"… They preferred to die a thousand times than to live under the yoke of a tyrant."
Juan Seguin
The Alamo, Spanish for "cottonwood," was originally the Mision San Antonio de Valero, an unassuming set of buildings left over from the Spaniards' Christianization efforts in the area. Having served a number of uses over the years, it was made famous as site of a battle in which a hopelessly outnumbered force held off General Santa Anna’s several-thousand-strong army for 13 days until finally being over run and all surviving militia executed. Located in present-day San Antonio, Texas, it’s a well-preserved historical landmark that is a called the Shrine of Texas Liberty, and visited with great fervor by many a group of children on field trips.
“Remember the Alamo!" is no less than an ultimate cry of payback. This was the war cry of the Texian (at the time Texian was the more common term though Texan, Texican and Tejano were also used) army at the Battle of San Jacinto in which the army of the hated General Santa Anna was defeated. This phrase may be the most well known thing about the state of Texas, even more so than longhorns, big hair, drawls and the habit of a Texan to compare your piddly little…fill in the blank to its better and larger Texan counterpart.
This battle cry was not the only enduring phraseology left to us from the Alamo. The phrase “draw a line in the sand” entered parlance, as supposedly (though there is no sure proof of this) Colonel Travis, knowing that they would all likely die in the coming battle, drew a line in the sand with his sword and invited all those who were willing to stay to cross over the line. Legend has it that the famous Jim Bowie, an invalid at the time, was carried over in his cot. Colonel Travis wrote also several letters seeking for aid, writing that he would “never surrender or retreat."
Without the Battle of the Alamo, the US may not have had its 50 states, let alone the political power it has today. If the rest of the Texan Army hadn’t been as--well-- pissed about what happened at the Alamo, Santa Anna may not have gotten his butt kicked and would have proceeded to march on Washington. The series of events following ultimately led to the US acquiring Texas as well as enormous portions of western North America.
Even for one not steeped in Texas history and the lore of the Alamo, visiting the spot can be a reverent experience. The walls, in many ways, enshrined the very essence of being a Texan. Childhood heroes Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and lesser-known William B. Travis made legendary last stands here, even though we do not even know exactly how or where they died. Visitors witness the ghosts of the past, sharing in their dream of protecting a country where each individual has the right to prosper and to be treated with fairness and respect.
