The Alamo

THE ALAMO

The events that began on February 23, 1836 have roots that span as far back as 1808. This paper is an exploration into the events immediately leading up to the event known as the "Alamo". The initial view of the Mexican government regarding the Texas settlers changed and was the major reason leading to the confrontation at the Alamo.

Before this confrontation, the Mexican government welcomed European settlers into Texas. The motive behind Mexico's action was to create a buffer zone between Mexican settlements and the Indians. The Mexican government allowed settlers to come to Texas as long as they promised to convert to Catholicism, become Mexican citizens, and other stipulations. Another important reason for encouraging Texas resettlement was because of Mexico's poor financial condition. The independence movement that freed Mexico from Spain also left Mexico "dead broke;" furthermore, they had no real way of watching or parenting the fledgling Texas. Hence, Texas became accustom to doing things without Mexico interfering. Soon after Mexico opened the door to Texas the population of settlers grew to make up 75 per cent of the whole population. This could be seen as a bad thing to the Mexican government because if Texas became entirely made up of settlers what was to stop Texas from breaking away from Mexico for good. To add to the pressure pot the settlers were illegally trading, and engaging in illegal slavery, among other illegal acts. According to Walter Lord the American Settlers refused to pay any form of tax, in fact according to Lord's figures only 1,665 pesos where collected from Texas in Two years.

These factors and many more including America herself showing interest in Texas, led Mexico to institute a restriction of the number of settlers allowed into Texas. In addition, "Mexico suspended all unfilled colonization contracts, and required passports issued by Mexican Consulate at their place of residence," these policies alone angered the settlers who have been accustomed to a lazie fair approach. In addition troops were now being used to see that the laws were enforced and obeyed. As Myers points out:

The North Americans had reason to protest. They had gone through the bad years when fields had to be chopped out of the woods and when an Indian raid was commoner that a square meal. And now when the country was ripe for development they were denied the prosperity which could only be achieved through the growth of their communities. So in light of both sides having grievances it was only a matter of time before someone snapped. And snapped they did, in a string of firecracker events the seeds of revolution and the battle of the Alamo ensued.

The Alamo first saw action when General Cos landed at Copano, and headed to San Antonio to meet up with Colonel Ugartechea. By now war was on everyone's mind and many events prior to Cos marching toward San Antonio set the playing field for war, but not everyone really was for it, at least not yet. Meanwhile, in Gonzales the revolution had started over a cannon that the settlers would not give up. This is also were the phrase "come and take it!" was born. What had happen was Ugartechea sent a lieutenant with some men to unarm a group of colonist who had a cannon at their disposal in Gonzales. What the Mexican's did not count on was that in the end they would be sent running off to San Antonio after being repulsed by the colonists. Now the colonists formed a small army to March on Cos and his men, which the settlers wanted out of Texas for good. As Lord points out Cos would be ready for the settlers in San Antonio. Lord also points out how the mission in San Antonio got its name, Lord states that the mission once held a colonial company from the Alamo de Parras in Mexico, and that the named carried over and was shortened to just being called the Alamo.

After surrounding Cos in San Antonio the settlers had no clue of what to do next. After a few days of waiting for someone to take a leadership roll, a man by the name of Milam stepped up and finally got the men all fired up to fight. The fighting erupted and a few days later after fierce house to house fire fights Cos threw up his hands and agreed to a surrender. Cos left with the promise, "not in any way oppose the re-establishment of the Federal Constitution on 1824." These men who fought this battle in San Antonio would soon see another.... the battle of the Alamo.

The men who took San Antonio from Cos now had to face the decision whether to stay or not. Many men wanted to leave and go after loot in Matamoras; this greedy expedition was led by Dr. James Grant who really wanted to liberate his holding in Mexico. He used the men's greed to lure them into going with him on his expedition. When all was said and done the San Antonio garrison was left with nothing and more nothing. To be exact Lord wrote, the men who stayed were left with 30 useless muskets, 2 trumpets, 1 large clarion, and 15 carbine. What does this data equate about the status of the soon to be participants of the battle of the Alamo? This suggests that the men were in a rut to begin with and the situation was not going to get better anytime soon. Not only had the men been abandoned by their fellow patriots for booty in Matamoras, but also they were not going to get paid because the pay never came. The pay situation dropped the number of men to somewhere around 80, and this number did not reflect the experience level most lacked any training at all.

The Alamo was now in the sights of General Santa Anna, in broader term it was really San Antonio that Santa Anna wish to capture. Upon learning Cos had surrendered to the settlers army in San Antonio Santa Anna changed his plans to accommodate a surprise attack from the North. Before the particulars of the march to the Alamo and the battle that resulted afterward are explored the means Santa Anna used to fund his campaign are very interesting and must be brought forth. The Mexican economic institution had been kicked to shards thanks to the civil war, quite simply the Mexican government was broke and could not pay out right for the campaign. This dilemma gave Santa Anna the task of finding an alternative means of positive cash flow. Santa Anna resorted to hitting up the church for cash to fund his little Crusade against the settlers. In Addition, Santa Anna went to loan sharks, of all the place for a President to go, he was then supplied with 400,000 pesos at an astounding interest rate. Moreover, the loan sharks made the government sign over a magnitude of stipulations that were unheard of, but Santa Anna had to get the money at any cost. Next was building the army to march on Texas. The army that was put together by Mexico was poor to say the least.