Remember the Alamo! What happened in the 1836 siege and battle?

In late 1835, the American settlers who made up most of the population of Mexican-ruled Texas had risen up in a bid for independence. Helped by Hispanic Tejanos and volunteers from the United States, the rebels drove the Mexican government’s forces south of the Rio Grande and out of Texas. Most of the insurgents then promptly went home, but small garrisons remained in a number of towns.

Where was the famous Alamo?

San Antonio de Bexar – where the Texans occupied the Alamo, a former Spanish mission that had originally been fortified by the Mexicans – was one such stronghold. San Antonio de Bexar sat astride an important road into Texas, and the idea was that the Alamo would alert the Texans of any enemy advance. In mid- February 1836, Travis, a young regular soldier, was sent to take command there.

A three-acre complex of singlestorey adobe buildings grouped around a central plaza, the Alamo was no fortress. The wall around it was incomplete, log palisades filled the gaps and there were no loopholes from which to fire.

What’s more, its perimeter was so large that Travis would struggle to man the defences – at the time of the final Mexican attack he had just 180-250 men.

But Travis had another problem, too. The independent-minded volunteers who made up the majority didn’t want to serve under him. Instead, they elected the hard-drinking pioneer and knife-fighter James ‘Jim’ Bowie as their leader. In the end, a compromise was reached. The two men operated as joint commanders. Matters were eventually resolved when Bowie fell ill, leaving Travis in sole command.

The Mexican President, General Antonio Santa Anna, was determined to re-conquer Texas and took personal command of his country’s army.

When did the siege of the Alamo begin?

On 23 February, its advance guard – 1,400 men in all – marched into San Antonio de Bexar.

This came as a nasty surprise to Travis and Bowie. They hadn’t expected the Mexicans to move for at least a month, and had done little to lay in food supplies and ammunition.

Nevertheless, Santa Anna’s demand for an unconditional surrender was answered with a defiant cannon-shot from the Alamo walls.

The furious Mexican commander ordered that no quarter be given to the defenders and a 13-day siege began.

The first 12 days saw comparatively little fighting.

The Mexicans worked their way through San Antonio, taking care to stay out of the sights of the marksmen in the Alamo, including the legendary Davy Crockett. The heaviest fighting took place when a few of Santa Anna’s men tried to use some abandoned huts near the Alamo for shelter. Supported by covering fire from Crockett and his sharp-shooting comrades, a group of Texans rushed out, drove the Mexicans off and burned the huts to the ground.

As the Mexicans closed in around him, Travis sent out a series of couriers who slipped through the lines carrying his desperate pleas for help. But the disorganised provisional Texan government was unable to assemble a relief army. The biggest group of reinforcements came in the form of just 32 riders from the nearby town of Gonzales, who broke into the compound on 1 March. Meanwhile, Santa Anna’s army was growing larger by the day.

The Mexicans set up their artillery opposite the south and east walls of the Alamo and began a relentless bombardment. Eventually, the Texans would have been forced to surrender, either after the Alamo’s walls collapsed or when they ran out of supplies.

But Santa Anna had no wish to be held up any longer by what he later described as an “insignificant little place” and saw little prestige in a bloodless victory. On 5 March, he ordered his commanders to prepare to storm the Alamo.

The storming of the Alamo: what happened?

The defenders were under no illusions about the fate that awaited them when the Alamo fell. Reportedly, Travis drew a line in the sand, and asked those who would fight to the death alongside him to cross it. As much as this is a great story, it’s unknown if there is any truth in it – the evidence is sketchy to say the least. However, it is true that no one was forced to stay. It seems only one man, a French soldier of fortune, took the chance to leave.

The Mexicans made their assault before dawn on 6 March. Equipped with scaling ladders, columns of troops advanced on the Alamo from all directions. Caught by surprise, the defenders rushed to the walls and opened fire into the darkness with their rifles and muskets. Others hurriedly turned their cannon into deadly shotguns by loading them with bits of iron, horseshoes and nails, and blasted their attackers.

A first Mexican assault may have been beaten back, as well as a second, but because the walls lacked loopholes or firing ports, the defenders had to expose themselves in order to fire at their enemies. Travis was one of the first defenders to die, shot down as he stood on the north wall firing a shotgun into the packed ranks of Mexicans below him. On their third attempt, the Mexicans scaled the north wall. Overwhelming the outnumbered defenders, they broke into the compound.

Vicious room-to-room fighting went on for an hour, until all the defenders there were dead

The defenders on the south wall frantically swung round a cannon to fire at them, but the Mexicans stormed that wall as well and captured the gun.

As Mexicans flooded into the former missionary, some Texans attempted to flee, only to be cut down without mercy by Santa Anna’s cavalry who were waiting outside. Others took refuge in the compound buildings, fighting on from there, but the Mexicans brought up cannons and blasted open the doors, enabling their infantry to rush in. Vicious room-to-room fighting went on for an hour, until all the defenders there were dead. Among them was Bowie, fighting to the last from his sick bed.

The final building to fall was the chapel. The Texan families sheltering there were spared, but all the soldiers were killed – with the exception of one defender who managed to persuade the attackers he was a Mexican prisoner-of-war. Travis’s slave, Joe, was also spared.

Who died at the Alamo?

Crockett’s death is shrouded in mystery. Some say his body was found surrounded by Mexican corpses, all felled by his hand. Another account suggests he was one of a small group of survivors who were executed after the battle on Santa Anna’s orders.

The Mexicans had paid a high price for their victory – as many as 600 had been killed or wounded – but the gallant defending garrison had been completely wiped out. Santa Anna sent two of the survivors, Susanna Dickinson and her baby Angelina, to General Houston’s camp with a warning that a similar fate awaited the rest of the rebels unless they laid down their arms, but his plan backfired.

What's the meaning of 'Remember the Alamo'?

The Alamo proved a turning point in the war, but not in the way Santa Anna had anticipated. The massacre may have caused terror among the Texans, but it also strengthened their determination to fight and helped swell the ranks of their little army.

Six weeks later, when the Texans charged to victory at San Jacinto they did so to cries of “Remember the Alamo."

What happened after the Texans lost at the Alamo?

The Texan Revolution was about to boil over…

Just two weeks after the Alamo, the Texans suffered a second, devastating blow.

Over 350 of their men were captured in battle, and executed on Santa Anna’s orders at the settlement of Goliad. In what became known as ‘the Runaway Scrape’, many Texans fled their homes and made for the safety of the American border.

Assuming he’d beaten the rebels, Santa Anna made the mistake of dividing his army and, on 21 April, General Sam Houston’s Texan army surprised him at the San Jacinto River. The vengeful Texans charged into battle yelling “Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!” Half of the Mexicans were killed. The rest were captured, including Santa Anna himself. He was forced to sign the Treaties of Velasco, two papers which recognised Texan independence and ordered all Mexican forces out of Texas.

Subsequent Mexican attempts to recapture their old territory came to nothing. Texas was as an independent republic for nearly a decade until it became America’s 28th state in December 1845.

This article first appeared in BBC History Revealed magazine