"Remember the Alamo!"

"Remember the Alamo!!"  March 6, 1836 is a key date in the fight for Texas independence.  On this day the Alamo fell after a bitter fight with many Texans giving their lives.  The final battle began before dawn on the morning of March 6, and only lasted an hour and a half, taking place in the old Mission chapel pictured above in San Antonio.

The odds seemed impossible to overcome.  And yet for Texans the Battle of the Alamo is an enduring symbol of resistance against oppression.  For who can put a price on freedom? 

The Battle of the Alamo was one of many in the fight for independence but it has shaped Texas like no other.  A battle for our people, our land, and our right to shape our own future. 

In late February, Commanders James Bowie and William B. Travis were stationed with about 150 men, some with their wives and children who went to the fort for safety.  Tennessee Congressman and frontiersman Davy Crockett was also there.  Additional soldiers from Gonzales arrived days later, bringing the number of Alamo defenders to just shy of 200.  The Mexican forces occupying Bexar at the time numbered more than 3,000 with possibly 1,800 up to 6,000 soldiers in the final assault on the Alamo (sources vary on the number).

The stand at the Alamo was never meant to be a precision military victory.  It was only meant to slow down an invading army.  Most who fought from this small fort were tradesmen, farmers, ranchers - not soldiers.  They knew that they were outnumbered and reinforcements would not be coming. It would likely be their last stand.

One female eye-witness survived and went on to become the most widely quoted firsthand account of the Battle of the Alamo.  Do you know "The Lady of the Alamo"?   Her name was Susanna Anderson and we’ve named the Susanna Apron in her honor.

Susanna Dickinson or “The Lady of the Alamo” (ca. 1814-1883) experienced every hour of the 13-day siege alongside the defenders.  Her husband, Almaron Dickinson, took both Susanna and their infant daughter into the fortress so that they could be near him during the ensuing battle.  The fort was usually the safest place for women and children.  The Dickinsons moved into the Alamo on February 23, 1836.

After the battle of the Alamo, Susanna was found alive in the powder magazine.  She was interviewed by General Santa Anna, who then sent Susanna to Gonzalez to inform the Texans that he would ‘put down all resistance,’ and unless they surrendered, they would suffer the same fate as those at the Alamo.

It is said that upon delivering this message Susanna sent not a note of warning but rather a battle cry for Texans to rally.

She was not the only one. 

The cry “Remember the Alamo” was used by Sam Houston when he rousted Santa Anna at San Jacinto the next month, which was the pivotal battle in the War for Independence.  It was used again ten years later during the Mexican American War.  This enduring phrase has been a battle cry for Texans to remember that life is precious and tyranny is never far away.