Battle Of The Alamo Essay

The Great Battle of 1836, more commonly known as The Alamo, was engaged on February 23, 1836. The Mexicans originally controlled the Alamo from the Spaniards and Mexican President General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna led a massive army of 6000 men to storm the gates of the Alamo and reclaim the territory after the people of Texas declared themselves independent from Mexico. This massive army stormed at the gates of the Alamo, Undaunted by the defenders of Texas. The defenders of Texas were lead by Colonel James Bowie and Lieutenant Colonel William B. Travis and were only a Small force of only 200 soldiers who included the famous explore David Crockett. The Texans stood their ground and fought this rigorous 13-day battle. They used

When people hear of the Alamo, they think of it as just the church, but in 1836, it was a 4.2-acre compound. The walls around the complex were made from limestone that is found in the surrounding area and made into blocks that were nearly three feet thick, and were from nine to twelve feet tall, and stretching more than ninety feet long. The floor of the Alamo was most likely laid with flagstone. Its original design was a Chapel but never completed. The Alamo has a design to hold up against attacks from Native American tribes but it was not designed to withstand the forces from an Army with artillery capabilities. Two main roads led in to Texas from Mexico and one of these roads was the Atascosito road. It ran from Matamoros on the Rio Grande all the way up north to the middle of Austin, which was only a colony at the time. The second road was the Old San Antonio Road and it crossed the Rio Grande at Paso de Franica and ran northeast though San Antonio and across the Sabine River into Louisiana. The Alamo was one of two forts that blocked these avenues of approach. The Alamo functioned as a frontier and as an observation point to lookout for enemy advances. The Alamo was not able to withstand a long siege without speedy

The Mexicans finished the revolution against the Spanish and the newly independent Mexicans struggled to appoint a stable leader. The Mexicans went through 13 different presidents prior to the Battle of the Alamo. The first president General Guadalupe Victoria established the Liberal Constitution of 1824. General Antonio López de Santa Anna took power in their fledgling republic in 1833 from the previous leader Agustin de Iturbide. Agustin, a former Spanish general turned rebel, allowed the Americans to settle in Texas long as the landowners were Catholic. In 1835, the Texans, being the only separate territory to lose their independence and to become joined with Coahuila when the Mexicans redefined their borders, wrote The Declaration of Causes to Santa Anna. The Texans intent for the declaration aimed at convincing the federalists that they wanted to preserve the Liberal Constitution of “1824 that guaranteed the rights of everyone living on Mexican soil” and to petition for statehood separate from Coahuila. Santa Anna’s aim however sought to remove all foreigners from Mexican soil. His answer came when he sent his brother in law General Martín Perfecto de Cós with 1,200 men to disarm the Texans. Cós ordered the small town of Gonzales to surrender the cannon placed there to protect the town from Indian attacks. The town