Alamo Pilgrimage 2: The Battle of the Alamo 2010

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Every year, I'm told, the San Antonio Living History Association reenacts the battle on Alamo Plaza. This year they did it three times. I caught all of the second and the end of the third. Here's the story in pictures, followed by 5 minutes of furious video action.

General Santa Anna (at center) conducts the Mexican council of war. The Texian rebels, he says, will receive no quarter.

Col. Travis (white coat), Davy (coonskin cap) and the men discuss their dilemma. Juan Seguin is at right. I think Jim Bowie has already taken sick.

Travis sends Jim Bonham to Goliad for help.

 The defenders on the north wall can only watch and wait.

Bonham is back (just behind Davy). There will be no help from Goliad.

The men decide to stay and fight. The crowd is asked if they'll stay too. They will.

The Mexican cannon roars. The battle is on. The New Orleans Greys prepare a reply.

Davy lessens the odds. He's deadly at 600 yards.

The attack comes at the north wall. The men fire...

...then step back to reload, as others take their place.

The north wall is breached and the defenders slain. (Fallen men bow their heads and rest on their weapons.)

Davy dies fighting. The last of the defenders are killed.

The Mexicans have won, but don't feel like celebrating.

And finally, the spirits of the defenders come alive to lead the crowd in the battle cry, "Remember the Alamo!"

Now, for you brave souls who stayed and fought to the end, here's the battle at the north wall (including the death of gallant Col. Travis) as captured by my pocket-size video camera. You may click on the four arrows at lower right to view the action FULL SCREEN.



Click HERE for more Alamo-related posts.

Alamo Pilgrimage 1: Crockett Encounters

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Last Fall I was whining about someday wanting to visit the Alamo on March 6 to take part in the annual shindig surrounding the anniversary of the battle. So I was mighty surprised on Christmas Day, when my wife Irene gave me my present: A trip for two to the Big Event.

On our two previous visits to San Antonio, I took photos of the Chapel, Long Barracks and grounds from every conceivable angle, sat in the plaza replaying the battle in my mind, and lugged home samples of just about every item in the Alamo giftshop. This time, though there was some of that same behavior, it was mostly about meeting other Alamomaniacs and taking part in the commemorative activities.

The well-dressed fellow above stopped me on the plaza and introduced himself as David Preston Crockett, saying he's a direct descendant of old Davy himself. That's his ID I'm holding, an official State of Texas Birth Registration Card.

I met this gent on the plaza one evening and complimented him on his attire. He introduced himself only as "Col. Crockett", and if he has any other name I failed to get it. He bears an uncanny resemblance to the portrait of Davy on the pin below, and regularly portrays him at meetings of the Direct Descendants of David Crockett and other venues.

I acquired my limited edition enameled pin from Suzanne Brooks, 3rd Great-Granddaughter of the Polly Finley line (via Davy's first son John Wesley), a member of the board of directors of the DDDC, and a very nice lady. Since I failed to snap her picture, I borrowed this one from the DDDC website.

I also had a nice chat with Caroline Crockett-Cotton, a Direct Descendant through the Elizabeth Patton line (Elizabeth was Davy's second wife). She indicated I'd be welcome at one of their bi-annual family reunions, and I certainly hope to take her up on it. She's seen here with author and Alamo Journal editor Bill Chemerka, in a 2009 photo stolen from all-around nice guy (& author) Jeffrey Dane.

Finally, here's a fellow I did not get to meet (no, the short guy's not me), but I enjoyed his performance as Davy in the battle reenactment staged on Alamo Plaza.  More pics to come.

For previous Alamo-related posts, click HERE.

On This Day in 1836 . . .

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Yep, today is the 174th anniversary of the Battle of the Alamo. So here are four of my favorite Alamo tunes. The first two have been recorded many times, but I like these versions best (so far).

I have to ask your help on the last one. I took the required semester of French in college, and hated it so much I kicked my textbook back and forth from class. Therefore, I don't have a clue what Johnny Madsen is singing (other than invoking the name of Davy Crockett). Can anyone enlighten me?

"Remember the Alamo" by Willie Nelson

"Ballad of the Alamo" by Brian Burns

"Alamo" by Lorne Greene

"Alamo" by Johnny Madsen

Alamo Bookshelf 7: Jim Bowie, Alamo Soldier & Gregorio Esparza

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I find most Alamo related books irresistible, but usually pass on the juveniles, because in most cases they offer no new information or insight. But there are exceptions, and here are three notables . . .

JIM BOWIE, FRONTIER LEGEND, ALAMO HERO by J.R. Edmondson (2003)
In an earlier post, I mentioned that the best Bowie bio to date is technically a juvenile. Well, this is it. But aside from the way it’s packaged and marketed, there’s nothing juvenile about it. J.R. Edmondson is one of the foremost authorities on Big Jim, and the author of two other books I’ve much enjoyed (one of those is a study of the Sandbar Fight, the incident that made Bowie famous). He’s also the closest thing we have to a modern-day Bowie, having portrayed him in many venues over the years, including several TV documentaries. Anyone seriously interested in the real-life Bowie needs this book in his library.

ALAMO SOLDIER, THE STORY OF PEACEFUL MITCHELL by R.L Templeton (1976)
What makes this one special is the subject. Napoleon Bonaparte Mitchell was one of the many unsung defenders of the Alamo, one of those guys who sacrificed every bit as much as Crockett, Travis and Bowie, but is now little more than a name on the list of dead. Though it looks like a biography, this book is actually a full-length historical novel recounting Mitchell’s journey to the Alamo and his experiences during the siege. Templeton says he became interested in Mitchell’s story while doing research for a book on another young defender. How much of the story told here is supported by that research and how much is pure imagination is unclear. Templeton presents Mitchell as a young man of 17, while Bill Groneman’s book Alamo Defenders lists his age as 32. I have to believe Groneman.

GREGORIO ESPARZA, ALAMO DEFENDER by William R. Chemerka (2009)
Alamo Journal Editor Bill Chemerka is the author of several fine Alamo related books and knows the subject matter as well as anyone alive. Gregorio Esparza is of special interest because he was one of several Tejano defenders who chose to fight for his freedom alongside his more recently emigrated neighbors. Esparza’s story is better documented than most, because he had his family with him inside the Alamo’s walls, and they survived the battle. His son Enrique, eight years old at the time, was interviewed late in life, providing rare first-hand testimony regarding his father and the other defenders during the siege. Chemerka weaves the facts into a compelling story, giving us new insight into the conflicts faced by Esparza and other Tejanos in the weeks leading up to the battle, and the sacrifice they made for what they believed in.

DAVID CROCKETT IN CONGRESS: The Most Important Crockett Book in Fifty Years

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When this book was published, I invited co-author Allen Wiener to say a few words about it here on the Almanack (that's HERE). He made it sound like a fine book, and I was anxious to read it. So I ordered a copy.

When it arrived, I was shocked at the size. I’m not sure how I pictured it, but I wasn’t expecting a deluxe hardcover the size of a big city phonebook!

Then I read it, and had still another revelation. You see, folks, this ain’t no ordinary history book. It’s a landmark in Crockett literature. Bottom line? This is the most important Crockett book to appear in over fifty years. I know, because aside from a handful of juvenile biographies and storybooks, I’ve read them all.

Why is it so important? First, it provides a wealth of new scholarship regarding an vital and long overlooked period of Crockett’s life. And second, it introduces us to the real David Crockett in a way never before possible - in his own words.

Wait! you say. Didn’t Crockett write an autobiography? Yes he did, sort of. And it’s a fine read. But he had help. It’s not pure Crockett, and it’s not always as factual as historians would like.

That autobiography was published in 1834, and for the next 122 years, biographers just rehashed the same information. James Atkins Shackford changed all that in 1956, with David Crockett: The Man and the Legend, opening up acres of new territory in Crockett’s life. Most important of these was Crockett’s political career. But while Shackford’s work on that period was groundbreaking, it left me wanting more. I kept expecting someone to dig into the original sources Shackford only alluded to and give us the whole story.

That’s what James Boylston and Allen Wiener have done, and the result is far more than I’d hoped for. The back half of the book delivers all the poop from those original sources - letters, circulars, newspaper articles, and the congressional record. Much of this stuff is in Crockett’s own unvarnished words (complete with lack of punctuation), taking us closer to the real man than we’ve ever been.

The first half of the book puts that information in context, taking us step-by-step through Crockett’s career in Congress. Boylston and Wiener introduce us to all the major players, both friend and foe, and give us a firm grounding in the issues of the day, allowing us to understand what Crockett was up against, and appreciate what his actions revealed about his character.

This is not the Davy we saw on the Disney show. This is the real guy, and we get to know him warts and all. The Crockett that emerges is a different kind of hero, the one hinted at in the book’s subtitle. Whatever troubles came his way (and they were many), Crockett never lost sight of his ideals, and truly was “the Poor Man’s Friend”.

Want more info before you buy? Visit the book’s official website HERE, or watch James and Allen’s 40-minute presentation at the Texas Book Festival, as broadcast by C-SPAN2, HERE.

Alamo Bookshelf 6: With Santa Anna in Texas, How Did Davy Die? & Defense of a Legend

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WITH SANTA ANNA IN TEXAS by Jose Enrique de la Pena (1975, 1997)
In 1955, at the height of the Davy Crockett Craze, this tattered manuscript conveniently surfaced in a Mexico City flea market. The document was purported to be a diary kept by one of Santa Anna’s officers on his campaign into Texas. The manuscript made only one reference to David Crockett, on paper remarkably different from the rest, and in remarkably different handwriting. Still, when the first English translation was published in 1975, that single page ignited a battle that still rages. That Crockett passage, you see, claims that Davy, along with several other defenders, was captured and executed at the order of Santa Anna. 

HOW DID DAVY DIE? by Dan Kilgore (1978)
This slim volume, published when the debunking of American heroes was becoming all the rage, fired the flames of the controversy by rehashing the de la Pena tale and presenting as corroborative “evidence” several other questionable Mexican accounts. Some say that a few defenders surrendered to Mexican troops, and at least one contains a hearsay tale that a man named “Cwockey” may have been among them. Taken alone these other accounts were worthless, but those choosing to believe the de la Pena story elevated them to the level of gospels.  In response to this book, Kilgore, along with Carmen Perry (translator of the “diary”), received death threats.

DEFENSE OF A LEGEND by Bill Groneman (1994)
The voice of reason fought back in this, one of my all-time favorite Alamo books. Bill Groneman demonstrated that the de la Pena manuscript, far from being a “diary” was at best a researched memoir. The page concerning Crockett, if not an outright forgery, was clearly added later, the result not of de la Pena’s first hand knowledge, but gleaned from newspaper accounts surfacing after the Battle of San Jacinto (in which Texas won independence) and intended to inflame American public opinion against Mexico. Groneman points out that several first hand accounts, by witnesses who actually knew Crockett, support the notion that he died fighting.

Much has since been written on this issue, and intelligent people have argued eloquently on both sides, but nothing has been proven. Historians who acknowledge the question is in dispute have my respect, while those who flat-out claim that Davy was captured or surrendered - without addressing evidence to the contrary - get my spiritual-Texan dander up.

See earlier volumes on The Alamo Bookshelf HERE.

Alamo Bookshelf 5: 13 Days to Glory, Bowie's Lost Mine & A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett

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13 DAYS TO GLORY - Lon Tinkle (1958)

This second book-length work devoted to the Alamo is an even better read than the first (see Alamo Bookshelf 3) by John Myers Myers. Tinkle adds new details and new anecdotes, and puts faces on more of the characters in this real-life drama. This book was the basis of the not-so-hot 1987 TV movie featuring James Arness as Jim Bowie, Brian Keith as Crockett (yech!) and Alec Baldwin as William Barrett Travis. An early mass-market paperback edition was titled simply The Alamo.

A NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF DAVID CROCKETT by Himself (1834)
This 1987 Bison paperback is one of many editions of this work. Whichever you happen to pick up, you really can’t go wrong. The plain-speaking narration was unusual for its day (except perhaps to readers of Ben Franklin), and for colloquial humor it was something of a precursor to the work of Mark Twain. Had there been a NY Times Bestseller list in 1834, it would have been near the top. Though this truly is Davy’s own story, it was edited and corrected by a friend.

BOWIE’S LOST MINE - Dr. M. E. Francis (1954)
This slim volume was the first of several books recounting Jim Bowie’s hunt for the abandoned San Saba silver mine, once operated by the Spanish in the Texas hill country. According to legend, Bowie lived among the Lipan Apaches for a time and eventually learned the secret of its location. He then led an expedition to find the mine, but his party of ten was trapped in a day-long battle with a force of 164 Indians. The battle was real, but the rest is still a matter of debate.

More from the Alamo Bookshelf HERE.

Alamo Bookshelf 4: Texans in Revolt, After the Alamo & James Bowie, The Life of a Bravo

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TEXANS IN REVOLT - Alwyn Barr (1990)
The Alamo battle of 1836 is so famous it overshadows the battle of 1835, known as the Battle of San Antonio, when Texians fought street-by-street through the town, ousted a force of Mexican soldiers from the Alamo and sent them packing. The embarrassed Mexican commander, General Cos, was Santa Anna’s brother-in-law, which went a long way towards motivating Santa Anna to lead his army north to crush the upstart rebels. Also covers the Battle of Conception, where Jim Bowie was in co-command.

AFTER THE ALAMO - Robert Scott (2000)
After reading the book above and finding what happened before the Alamo, you’ll be ready for the rest of the story. Among other stories, this tells of Col. James Walker Fannin and the 300-odd men in the mission of Goliad (90 miles from the Alamo) who retreated, surrendered and were foully executed by one of Santa Anna's generals. The happy ending winds up at the Battle of San Jacinto (pictured on cover), where Sam Houston’s rag-tag army whips the Mexicans, captures Santa Anna and wins independence for Texas.

JAMES BOWIE, THE LIFE OF A BRAVO -  C. L. Douglas (1944)
Hard facts about Big Jim Bowie are hard to come by, and this was the first attempt at a biography. Much of the book is admittedly based on legends, but is plenty danged entertaining anyway. Far as I know, this is the first and only edition of this book. 65 years later, there has still been only one other adult Bowie biography, and the only really authoritative book on his life is technically a juvenile.

Peruse earlier books on the Alamo Bookshelf HERE.

Alamo Bookshelf 3: The Alamo, Tall Tales of Davy Crockett & Exploring the Alamo Legends

 
THE ALAMO - John Myers Myers (1948)
A groundbreaking work: The first book-length study, with chapters on events leading up the battle and on all the major players. Still a good read, due to Myers’ easy going style, but an amazing amount of new information has surfaced in the past sixty years. It would be interesting to compare this to A Line in the Sand (Alamo Bookshelf 1), to see what’s changed and what’s remained the same. This book has gone through many printings and editions. Pictured here is a fairly recent paperback edition.

THE TALL TALES OF DAVY CROCKETT (1987)
A reprinting, in facsimile, of three complete Crockett almanacs purportedly published in Nashville from 1839-1841, with an introduction by Michael A. Lofaro. No one knows where these almanacs were really published, or by whom, but they’re full of great woodcuts and wacky stories. Beware! Even though the pages are slightly larger than the originals, the type is tiny and sometimes spotty. Bring your magnifying glass. Of the several books reprinting stuff from Davy’s almanacs, this is one of the easiest to find.

EXPLORING THE ALAMO LEGENDS - Wallace O. Chariton (1990)
I like this guy. He’s a true Texan, with the guts to say what he thinks and the humor to make it go down easy. He wrote at least two other books on the Alamo, and all are among my favorites. This one delivers his take on over a dozen Alamo mysteries, legends and controversies. How did Davy and the other heroes die? Did Sam Houston really order Bowie to blow the place up? Did Travis really draw the line in the sand? Did one man really refuse to cross it? Wally gives us the straight skinny.

See other tomes on the ALAMO BOOKSHELF.

Alamo Bookshelf 2: Alamo Anthology, Gentleman from the Cane & The Alamo: An Epic

ALAMO ANTHOLOGY edited by William R. Chemerka (2005)
Since 1986, The Alamo Journal, under the steady hand of Bill Chemerka, has been the leading edge of Alamo scholarship. I've been a subscriber for several years, but wish like heck I'd been getting it from the beginning. This volume collects 11 outstanding articles from the Journal, running the gamut from Crockett, Travis and Bowie to Santa Anna and the the Mexican Army. If I had my way, the mag's entire run would be collected in book form, but this is a great start.

DAVY CROCKETT, GENTLEMAN FROM THE CANE by James C Kelly and Frederick S. Voss (1986)
This book catalogs an exhibition that graced the National Portrait Gallery and the Tennessee Statue Museum in 1986, the 200th anniversary of Crockett's birth (Dang! I missed it.) Featured are such treasures as two of Davy's rifles, a bench he made for a courthouse, a gold watch he carried to Texas, and representations of six portraits done from life.

THE ALAMO, AN EPIC by Michael Lind (1997)
This is an amazing achievement. A truly epic poem, in the Iliad and Odyssey tradition, consisting of 858 7-line stanzas that cover the Alamo story in great and authentic detail. If Lind doesn't have something to say about every known defender, I hope I may be shot. I haven't read the whole thing, but those passages I've perused are nicely done. I suspect it would be best appreciated read aloud.

Alamo Bookshelf 1: A Line in the Sand, In the Footsteps of Davy Crockett & The Blazing Dawn

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As each new year begins, I'm reminded that March 6 is fast approaching, and my thoughts turn to Texas and the events of that date in 1836. I usually take the opportunity to pull a book or two off my Alamo bookshelf for a refresher course in Texas history. Well, this year I'm doing something different. I'm going to pull all the books off that shelf, both fiction and non-fiction, and present sort of a survey of the field. Here's the first batch:

A LINE IN THE SAND by Randy Roberts and James S. Olsen (2001)
If you're going to read just one book about the Alamo, this is it. And if you're going to read a lot of them, this is the place to start. This book presents a clear and detailed picture of the issues on both sides of the conflict, delivers a striking picture of the battle itself and sweeps on into the present, discussing the impact of Walt Disney and John Wayne and introducing some of the current controversies. An intelligent and well-written book.


IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF DAVY CROCKETT by Randell Jones (2006)
This travelogue traces Davy's footsteps from Tennessee to Texas, providing a picture of what Crockett saw then, and what's left for us to see today, complete with photographs. As a boy, Davy ventured east as far as Baltimore, and the Creek War took him south into Alabama, Mississippi and Spanish Florida. And of course his policking took him to Washington, Philadelphia and points north. It's all here, and all mighty interesting.


THE BLAZING DAWN by James Wakefield Burke (1975)
Heck, they can't all be good. This "tempestuous saga of the Alamo", titled Devil on the Wall in hardcover (1987), is much more at home between the covers of this sleazy paperback. I like the concept - a historical novel weaving the separate stories of Crockett, Bowie and Travis into one as they come together at the Alamo. But the cover blurb pretty much says it all. "A brawling, lusty epic . . . the story of three giant heroes and their daring women."  It's heavy on smut and light on history, much like the author's attempt at writing a Crockett biography (to be discussed later).

Art Gallery: Davy visits the Alamo

Davy likes puzzles. Yeah, most of the ones he likes are kids' puzzles, but he had very little schooling, so you can do the math. Still, once he puts them together they look great framed and gracing the walls of our editorial offices. This one, made by the Somerville company, finds our hero striking a noble and thoughtful pose in Alamo Plaza, somewhere between the time Texas joined the Union and the plaza was paved to accommodate snowcone stands. Look close, and you'll spy pieces shaped like a bell, a saber and a flintlock pistol.