Reference Entry
FALL OF THE ALAMO
On March 6th, 1836, after nearly two weeks of siege, Mexican forces under Antonio López de Santa Anna stormed the old mission compound at the Alamo in San Antonio. The defenders, a mixed group of Texian settlers and volunteers from the United States, had chosen to stand in place despite orders to withdraw, hoping to delay the Mexican advance. In the final assault, the garrison was overwhelmed and killed almost to the last man, including figures such as William B.
Dated Historical Context
A RECORDED MOMENT IN HISTORY
The Alamo falls in the Texas Revolution
On March 6th, 1836, after nearly two weeks of siege, Mexican forces under Antonio López de Santa Anna stormed the old mission compound at the Alamo in San Antonio. The defenders, a mixed group of Texian settlers and volunteers from the United States, had chosen to stand in place despite orders to withdraw, hoping to delay the Mexican advance. In the final assault, the garrison was overwhelmed and killed almost to the last man, including figures such as William B. Travis, James Bowie, and David Crockett. At the time, the Alamo was a defeat, but it quickly turned into a powerful rallying symbol encapsulated in the cry “Remember the Alamo.” When the United States and Mexico fought a larger war a decade later, many American soldiers carried that phrase and the story of the mission into battle. The fall of the Alamo therefore sits at a crossroads of regional rebellion, continental expansion, and the emerging idea of a particularly American style of heroic last stand.
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