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Old 02-23-2010, 08:21 PM
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Default On the eve of the 13 days to Glory...

Let me say...God bless Texas..

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Old 02-23-2010, 10:50 PM
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It was a long time ago and it is no longer PC to Remember the Alamo. That's too bad. No matter what anyone thinks of today's social or political issues, it's good to remember that, sometimes, people will do the right thing what ever the cost.

I believe the men and women at the Alamo would have felt a great kinship with certain people in an aircraft over PA, these eight years gone.

God rest them all.

Charles
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Old 02-23-2010, 11:03 PM
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God Bless the Lonestar State!!!!!!! & the U.S.A.
james
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Old 02-24-2010, 12:08 AM
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A friend of mine tells me that every time he has visited the alamo, there is a lady "on duty" there. I believe the organization is Daughters of the Republic of Texas??
On one visit, he said a young man got a bit raucos inside the building. The little gray haired lady put down her knitting, left her chair, walked up to him, and said:
"Sir, in Texas we consider the Alamo a shrine to those who died defending it, and you should conduct yourself accordingly."

Rightly so.
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Old 02-24-2010, 12:33 AM
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I agree!

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Old 02-24-2010, 02:39 AM
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They're stubborn, though; twice I've told them to change the card on a rifle they describe as a 'Derringer' even though the name on the rifle itself is quite clear.
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Old 02-24-2010, 10:56 AM
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I just finished reading the late Lon Tinkle's, "The Alamo", and it refreshed my memory on certain points.

I was going to post about this on March 6, but your post on the day of the siege beginning is also appropriate, and is appreciated.

T-Star
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Old 02-24-2010, 11:07 AM
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I read somwhere that the Mexican Army was armed with British Brown Bess muskets. Does anyone know for sure?

T-Star
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Old 02-24-2010, 01:35 PM
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My wife and I have traveled to San Antonio a number of times. We particularly enjoy the River Walk area. I'm especially intrigued by the the history, and in particular, the saga of the Alamo. Back in the '80s I took this picture of the Alamo late at night, trying to avoid the throngs of tourists and the buildings in the background. When the pic was developed I was pleased with the outcome. I apologize for the quality of this picture, which is a picture of the framed photo I have hanging in my living room as testimony to the spirit of our American forbears. As I recall, this was a time exposure with my 35mm camera perched on a post as a substitute for a tripod. It's among my favorite images today. We should indeed, never forget the Alamo.

John

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Old 02-24-2010, 01:45 PM
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I posted in the thread about the deguello; visiting near sundown is the best time.

When San Antone gets quiet with nightfall, as you walk around the Alamo, it seems like the battle ended yesterday.

Here's to them, and those like them.

Len
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Old 02-24-2010, 02:30 PM
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When my son in law's family visited from Beguim, they had three things on the list to do in San Antonio, The visit to the Alamo was first. I was a proud tourist guide. They were surprised by the small size of it. I explained that the city built around it and tried to demolish it!!
My mother in law told me "If you had the weapons and supplies the Americans had in defending Bastogne, the Texans would of won". She grew up under Nazi domination and they are all grateful for the Allies liberating them.
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Old 02-24-2010, 05:37 PM
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Quote:
Let me say...God bless Texas.
Quote:
Here's to them, and those like them.
Amen!!!!!!
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Old 02-24-2010, 05:42 PM
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One of the most sobering and impactful moments of my life was my first visit to the Alamo. The history and emotion were overwhelming!
God Bless Texas and the patriots who died there.
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Old 02-24-2010, 07:26 PM
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I will toast this evening to those who lost their lives for freedom at the Alamo.

Remember the Alamo!
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Old 02-24-2010, 07:54 PM
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Andy and Enfield...

There were more than a few Tennessee and Georgia boys
on the walls that day.
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Old 02-24-2010, 08:21 PM
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I am Yankee born and bred, NEVER been to Texas, but growing up in the 1950s the Alamo was as much a part of US history as Bunker Hill or Gettysburg or Iwo Jima. The Disney "Davy Crockett" miniseries ended with him at the Alamo, somewhere I have a copy of the Landmark Books
edition of the Alamo, I recall reading in it that the Alamo was called the American Thermopylae, the Alamo Defenders our version of the 300 Spartans.
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Old 02-24-2010, 11:09 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Texas Star View Post
I read somwhere that the Mexican Army was armed with British Brown Bess muskets. Does anyone know for sure?

T-Star
With few exceptions, the standard Mexican Army musket of the time was surplus British Brown Bess muskets. Britian used to sell them enmasse to anyone who would buy them (except France).
There were quite quite a few on the Texas side as well. (as well as whatever they could get their hands on)
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Old 02-24-2010, 11:15 PM
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When you read accounts from both the Texas side and the Mexican side, you can pretty much rationalize there was only one REAL bad guy at the Alamo.

He was General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.

Everyone else, be it Texan or Mexican, were ultimately victims of this madman who should have been drawn and quartered at San Jacinto. To do so would've prevented even more bloodshed on both sides of the border.
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Old 02-24-2010, 11:48 PM
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We would do well to "Remember the Alamo!" Such men will not pass this way again.

When I was a kid in Dallas,mid 50's, early 60's, they used to teach texas History in the schools. Doubt they do that now, but I hope I'm wrong.
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Old 02-24-2010, 11:55 PM
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In addition to the Brown Bess' one of the Mexican regiments was armed with Baker rifles, another British surplus weapon. Prior to the Last Stand fight there had been another in December, 1835 when the Texican rebels were trying to get into the Alamo and the Mexicans were forted up there. One of those one of those soldados with a Baker rifle made a heckuva a long shot on Ben Milam who was leading the Texican assault.
Restoration crews continue to uncover things at the Alamo. Last week when I was there, the curator showed us a previously undiscovered arch above one of the doors. In 1841, a couple of locals or visitors had carved their name and the date in the plaster. How they got above the door is any bodies guess but they are memorialized there.
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Old 02-25-2010, 12:09 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Texas Star View Post
I read somwhere that the Mexican Army was armed with British Brown Bess muskets. Does anyone know for sure?

T-Star
If only the guys in the Alamo had a few M4s equipped with Aimpoints; that would have been interesting!
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Old 02-25-2010, 04:37 AM
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Every year on March 6th I give my "Alamo" briefing and remind my troops that we are simply continuing on what those 187 stood and died for. To today's youth it seems the Alamo is only a movie .
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Old 02-25-2010, 08:58 AM
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I believe this period in Texas history should be memorialized more in these times, so here's a little bit more from the "Handbook of Texas Online".


"They had learned that Santa Anna's Centralist army had reached the Rio Grande. Though Travis did not believe that Santa Anna could reach Bexar until March 15, his arrival on February 23 convinced him otherwise.

As Texans gathered in the Alamo, Travis dispatched a hastily scribbled missive to Gonzales: "The enemy in large force is in sight. We want men and provisions. Send them to us. We have 150 men and are determined to defend the garrison to the last."

Travis and Bowie understood that the Alamo could not hold without additional forces. Their fate now rested with the General Council in San Felipe, Fannin at Goliad, and other Texan volunteers who might rush to assist the beleaguered Bexar garrison.

Santa Anna sent a courier to demand that the Alamo surrender. Travis replied with a cannonball. There could be no mistaking such a concise response.

Centralist artillerymen set about knocking down the walls. Once the heavy pounding reduced the walls, the garrison would have to surrender in the face of overwhelming odds. Bottled up inside the fort, the Texans had only one hope-that reinforcements would break the siege.

On February 24 Travis assumed full command when Bowie fell victim to a mysterious malady variously described as "hasty consumption" or "typhoid pneumonia." As commander, Travis wrote his letter addressed to the "people of Texas & all Americans in the world," in which he recounted that the fort had "sustained a continual Bombardment and cannonade for 24 hours." He pledged that he would "never surrender or retreat" and swore "Victory or Death."

The predominant message, however, was an entreaty for help: "I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch." On March 1, thirty-two troops attached to Lt. Greorge C. Kimbell's Gonzales ranging company made their way through the enemy cordon and into the Alamo. Travis was grateful for any reinforcements, but knew he needed more.

On March 3 he reported to the convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos that he had lost faith in Colonel Fannin. "I look to the colonies alone for aid; unless it arrives soon, I shall have to fight the enemy on his own terms." He grew increasingly bitter that his fellow Texans seemed deaf to his appeals. In a letter to a friend, Travis revealed his frustration: "If my countrymen do not rally to my relief, I am determined to perish in the defense of this place, and my bones shall reproach my country for her neglect."

On March 5, day twelve of the siege, Santa Anna announced an assault for the following day. This sudden declaration stunned his officers. The enemy's walls were crumbling. No Texan relief column had appeared. When the provisions ran out, surrender would remain the rebels' only option. There was simply no valid military justification for the costly attack on a stronghold bristling with cannons. But ignoring these reasonable objections, Santa Anna stubbornly insisted on storming the Alamo.

Around 5:00 A.M. on Sunday, March 6, he hurled his columns at the battered walls from four directions. Texan gunners stood by their artillery. As about 1,800 assault troops advanced into range, canister ripped through their ranks. Staggered by the concentrated cannon and rifle fire, the Mexican soldiers halted, reformed, and drove forward. Soon they were past the defensive perimeter. Travis, among the first to die, fell on the north bastion.

Abandoning the walls, defenders withdrew to the dim rooms of the Long Barracks. There some of the bloodiest hand-to-hand fighting occurred. Bowie, too ravaged by illness to rise from his bed, found no pity. The chapel fell last. By dawn the Centralists had carried the works. The assault had lasted no more than ninety minutes.

As many as seven defenders survived the battle, but Santa Anna ordered their summary execution. Many historians count Crockett as a member of that hapless contingent, an assertion that still provokes debate in some circles. By eight o'clock every Alamo fighting man lay dead. Currently, 189 defenders appear on the official list, but ongoing research may increase the final tally to as many as 257.

Though Santa Anna had his victory, the common soldiers paid the price as his officers had anticipated. Accounts vary, but best estimates place the number of Mexicans killed and wounded at about 600.

The defenders of the Alamo willingly placed themselves in harm's way to protect their country. Death was a risk they accepted, but it was never their aim.

Torn by internal discord, the provisional government could not deliver on its promise to provide relief, and Travis and his command paid the cost of that dereliction. As Travis predicted, his bones did reproach the factious politicos and the parade ground patriots for their neglect.

... the battle of the Alamo remains an inspiring moment in Texas history. The sacrifice of Travis and his command animated the rest of Texas and kindled a righteous wrath that swept the Mexicans off the field at San Jacinto.

Since 1836, Americans on battlefields over the globe have responded to the exhortation, "Remember the Alamo!" "


Handbook of Texas Online - ALAMO, BATTLE OF THE


Let us never forget this one as well!

My best,

-TS
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