This article was published in the February 2021 issue ofWild West. Many know the famous names of James Bowie, William B. Travis, and David Crockett as men who died defending the Alamo, but there were about 200 others there during the Battle. The Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Texas at San Antonio attempted to compare written accounts with findings from 1980s and 90s excavations downtown. [12], Juan Segun oversaw the 1837 recovery of the abandoned ashes and officiated at the February 25 funeral. 2829, 3943, 46, 51; Moore (2007), p. 100; Lindley (2003), p. 98. [15] Santa Anna reported to Mexico's Secretary of War Tornel that Texian fatalities exceeded 600. Sarah Reveley is a sixth generation German-Texan and native San Antonian with a love for Texas history. The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 - March 6, 1836) was a crucial conflict of the Texas Revolution. 8586. The odds were certainly not in their favor. This brings the total number of New York Alamo defenders to eleven. Subscribe to our free daily newsletter for the latest headlines first thing every morning. [9] Although Santa Anna refused to consider a proposed conditional surrender, he extended an offer of amnesty for all Tejanos inside the fortress to walk away unharmed. No archaeological research was done, since the work predated the states Antiquities Act. Lindley (2003), p. 144; Groneman (1990), p. 32. Lindley (2003), pp. corporation. All rights reserved. In an internal email dated Dec. 4, 2019, archaeologist Kristi Miller Nichols noted the discovery of the remains of three people during excavation work within the Alamo chapel. "The enemy in large force is in sight. Some Tejanos were part of the Bexar military garrison, but others were part of Seguin's volunteer scout company and were in the Alamo on or before Feb 23. Left with Andrew Jackson Sowell left to buy supplies; namesake of, Gonzales Mounted Ranger Company dispatched with the Travis letter, Entered March 4 a.k.a. R.A. Gillespie and Capt. A marble plaque in the 600 block of East Commerce Street, next to a street-level pedestrian bridge over the River Walk and across the street from the Shops at Rivercenter mall parking garage, marks the general area where two funeral pyres are believed to have burned after the 1836 Battle of the Alamo. [21] Her work is still used by some as a benchmark, although skepticism has been voiced. 374, 377. Francisco Antonio Ruiz, the alcalde, later recalled in an account for the 1860 Texas Almanac that Gen. Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna assigned a company of dragoons to build a pyre. In March 1979 archaeologists James Ivey and Anne Fox led a dig where the compounds north wall once stood. So why does any of this matter? Ron J. Jackson Jr. is a regular Wild West contributor and the award-winning author of Joe, the Slave Who Became an Alamo Legend (co-authored by Lee Spencer White), Alamo Survivors (also co-authored by Lee Spencer White) and Alamo Legacy: Alamo Descendants Remember the Alamo. Send them to us. Groneman (1990), pp. Juan Seguin held a funeral for the Alamo defenders on Feb. 25, 1837, and is believed to have buried some of their charred remains somewhere near the battle site. Plumes of black smoke spiraled from the pyres as flames leapt skyward in symphony with the crackling of branches and kindling. 4548; Lindley (2003), p. 87. The park, in proximity to two sites where Alamo defenders bodies are believed to have been burned in funeral pyres, has been suggested as a possible future site for the 1930s Alamo Cenotaph, if it is relocated. Groneman (1990), p. 80; Moore (2007), p. 100. It was only during the siege that the Texas Congress declared an independent Republic of Texas. Please reload the page and try again. Terry Scott Bertling / San Antonio Express-News. An 1837 account of the funeral led by Seguin in the Telegraph and Texas Register said that ashes of the Alamo fallen were deposited at an unspecified place of interment after three volleys of musketry were fired to honor them at two pyre sites. Some were recent immigrants from the United States, or even from Europe, and had joined the cause to defend Texas liberty. With Dennis Quaid, Billy Bob Thornton, Jason Patric, Patrick Wilson. Fragments of flesh, bones and charred wood and ashes revealed it in all of its terrible truth, recalled Pablo Diaz, who as a young man had been forced to gather wood that day. Within the cemetery, the memorial is near Central, Summit, and Elm Avenues and is Rhode Island's only memorial to the Alamo. The bodies had been reduced to cinders; occasionally a bone of a leg or arm was seen almost entire., In 1877, an article titled Extract from a Lecture on Western Texasin the Daily Express indicated the pyres were no longer there. The statue of American Federation of Labor founder Samuel Gompers occupies a small pocket park on Market Street, between the River Walk and the Shops at Rivercenter mall to the north and the Convention Center to the south. I turned my head aside and left the place in shame.. The 1930s Alamo Cenotaph, a work by artist Pompeo Coppini titled "The Spirit of Sacrifice," includes sculpted images of flames and text referencing fire that burned their bodies. But a 1999 report by UTSA archaeologists said the Cenotaph's location is likely "the only place that can safely be eliminated from contention" as a site of a funeral pyre after the 1836 battle. [19], When the Alamo Cenotaph was created by Pompeo Coppini in 1939, the 187 defender names on the monument came from the research of Amelia Williams,[20] considered the leading Alamo authority of her day. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. The corpses of the slaughtered garrison were dragged outside, and Santa Anna's soldiers then doused them with oil and burned them in three big bonfires. 6465; Todish (1998), p. 89; Edmondson (2000), p. 369; Lindley (2003), p. 44. After losing his re-election bid in 1835, Crockett vowed to go to Texas where he expected to revive his political career. Credits, Media/Business Inquiries The shaft rises sixty feet from its base which is forty feet long and twelve feet wide. Magazines, Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of an American Myth, Or create a free account to access more articles, We've Been Telling the Alamo Story Wrong for Nearly 200 Years. Nothing is wanted but money, he wrote in a pair of 1832 letters, and Negros are necessary to make it. Each time a Mexican government threatened to outlaw slavery, many in Austins colony began packing to go home. Segun became the first Tejano to serve in the new Republic's Senate. There are many people who were at the Alamo prior to that day who are not part of the Defenders list, including couriers sent out during the siege to inform the rest of Texas and the world of what was happening at the Alamo. These include muster roles from the Alamo prior to the Battle, newspaper reports, first-hand accounts of people who were at the Alamo before and during the Battle, land grant claims by descendants of the Alamo Defenders, and other historical evidence. Finally, there is a 1906 account from city clerk August Biesenbach, who told San Antonio Express reporter Charles Merritt Barnes that years after the battle some of the fragments of heads, skulls, arms and hands had been removed and buried at the Odd Fellows Cemetery, about a mile east of the Alamo. In 1889 he recalled having had the ashes buried within San Antonios San Fernando Cathedral, in front of the altar railings, but very near the altar steps. Jos Mara Rodriguez, who witnessed the storming of the Alamo as a child, later expressed doubt the ashes had been buried inside the sanctuary without the common knowledge of his fellow parishioners, though a marble sarcophagus just inside the entrance of the present-day cathedral supposedly holds those ashes. Spoffordwrote, For myself, on the last anniversary of the event, standing by the site of the funeral pyre of the Texans the victims of the Alamo, for their ashes blown to the four winds, have extended their fame throughout the world, wherever the martyred brave are honored, wherever there is a recompense in human gratitude for heroic deeds.. We love San Antonio, just like you. Since the Sanborn map of 1895 shows both the Ludlow House and the Springfield House, it was an excellent map to use as the base map for the location of the pyres. Lindley (2003), p. 143; Groneman (1990), pp. He was both a soldier and politician, becoming Mayor of San Antonio in 1841. If youre looking at the Alamo as a kind of state religion, this is the original sin, says San Antonio art historian Ruben Cordova. Some statues are recognizable from their former locations at SeaWorld and the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, while others were crafted specifically for the Alamo Sculpture Trail, following the footpath from the Briscoe Western Art Museum to the Alamo. Start with the Alamo. . Among the defenders that day was Davy Crockett, a former . These men came from a variety of backgrounds and places, but all came together to fight for Texas liberty. DNA tests may provide the answers. Many of those were killed by the Mexican army. The 115names were supplied by couriers John Smith and Gerald Navan,[17] whom historian Thomas Ricks Lindley believed likely drew from their own memories, as well as from interviews with those who might have left or tried to enter. But the many myths surrounding Texas birth, especially those cloaking the fabled 1836 siege at the Alamo mission in San Antonio, remain cherished in the state. View Source Suggest Edits Memorial Photos Flowers Memorials Region North America USA Texas Bexar County San Antonio The Alamo Defenders of the Alamo Memorial Maintained by: Find a Grave Added: 22 Aug 2000 As for the Alamo defenders, history shows that Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna ordered the bodies of dead Texians to be burned. Groneman (1990), p. 97; Nofi (1992), pp. Below are 256 known combatants: 212 who died during the siege, 43 survivors, and one escapee who later died of his wounds. Time passed on, wrote S.J. Lindley (2003), p. 144; Groneman (1990), p. 76. Carrington (1993), pp. Wouldnt it be grand if the Reimagine the Alamo team could conductsome more exact measurements, include the pyre sites in their redevelopment plan, and once again erect proper memorials to our heroes? Lindley (2003), p. 143; Groneman (1990), p. 24. Chances are his lifeless bodylike those of most of his fellow defenderswas consigned to the flames of a funeral pyre. No portion of this document may be reproduced, copied or revised without written permission of the authors. It's easy to unsubscribe if we're not a good fit for you. Groneman (1990), p. 9; Moore (2007), p. 100. [4], Erected in memory of the heroes who sacrificed their lives at the Alamo, March 6, 1836, in the defense of Texas. And Mexican-American history isnt the only piece of the past thats distorted by the Alamo myth. His brother,. Download 100+ Free The Alamo Background Photos & 500,000+ Backgrounds for Free. At one point the Ludlow House was the home of the Salvation Army chapel, and an old photo shows the plaque on the building then. In 2004, a bronze marker was erected by the Alamo Defenders Descendants Association at Odd Fellows Cemetery, near the northeast corner of Pine Street and Paso Hondo. Illustration of the Battle of the Alamo, San Antonio, Texas, March 6, 1836. Invariably, visitors asked about the final resting place of the Alamo dead, and locals would motion toward a peach orchard a few hundred yards from the mission fort. The Ashes of the Alamo Defenders San Fernando Cathedral, 115 Main Plaza, sfcathedral.org After the Battle of the Alamo, the remains of the dead Texians were burned in three funeral pyres on the . Even as the nation is undergoing a sweeping reassessment of its racial history, and despite decades of academic research that casts the Texas Revolt and the Alamos siege in a new light, little of this has permeated the conversation in Texas. The third attack overwhelmed the defenses of the weak north wall. This event is so significant in my mind that I always try to devote a column that honors the heroism of these men on or around the anniversary of the occasion. This Monday, March 6, marks the anniversary of the fall of the Alamo outside of San Antonio, Texas, back in 1836. Groneman (1990), p. 77; Moore (2007), p. 100. Alamo preservationist Adina De Zavala wrote in 1917 of four Alamo funeral pyres, including one that tradition says burned in the Alamo courtyard before orders were given to build others to the south, southeast and east by south. Many have drawn from that narrative to conclude that the 1930s Alamo Cenotaph, with sculpted images of flames and text referencing fire that burned their bodies, was built on a funeral pyre site in Alamo Plaza. "We are honored to partner with the San Antonio Living History Association to present this meaningful ceremony, and to invite the community to join us in paying tribute to the Alamo Defenders." The Dawn at the Alamo event will take place from 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. on Monday, March 6, 2023, in Alamo Plaza. Try My Sights, Roadside America app for iPhone, iPad. Based on the 1836 standoff between a group of Texan and Tejano men, led by Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, and Mexican dictator Santa Anna's forces at the Alamo in San Antonio Texas. Between 1,800 and 6,000 Mexican soldiers besieged the fort, while . One defender, Gregorio Esparza, was buried in the Campo Santo (cemetery) in the area of Milam Park. Alamo, The [Ancient Order of Hibernians Texas ] (February 23, 1836 - March 6, 1836) Irish, Historic Military Garrison. Many of these men bravely fought in other battles of the Texas Revolution and should be honored as heroes, but they are not considered part of the list of Alamo Defenders. The stories of each of these men is vital to understanding the Battle of the Alamo. Regardless, what became of those Alamo skeletons in buckskin? Twenty-two days later Pollard perished with the rest of the garrison. 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 Crockett surrendered and was executed. Lindley (2003), p. 144; Todish (1998), p. 81. Whoops! Until March 4, Houston's authority did not extend to volunteers and local militias, which were the majority of the fighting force inside the Alamo. A chain-enclosed 10-foot-square area at Odd Fellows Cemetery on the near East Side is where August Biesenbach, San Antonio city clerk in the early 1900s, recalled Alamo defenders being buried decades earlier, midway between the monuments of two Texas Rangers Capt. [14] Identifying the combatants [ edit] The discoveries are tied to a $450 million renovation of Alamo Plaza, and the details are tantalizing. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. After accepting the formal surrender of Mexican forces at San Antonio, Seguin oversaw the burial ceremonies for the Alamo defenders' ashes. Moore (2004), pp.