. 74, 78–79; Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, p. 33, note.

  86. Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 48.

  87. Perry, ed. and trans., With Santa Anna in Texas, p. 52; Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 65; Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, pp. 173, 176.

  88. San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878; Borroel, The Texan Revolution of 1836, p. 69; Sesma Report, March 11, 1836, Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional, Archivo Historico Militar Mexicano.

  89. Borroel, The Texan Revolution of 1836, p. 69; Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 330.

  90. Groneman, Alamo Defenders, pp. 47–48; Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, p. 23.

  91. Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 370.

  92. Ibid; Hardin, Texian Iliad, pp. 112, 114.

  93. Chemerka, Alamo Anthology, pp. 107–110; Perry, ed. and trans., With Santa Anna in Texas, pp.

  48; Kilgore, How Did Davy Die?, p. 30; Utley, Custer and the Great Controversy, p. 112.

  94. Hansen, The Alamo Reader, p. 371.

  95. Ibid.

  96. Groneman, Eyewitness to the Alamo, p. 100; Borroel, The Texan Revolution of 1836, pp. 47, 80–81, 83–85, 223; Kilgore, How Did Davy Die?, p. 38; Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, p. 3.

  97. Perry, ed. and trans., With Santa Anna in Texas, p. 51; Long, Duel of Eagles, pp. 250, 252.

  98. Borroel, Field Reports of the Mexican Army During the Texan War of 1836, Vol. IV, p. 60.

  99. San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878; Sesma Report, March 11, 1836, Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional, Archivo Historico Militar Mexicano; Matovina, The Alamo Remembered, pp.

  48, 106; Groneman, The Alamo Defenders, pp. 5–6; Santos, Santa Anna’s Campaign Against Texas, pp. 27–28, 32–33; Sutherland Manuscript, CAH.

  100. Groneman, Eyewitness to the Alamo, p. 17.

  101. Borroel, ed. and trans., Field Reports of the Mexican Army During the Texan War of 1836, vol. iv, p. 60.

  102. Governor Joaquin de Munoz y Munoz circular to Vera Cruz’s citizens, Box 2Q174, vol. 334, March 23, 1836, Center for American History, University of Texas, Austin, Texas.

  103. Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, p. 179.

  104. General Francisco Vital Fernandez to Secretary of War, February 15, 1836, Box 2Q174, vol.

  334, Center for American History, University of Texas, Austin, Texas.

  105. El Mosquito Mexicano, March 22, 1836.

  106. La Lima de Vulcano, March 22, 1836.

  107. Fowler,Santa Anna of Mexico, pp. 28–29.

  Chapter 8: THE ALAMO’S MOST BITTER LEGACIES

  1. Groneman, Defense of a Legend, p. 88; Hardin, Texian Iliad, p. 156.

  2. Young, ed., “The Siege of the Alamo: A Mexican Army Journal,” JABA, 33; Levy, American Legend, p. 273; Groneman, Eyewitness to the Alamo, p. 6; Hardin, Texian Iliad, p. 156; Nelson, The Alamo, p. 111.

  3. Jackson, Alamo Legacy, p. 93.

  4. Young, ed., “The Siege of the Alamo: A Mexican Army Journal,” JABA, 32; Chariton, Exploring the Alamo Legends, p. 33; Nelson, The Alamo, p. 111.

  5. Nelson, The Alamo, p. 54; Matovina, The Alamo Remembered, p. 106.

  6. Sesma Report, March 11, 1836, Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional, Archivo Historico Militar Mexicano; Borroel, ed. and trans., Field Reports of the Mexican Army During the Texan War of

  1836, vol. iv, p. 60; Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, pp 176–177; Murray Montgomery, “Eyewitness to the Battle of the Alamo, an Unidentified Mexican Soldier’s Personal Account of the Historic Struggle,” TexasEscapes.com; San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878.

  7. Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 477.

  8. Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, p. 31; Groneman, Defense of a Legend, p. 68.

  9. Groneman, Defense of a Legend, p. 74.

  10. Chariton, Exploring the Alamo Legends, pp. 30, 32; Bob Bowman, “The Alamo’s Red River Connection,” December 17, 2000, TexasEscapes.com.; Henry Warnell biography, Handbook of Texas Online; Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 44–45, 313, 324.

  11. Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, pp. 44–45.

  12. Arkansas Gazette, March 29, 1836.

  13. New York Times, February 23, 1895.

  14. Borroel, ed. and trans., Field Reports of the Mexican Army During the Texan War of 1836, vol. iv, p. 60.

  15. Washington Post, October 1, 1888; San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878; Sesma Report, March 11, 1836, Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional, Archivo Historico Militar Mexicano.

  16. Sesma Report, March 11, 1836, Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional, Archivo Historico Militar Mexicano: Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, pp. 176–177; San Antonio Daily Express, June 23, 1878.

  17. Gary S. Zaboly, New York City, to author, April 4, 2008.

  18. Borroel, The Texan Revolution of 1836, pp. 83–85.

  19. Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 64.

  20. El Mosquito Mexicano, April 5, 1836; DePalo, The Mexican National Army, pp. 52, 64–65; Roberts and Olson, A Line in the Sand, p. 25.

  21. New York Herald, April 12 and 14, 1836; Smith, New York 1776, p. 20; Fox, Archaelogy, History, and Custer’s Last Battle, pp. 230, 255; McWhiney and Jameson, Attack and Die, p. 34.

  22. Maryland Gazette, May 12, 1836.

  23. Barr, Texans in Revolt, p. ix; Lindstrom, “Assault at Dawn,” Campaign, p. 17.

  24. Myers, The Alamo, p. 157.

  25. Memphis Enquirer, Memphis, Tennessee, April 12, 1836.

  26. Lindley, Alamo Traces, pp. 277–278.

  27. Fehrenbach, Lone Star, p. 214.; Moore, Eighteen Minutes, p. 339.

  28. New York Herald, June 27, 1836; Lord,A Time to Stand, p. 209.

  29. Smith, On to the Alamo, p. 120.

  30. Davis, Three Roads to the Alamo, p. 557.

  31. Young, ed., “The Siege of the Alamo: A Mexican Army Journal,” JABA, pp. 32–33; Walker,The Life of Andrew Jackson, p. 327.

  32. Winders, Sacrificed at the Alamo, p. 127; Long, Duel of Eagles, pp. 244, 246; DePalo, The Mexican National Army, p. 52; Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 392.

  33. Long, Duel of Eagles, pp. 244, 246; Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 392.

  34. San Antonio Daily Express, June 30, 1889.

  35. Jackson, Alamo Legacy, pp. 94–95; Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 392.

  36. Groneman, Eyewitness to the Alamo, p. 76; Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 392; Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, p. 145; Lord, A Time to Stand, p. 158; Long, Duel of Eagles, p. 246.

  37. Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, pp. 145, 155; William Ayers, “Fratricide: Can it be Stopped?,” Global Security Library, Alexandria, Virginia; Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 392

  38. Groneman, Eyewitness to the Alamo, p. 14; Perry, ed. and trans., With Santa Anna in Texas, p.

  48; Walker, The Life of Andrew Jackson, pp. 329, 367–368; Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 392; Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, p. 155; Lord, A Time to Stand, p. 67.

  39. Perry, eds., With Santa Anna in Texas, pp. 80–81.

  40. D. Clark Wernecke, Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin, Texas, paper and presentation“Forgotten Heroes of the Republic,”; Sesma Report, March 11, 1836, Secretaria de la Defensa Nacional, Archivo Historico Militar Mexicano.

  41. Huffines, Blood of Noble Men, p. 147.

  42. Nofi, The Alamo, pp. 135; Perry, ed. and trans., With Santa Anna in Texas, p. 47.

  43. Perry, ed. and trans., With Santa Anna in Texas, p. 47; Lord, A Time to Stand, p. 158; Borroel, The Texan War of 1836, p. 63.

  44. Long, Duel of Eagles, p. 146; Perry, ed. and trans., With Santa Anna in Texas, p. 46, 49.

  45. San Luis Battalion Logbook, Jose Enrique De la Pena Papers, UT; Nofi, The Alamo, p. 135; Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 39
2.

  46. Perry, ed. and trans., With Santa Anna in Texas, p. xxii; Borroel, ed. and trans., Field Reports of the Mexican War During the Texan War of 1836, vol. p. 55; Long, Duel of Eagles, pp. 146, 244; Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, pp. 392–393.

  47. Sutherland Manuscript, CAH; Roger Borroel, editor and translator, Papers of Lt. Col. Jose Enrique de la Pena (East Chicago, Indiana: “La Villita Publications,” 2001), vol. ii, p. 33.

  48. El Mosquito Mexicano, April 5, 1836.

  49. R. Borroel, ed. and trans., Field Reports of the Mexican Army during the Texan War of 1836, vol. iv, (East Chicago, In.: “La Villita Publications,” 2001), pp. 53, 56, 60.

  50. New York Herald, June 27, 1836; Borroel, ed. and trans., Field Reports of the Mexican Army during the Texan War of 1836, vol. iv, pp. 53, 56, 60.

  51. Nofi, The Alamo, pp. 135–136; Borroel, ed. and trans., Field Reports of the Mexican Army during the Texan War of 1836, vol. iv, pp. 53, 56, 60.

  52. Lindstrom, “Assault at Dawn,” Campaign, p. 17.

  53. Chariton,Exploring the Alamo Legends, p. 224; Lindley, Alamo Traces, p. 265; Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 341.

  54. Groneman, Eyewitness to the Alamo, p. 34.

  55. Lindley, Alamo Traces, p. 265; Hansen, ed., The Alamo Reader, p. 511.

  56. Scheina, Santa Anna, p. 28.

  57. Nelson, The Alamo, p. 49.

  58. Borroel, ed. and trans., Field Reports of the Mexican Army during the Texan War of 1836, vol. iv, p. 56; Borroel, ed. and trans., Papers of Lt. Col. Jose Enrique de la Pena, vol. ii, p. 33; Nofi, The Alamo, pp. 135–136; Chariton, Exploring the Alamo Legends, p. 224.

  59. New York Herald, June 27, 1836; Chariton, Exploring the Alamo Legends, p. 224; Groneman, Eyewitness to the Alamo, p. 34; Jackson, “Santa Anna’s 1836 Campaign,” Journal of South Texas, p. 12; Todish and Todish, Alamo Sourcebook, pp. 113, 165; Lamego, The Siege & Taking of the Alamo, p. 39.