Todd Hansen, editor of The Alamo Reader, found an account of Bettie staying with the Mexican troops at first, but later working as a servant and fleeing to Mexico to avoid being enslaved again in Texas. Amelia W. Williams, A Critical Study of the Siege of the Alamo and of the Personnel of Its Defenders (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas, 1931; rpt., Southwestern Historical Quarterly 3637 [April 1933-April 1934]). As we become more diverse as a nation and a people, weve got to learn how to talk about these difficult conversations, but weve got to talk about it with nuance. On February 23, a Mexican force. TSHA | Joe - Handbook Of Texas Remember the Alamo, the famous saying goesbut how you remember is just as important. Roberta Shorrock and Joel Wolfram produced and edited this interview for broadcast. The original plan, announced in 2017, called for repairing the Alamo, fixing up the plaza and building a world-class museum for artifacts, including a collection donated by rock musician Phil Collins, an Alamo enthusiast. History of slavery in Texas - Wikipedia Private Visions, Public Culture: The Making of the Alamo, San Fernando Cathedral and the Alamo: Sacred Place, Public Ritual, and Construction of Meaning. A little more than a year later, A bill introduced by 10 Republican state lawmakers would bar the overhaul from citing any reasons for the Texas Revolution beyond those mentioned in the Texas Declaration of Independence which does not include slavery. Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. The Alamo has been commemorated on everything from postage stamps to the 1960 film The Alamo starring John Wayne as Davy Crockett. Many myths and legends have grown about the Battle of the Alamo, but the facts often give a different account. 4. Did anyone at the Alamo survive? Houston defeated the Mexican army in just 18 minutes. The Mexican armies that entered the department to put down the rebellion had explicit orders to free any slaves that they encountered, and so they did. Until now. Because of Joe, a slave, we can remember as much as we do about the Alamo. It wasn't like every man fought to his death in place, as generations of historians have taught us. Signup today for our free newsletter, Especially Texan. Santa Anna sent them to Houstons camp in Gonzalez with a warning that a similar fate awaited the rest of the Texans if they continued their revolt. The Mission San Antonio de Valero housed missionaries and their Native American converts for some 70 years until 1793, when Spanish authorities secularized the five missions located in San Antonio and distributed their lands among local residents. San Antonio was built around it. They ran out into the open where they were unceremoniously run down and killed by Mexican cavalry. Slavery and the Myth of the Alamo | History News Network A former slave was not likely to have an education or much of a job. Do you value our journalism? Now, neither we nor the academic authors who first found this say that this means anybody was a coward. And it's also pretty clear [Wayne] was ardently pro-Nixon in the 1960 presidential campaign and ardently anti-Kennedy and in his mind, believed that this type of huge shout-out of American patriot values could somehow defeat John F. Kennedy. Fannin had decided that the logistics of reaching the Alamo in time were impossible and, in any event, his 300 or so men would not make a difference against the Mexican army and its 2,000 soldiers. Bush and San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg threw their political muscle behind reviving the project. Legendary frontiersman Jim Bowie, suffering from a debilitating illness, asked to be carried over the line. ThoughtCo. Even without trying, people of color tended to fade into the obscurity of history. When events become legendary, facts tend to get forgotten. In 1883, the state of Texas purchased the Alamo, later acquiring property rights to all the surrounding grounds. Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, people were kidnapped from the continent of Africa, forced into slavery in the American colonies and exploited to work in the . I can truly say that I hate that place and everything it stands for.. During the first couple of days, however, Santa Anna made no attempt to seal the exits from the Alamo and the town: the defenders could very easily have slipped away in the night if they had so desired. The victory ensured the success of Texan independence: Santa Anna, who had been taken prisoner, came to terms with Houston to end the war. As the defenders of the Alamo were about to sacrifice their lives, other Texans were making clear the goals of the sacrifice at a constitutional convention for the new republic they hoped to create. The Dark History of New Year's Day in American Slavery | Time The early depictions of Texas history was good guys against bad guys, white guys against brown guys, democracy against tyranny, Crisp said. Every day during the siege, the defenders of the Alamo looked for Fannin and his men but they never arrived. 22, 2021, thoughtco.com/facts-about-the-battle-of-the-alamo-2136256. The 1793 law enforced Article IV, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution in authorizing any federal district judge or circuit court judge, or any state magistrate . accessed March 04, 2023, and slaves. The Alamo remained a symbol of courage, and in the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848, U.S. soldiers revived the "Remember the Alamo!" In early April 1836, Santa Anna had the structural elements of the Alamo burned, and the site was left in ruins for the next several decades, as Texas became first a republic, then a state. Joe traveled with one of the widows, Susanna Dickinson, and her young daughter, to the other Texian forces. Audible: For you, the listeners of the Mandatory Fun podcast, Audible is offering a free audiobook download with a free 30-day trial to give you the opportunity to check out some of the books and authors featured on Mandatory Fun. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! You Can't Tell the Story of 1776 Without Talking About Race - Time The story of the slave who survived the Alamo Indeed, an enslaved man named Joe, who was owned by Travis, survived the battle of the Alamo and became one of the primary sources of information about the 13-day siege, inspiring dozens of books and movies, including the John Wayne classic. It has been used just anecdotally for generations to put down Mexican Americans, a big beefy white guy going up to the little Mexican guy and punching him in the arm and saying, "Remember the Alamo," that type of thing. In the summer of 1821, Stephen Austin arrived in San Antonio along with some 300 U.S. families that the Spanish government had allowed to settle in Texas. In a remarkable feat of historical detective work, authors Ron J. Jackson, Jr., and Lee Spencer White have fully restored this pivotal yet elusive figure to his place in the American story. Slavery | TSLAC - Texas State Library And Archives Commission [Mexican Gen. Antonio Lpez de] Santa Anna is coming north with 6,000 troops. To some, the Alamo, the San Antonio fort where Texans died while fighting off the Mexican army, is a symbol of liberty and Texas pride. Enrique Esparza, son of Alamo defender Gregorio Esparza, told of how Mexican troops fired a hale of bullets into the room where he was hiding alongside his mother and three siblings. Christopher Minster, Ph.D., is a professor at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador. FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. Because of the wine production in the area, the city of Parras de la read more, San Luis Potos, which has some of the richest silver mines in Mexico, is also where Gonzales Bocanegra wrote the Mexican national anthem in 1854. Who survived the Alamo? - HISTORY 15 Facts About the Battle of the Alamo. The Underground Railroad. More information is available at http://escapefromtexas.com. Beyond where he lived, what did he do? About half of the men there were not enlisted soldiers, but volunteers who technically could come, go, and do as they pleased. Seeing the massive Mexican army on their doorstep, the Texan defenders hastily retreated to the well-fortified Alamo. Julin Castro and Jorge Ramos Team Up to Destroy Joe Biden on Immigration, Oh My Lord What a Shockingly Ruthless Attack on Joe Biden, Breville Barista Express Espresso Machine, Trump Pulls a Charlottesville and Says He Hates All Kinds of 'Supremacy'. Santa Anna's Mexican army killed virtually all of the roughly 200 Texans (or Texians) defending the Alamo, including their leaders, Colonels William B. Travis and James Bowie, and the legendary. Another survivor was a former Mexican soldier named Brigido Guerrero, who fought with the defenders but apparently escaped death by convincing the Mexicans he had been taken captive. Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. The idea was to make the plaza period neutral and help visitors imagine how the Alamo looked as a mission and fort. What Happened To The Slaves At The Alamo. 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. It's generally believed that Joe left Texas to return to Travis's family in Alabama and lived with them for many years. The treatment of slaves in the United States often included sexual abuse and rape, the denial of education, and punishments like whippings. In 1832, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna took control of the Mexican government. Every penny counts! Between 1836 and 1840, the slave population doubled; it doubled again by 1845; and it doubled still again by 1850 after annexation by the United States. Its just that not everyone inside the Alamo died that day. 9 'Facts' About Slavery They Don't Want You to Know He was born around 1815. Houston sent Jim Bowie to San Antonio: his orders were to destroy the Alamo and return with all of the men and artillery stationed there. Show us with your support. Whether he fell in battle or was captured and executed, Crockett fought bravely and did not survive the Battle of the Alamo. Slaves could not be imported. It represented a rare alliance between the states Republican leadership and one of its more liberal cities, with San Antonio committing $38 million to the budget and the state of Texas pitching in $106 million. It makes absolutely no sense of why they stayed there, except for the fact that these are men who, by and large, have never been in war. After Travis fell . Courtesy Texas Historical Commission Joseph, an enslaved person, was one of a handful of survivors at the Battle of the Alamo in 1836. But city and state leaders are optimistic that the site will be recognized. A color guard carries flags from each state that lost people in the battle of the Alamo March 6, 2001 during the Annual Memorial Service at the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. A United Nations committee is expected to announce this weekend whether the Alamo will receive UNESCO World Heritage status, putting it in the same league as Stonehenge, the Taj Mahal, and the Statue of Liberty. They had been kidnapped from their homes and were forced to work on tobacco, rice, and indigo plantations from Maryland . One of the more obnoxious perspectives, in the eyes of many Texans, is Col. Jose Enrique de la Pea's purported eye-witness account of the way Davey Crockett and other heroes of the Alamo met their deaths. One of these was Susannah Dickinson, the wife of Captain Almaron Dickinson (who was killed) and her infant daughter Angelina. . By 1835, there were 30,000 Anglo-Americans (called Texians) in Texas, and only 7,800 Texas-Mexicans (Tejanos). By and large, any time you've had any type of Latino voice come out and question the traditional Anglo narrative, they've been shouted down. From March to May, Mexican forces once again occupied the Alamo. In his book, Cook tells a different story from what is commonly told in textbooks, film, and TV shows. "Most academics now believe, based on Mexican accounts and contemporary accounts, that, in fact, [Crockett] did surrender and was executed," Burrough says. Bush and Patrick traded compliments, with Bush declaring that theres nobody in the state Capitol who cares more about Texas history than Patrick. Joe, the Slave Who Became an Alamo Legend Perhaps it goes without saying but producing quality journalism isn't cheap. What we now know is because Mexican accounts accounts from Mexican officers and soldiers a number of them, a dozen of them have come to light over the last 50 years, show that between a third and a half [of] the Texas defenders actually broke and ran. Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) Once he saw the fort's defenses, Bowie decided to ignore Houston's orders, having become convinced of the need to defend the city. Fugitive Slave Acts, in U.S. history, statutes passed by Congress in 1793 and 1850 (and repealed in 1864) that provided for the seizure and return of runaway slaves who escaped from one state into another or into a federal territory. It was on March 2, 1836, that delegates meeting in Washington-on-the-Brazos formally declared independence from Mexico. Joe claimed that when Gen. Antonio Lpez deSanta Anna's troops stormed the Alamo on March 6, 1836, he armed himself and followed Travis from his quarters into the battle, fired his gun, then retreated into a building from which he fired several more times. (Creeks, Choctaws, and . and the Mexican army defended it in the battle of December 1835, when it was further damaged. Joe Travis - Wikipedia They told us how glorious that battle was. "It was the thing that the two sides had been arguing about and shooting about for going on 15 years. Thats where attorney-turned-author Lewis Cook picked up the story. The remains of William Travis, David Crockett and James Bowie are entombed in a marble coffin at San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio, Texas. Rather, what is surprising is that some men snuck into the Alamo in the days before the fatal attack. Known simply as Joe, he was sold four times in his life, most notably to his third master, Colonel William Barret Travis. To others, its a monument to slave-holders and racism. Minster, Christopher. [15] Each woman was given $ 2 and a blanket and was allowed to go free and spread the news of the destruction that awaited those who opposed the Mexican government. Generations of Texas schoolchildren have been taught to admire the Alamo defenders as revolutionaries slaughtered by the Mexican army in the fight for Texas independence. It was finished when Spanish troops arrived in 1805 but it was used as a hospital. Both of those stories are way overly simplistic.. Today, more than 2.5 million people a year visit the Alamo. Joe did so and was struck by a pistol shot and bayonet thrust before a Mexican captain intervened. Section 9 of the General Provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Texas, Biden Should Remove Cuba from List of State Sponsors of Terrorism, Descendants of Slaveholder Donor Denounce Law School Name Change, How Social Media and Community Schools Could Fill in Gaps Teaching Black History, American Girl Dolls Declare the 1990s Ancient History, Review: DeSantis's Book is a Campaign Tome Written by ChatGPT, Reconsidering Phillis Wheatley's Place in the Revolutionary Era, Philosopher Lewis Gordon's Impact on Black Jewish History, Quintard Taylor's Black Past Project Fights Erasure of History, Review: The Unfinished Business of "Double V", One Reason to Confirm National Archivist Fast? By mid-February 1836, Colonel James Bowie and Lieutenant Colonel William B. Travis had taken command of Texan forces in San Antonio. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/facts-about-the-battle-of-the-alamo-2136256. Find a complete list of them here. The new colonists brought enslavement with them. By the time of annexation a decade later, there were 30,000; by 1860, the census found 182,566 slaves -- over 30% of the total population of the state. [Wayne] made the movie basically because he wholeheartedly believed that America was falling apart, that it was going to the dogs and that somebody needs to stand up for what are today called "patriotic values," "family values," "American values." We'll send you a couple of emails per month, filled with fascinating history facts that you can share with your friends. Martin Perfecto de Cos at Bexar arrived in late 1835 and put the Alamo into "fort fashion" by building a dirt ramp up to the top rear of the church wall and covering it with planks. Last year, Patrick threatened to wrest control of the Alamo away from the General Land Office, which is led by George P. Bush, a potential political rival and son of former Florida governor Jeb Bush. But several were enslavers, including William B. Travis and Davy Crockett an inconvenient fact in a state where textbooks have only acknowledged since 2018 that slavery was at issue in the Civil War. The Pena Perspective. Greg Abbott (R), voted to deny a permit to move it. Dickinson and Joe were allowed to travel towards the Anglo settlements, escorted by Ben, a former slave from the United States who served as Mexican Colonel Juan Almonte's cook. But three writers, all Texans, say the common narrative of the Texas revolt overlooks the fact that it was waged in part to ensure slavery would be preserved. Did Davy Crockett Die in Battle at the Alamo? Two and a half million people visit the Alamo each year where, according to its website, men made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom, making it hallowed ground and the Shrine of Texas Liberty.. Forget the Alamo: Race Courses as a Struggle over History and Collective Memory. (Her husband, Dr. Horace Alsbury, had left the fort in late February, likely in search of a safe place for his family.) In addition to Joe, slaves Bettie, Sam, and Charlie left the Alamo alive. And even Crisp, the historian who emphasizes the complicated narratives of the fort, said he agrees it deserves world heritage status. When Mexican troops stormed the former mission known as the Alamo on the morning of March 6, 1836, Mexican General Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna ordered that no prisoners be taken. Don't get me wrong - the defenders of the mission-turned-fortress were killed en masse as Mexican troops stormed the structure. . What Really Happened at the Alamo? | World History The Mexican government, for its part, encouraged the slave runaways, often with offers of land as well as freedom. Most of the survivors were women, children, servants, and enslaved people. It includes recently discovered facts about William Travis, Susana Dickinson, Davy Crockett, and Joe himself. Protests have become less common in the past few decades, as the city made an effort to include more of the contested histories in its educational material. The others are slavery and its role in the Civil War, and the white man's dealings with Native Americans. Subscribe: The 1836 battle for the Alamo is remembered as a David vs. Goliath story. Crockett's fate is unclear. On the eve of the Civil War, which Texas would enter as a part of the Confederacy, there were 182,566 slaves, nearly one-third of the states population. You get a sense that Travis never really believes something bad can happen to him. The whole Remember the Alamo cry was the reason Texas was bornits a true and great symbol of how Texas came to be., When asked about the Alamo's history of slavery, Oliver said thatits not something we dwell on.". Someof the men defendingthe Alamo were slaveholders, and manyof them werent even Texans: they were Americans paid by New Orleans merchants who saw the potential for big profits if the state seceded. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your devices and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests.