Remember the Alamo?– Part One

Last updated on: December 1, 2023 at 8:06 am by Ben Witherington

Remember the Alamo?– Part One 2023-12-01T08:06:19-05:00 Ben Witherington

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Perhaps the major historical tourist attraction in all of south Texas is the Alamo, even though it is a monument to defeat rather than victory. Only a short walk from our hotel, it was worth seeing again and remembering. My own childhood memories of the place, which I have visited several times was nonetheless colored by seeing the big budget Hollywood film which was released in 1960 and starred and was directed by ‘Duke’ aka John Wayne who plays Davy Crockett. As recently as 1994 the movie was redone starring Dennis Quaid among others. But the back story is important.

In the first place, in 1836, Texas, and in particular south Texas was part of Mexico. It did not become a state until a decade later, at the end of 1845, which prompted the Spanish-American war which revved up in 1846. In the second place, the ‘American’ immigrants into the region of south Texas were mostly illegal immigrants, though a minority were legally there, and more to the point many of these ‘Americans’ were slave holders, having brought 5,000 or more slaves when they moved there. This is significant because when Santa Anna became the President of Mexico in late 1835 he changed the constitution and banned slavery in Mexico. Sooooo, in part the fight for the Alamo turned out to be a fight by illegal non-Mexican immigrants for the right to legally live in the area of San Antonio and have slaves. This is so ironic considering the attitude today in much of Texas about Hispanic immigrants both legal and illegal.

In the second place, the Alamo was a Christian Spanish mission, not a fort at all, but as the troubles began in 1835 it was turned into a fort where non-Hispanics lost the battle against Santa Anna’s army. There were between 182 and 257 Texans (or their allies killed) in the battle and upwards of 400 Mexicans. Included among the dead was indeed Davy Crockett from Tennessee, Jim Bowie of bowie knife fame from South Carolina, and and interestingly enough a man who is probably one of my relatives— Claiborne Wright, since the Wrights and the Witheringtons were from eastern N.C. were all intermarried, and I still have Wright cousins to this day. Here are the plagues honoring the most well known of the dead. You will notice that absolutely none of the American leaders of this futile battle were from Texas. We might know more about these brave men who were badly out numbered if in fact Santa Anna had not made a policy that all the ‘enemies’ in the battle were to be killed either during or immediately after the battle, and it is probably this policy that inspired the later defeat of various of his forces elsewhere in Texas. In our next post we will consider the structure itself.

Uncategorized

remember the alamo?

Previous Post

December 1, 2023

Mike Heiser's Study the Bible in its own Context--- Part One

Next Post

December 2, 2023 Remember the Alamo-- Part Two

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz