‘Remember the Alamo’: The Freedom Fighters Who Inspired Millions

Today, March 6, marks the anniversary of one of the most famous fights in American history, the 1836 Battle of the Alamo. While the Mexican troops under brutal and dictatorial Gen. Santa Anna seized the Alamo and massacred its American and Mexican defenders, the legacy of the Alamo continues to inspire Americans even today.

After Mexico gained independence, many Mexicans and some Americans enjoyed a fairly independent and autonomous life in the area of what is now the state of Texas. All that changed when Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna won the presidency of Mexico, abolished the 1824 Constitution, and attempted to impose centralization. In October 1835, the Texas Revolution began, with early victories for the revolutionaries against the Mexican Army, including at San Antonio de Bexár (modern-day San Antonio). The revolutionaries fortified the Alamo, a former Catholic mission church, including with 18 or more cannons, and garrisoned it with about 150 men.

The diverse group of Irish, English, German, Scottish, American, and Hispanic freedom fighters knew they would either conquer the Mexican troops, or die trying.

‘At dawn on March 6, 1836, the 13th day of the siege, the Battle of the Alamo commenced. Fighting lasted roughly 90 minutes, and by daybreak all the Defenders had perished, including a former congressman from Tennessee, David Crockett. The loss of the garrison was felt all over Texas, and even the world. The Defenders were from many different countries, including some Defenders who were native-born Mexicans. Following the battle, Santa Anna ordered the Defender’s remains burned.’

But the tragic deaths of the Alamo defenders did not prove an end of the conflict, as Santa Anna no doubt intended. In death, the Alamo’s defenders became larger than life, their heroic sacrifice spurring other men to take up the cause and fight for liberty.

Read more about the Siege of the Alamo, the men who fought there, and the Texas Revolution on Substack.