via Mostly Cajun, we are reminded that one of the seminal battles that shaped the United States began. Today in 1836, General Santa Anna stole a march on the Texians in San Antonio and arrived in that town. The Texians retreated into an old Spanish mission, named Mission San Antonio de Valero, commonly called The Alamo. While historians even today still research the list of people who were inside the mission, it's commonly regarded as fact that William Barret Travis, James Bowie, and David Crockett were killed in the ensuing battle. They held the Mexican Army for thirteen days, allowing Sam Houston time to organize his forces.
A small band of free men stood against a tyrant. They died for their efforts. Without them, Texas might still be a Mexican state, along with Arizona, New Mexico, and California.
**UPDATE** Post updated to correct Bowie's name. I had him listed as David Bowie. He was, of course, James Bowie.
2 comments:
I appreciate your blog and your comments. I think, though, that you meant to say "James Bowie", the notorious rascal and Arkansas land speculator, rather than "David Bowie", (who I think is some sort of current show business creature), was killed at the Alamo. James Bowie was very ill, and may not have fought, but nonetheless redeemed himself there as an Texan hero.
You're absolutely correct. It was James Bowie. Before he decamped to Texas, he was involved in a scuffle on a sandbar in the Mississippi River. When the fight finished, Bowie was wounded and Norris Wright was killed on the point of Bowie's knife.
Wright was the Sheriff of Rapides Parish, Louisiana. The same agency I work for today. Wright's picture hangs in the gallery of past sheriffs at the parish Courthouse.
As to Bowie, it's true that he was a land speculator, but many people were in those times. Bowie owned a plantation on Bayou Rapides between the current Alexandria and Hot Wells.
Thanks for the correction.
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