Exodus From the Alamo: The Anatomy of the Last Stand Myth Read Online Free PDF Page A

rankand-file soldiers.
    Today we can no longer afford to ignore that the Alamo defenders were on the wrong side of the slavery issue, while the Mexicans were in the right. Mexico, unlike the United States, had abolished slavery in 1829, more than half a decade before the Alamo battle. One of the crucial reasons why the Texans revolted against Mexico in 1835 was to maintain the constitutional safeguards of the Mexican Constitution of 1824, which protected slavery, as did the United States Constitution on which it was modeled.
    Given the United States’ current wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, it all the more behooves us to better understand our past and present military involvements, especially in foreign lands. We must endeavor to strip away as many myths and prejudices as possible in order to more correctly see ourselves, as well as the opposing viewpoints of other lands, cultures, and ethnic groups, especially those of our enemies. Any nation that indulges in the self-serving process of sentimentalizing and glorifying military disasters to bolster cultural and racial fantasies only makes itself more vulnerable to folly in the future. Even today, a host of fresh, practical lessons can yet be glimpsed from the Alamo disaster, if we can only understand the timeless factors that led to the debacle.
    In 1836, as today, the greatest military sin of all is hubris: to thoroughly underestimate an enemy, while overestimating one’s own capabilities, righteousness, and combat prowess. History has proven that such misperceptions often stem from erroneous beliefs rooted in fantasies of racial and cultural superiority. Dismissal or ignorance of the intelligence, determination, organizational skill, cultural pride, sense of personal and national honor, and war capabilities of a foreign opponent in his own homeland has long been a guaranteed formula for inevitable military disasters like the Alamo. Today, as in March 1836, truth is often the first casualty of war, and history’s lessons linger.

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Images from the Alamo
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An admirer of Napoleon, Antonio López de Santa Anna lamented the overall lack of resistance on March 6, describing the Alamo’s capture as nothing more than a “small affair.” Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library at the Alamo

An Italian with Napoleonic War experience, General Vincente Filisola was one of Santa Anna’s most gifted top lieutenants. He possessed more sound military experience than all of the Alamo’s commanders combined. Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

A member of the Republic of Mexico’s most lethal warriors, the Lancers, who upheld their lofty reputation outside the walls of the Alamo on the morning of March 6. Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

Along with the Lancers, the Mexican Dragoons also played a leading role in eliminating escapees from the Alamo. Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas

This rare woodcut was the earliest depiction of the battle of the Alamo, though it more closely resembles a battle between French and English forces during the Peninsular War in Spain. Author’s collection

The Alamo’s largest cannon, the 18-pounder that stood at the compound’s southwest corner. Daughters of the Republic of Texas, the Alamo Museum, San Antonio

Tejano Enrique Esparza who was the son of Alamo defender Gregorio Esparza. Enrique left vivid personal accounts of the battle for the Alamo, but these have been too often ignored. Texas State Library and Archives Commission

Santa Anna’s flag of no quarter was raised from the bell tower of San Fernando Church, proclaiming that the Alamo garrison would be killed to the last man. Photo by Jim Landers, courtesy of the City Centre Foundation, San Fernando Cathedral, and Executive Director Amelia Nieto-Duval

Oil painting based on an image from the movie set of John Wayne’s 1960 Alamo movie. Author’s collection

A view of the Alamo from the rear, by the artist James Gilchrist Benton. The palisade had previously stood where