There used to be a brass strip set in the sidewalk across the street from the Alamo, on Alamo Plaza, that delineated the original boundary walls of the Alamo. Don't know what buildings are there now, on the corner diagonal from the Post Office used to be a Woolworths. There was a Rexall Drugstore on the corner across from it as I recall.
I worked at Hemisfair in '68, remember walking down there at night to where I parked the car. It's an interesting place to be walking along at 2 in the morning. One's imagination runs wild when you're only 18.
As I recall, Houston had told Travis to abandon the Alamo and pull back since it could not be defended. Travis, being a fairly egotistical person, chose to disregard Houston and ...............
Fannin was an incompetent who could not make up his mind about leaving Goliad. His force actually left Goliad but forgot their supplies and had to return. Then delays occurred and the entire force surrendered to another Mexican force under one of Santa Ana's subordinate generals. Although they had surrendered, they were taken out in the woods and shot, the wounded were shot in the head as they lay in the hospital. As I recall, about 20 or 30 Texans escaped the slaughter and made their way to join Houston.
Gonzales actually did send a contingent to the Alamo, something like 30 men made their way to San Antonio, through the Mexican lines and reinforced Travis at the Alamo. They all died.
Only one man did not cross the line when Travis drew his famous line in the sand, Moses Rose, a former officer in Napoleons Army decided it wasn't in his best interest to remain, he slipped out of the fort that night and escaped. As I recall, he ultimately went back to France.
Santa Ana was actually enjoying his siesta at San Jacinto with a mulatto girl (whose name escapes me right now) who is the actual person for whom the song "The Yellow Rose of Texas" was written about. The Yellow refers to her being a mulatto or "yellow".
And, Deguello still sends a chill down the spine. It is actually a Moorish tune, played by the Moors during the conquest of Spain and adopted by the Spanish and ultimately, the Mexican Army.
Isn't it amazing how much of that 7th grade Texas History sticks with you ?
Dan R
