The fall of the Alamo, March 6, 1836.

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Glad for the chance to get a word in before the probable lock.

I do wish I'd posted yesterday, but didn't see the thread. Ah, well.


For years, I've made the Fall of the Alamo a kind of personal holiday, often telling whomever I happened to talk to (if anyone) what day it is. Usually I just get strange looks, but what the hell. Weird part is, I'm not even from Texas.

I love the mythology though. I grew up on the story, starting with the old Disney movie about Davey Crockett, and then the John Wayne movie, and even the Michener book (well, book tape; I can't seem to get into the Michener books). It inspired me to actually look into the history, and made me the one kid at school reading history books voluntarily during recess in elementary school. Yes, I was that kid. Yes, I was as maladjusted as it probably sounds.

The "revisionist history" that seems popular these days really tries to rob the story of its mythic proportion. Smug historians love few things better than sitting in front of a History Channel TV crew and explaining why your heroes weren't really heroes, but merely flawed and mortal men, and why that myth you cherish was really just some guys doing this thing for personal, petty, ignoble reasons. And modern movie directors love few things more than taking a historical event and giving it a "twist", which really means a thick layer of BS and hollywoodization, or "showing the characters' humanity", which tends to mean showing their flaws, real or suspected, in the sharpest possible relief.

So?

We know what they did.

We know what it meant.

We are not children, to think that because a man is human, and flawed, he cannot be a hero.

We are not absolutists, to think that the importance of a thing is diminished because it was done with less than the purest of intent, or for reasons more complex than they may appear.

We are not so naive as to think that, around any great event, there are not tall tales told, or legends that grow in the telling, or that such exaggerations negate the impact.

The story lives on.

Remember the Alamo!
 
We know what they did.

We know what it meant.

We are not children, to think that because a man is human, and flawed, he cannot be a hero.

We are not absolutists, to think that the importance of a thing is diminished because it was done with less than the purest of intent, or for reasons more complex than they may appear.

We are not so naive as to think that, around any great event, there are not tall tales told, or legends that grow in the telling, or that such exaggerations negate the impact.

The story lives on.

Remember the Alamo!

AMEN!

And well said.
 
Sans Authoritas:

You said it, and you said it well.

My first reaction was, "So they stole Texas. So what?"

I admire their stubbornness, but I fear it was sadly misplaced. THE LAND DID NOT BELONG TO THEM.

Oh well, I guess since by that time we'd already stolen most of the Indians' land, it didn't matter at that point to filch just a little more.

Our interpretations don't matter, however. Events happened as they did, and this truth cannot be changed.

Here is to the memory of those--on both sides of the "fence," so to speak--who died at the Alamo. I have never died for a cause in which I believed, no matter how misguided, so I cannot say I know what it was like to be in their shoes: Hence, I cannot say that their lives meant nothing, nor that they were not, in their own way, meant to be remembered.
 
^^By that rationalle, the American Revolutionaries stole the United States from the British..

Land belongs to that political entity with the strength and will to maintain it's possesion. Sad as it was, the Native American lost their lands in a long and protracted series of wars. Santa Anna was a brutal dictator who murdered and repressed his own people with brutality, rape, and murder. Revolutions were popping up all over Mexico at the time on account of General Antonio López de Santa Anna. Go read about the Yucatan Uprising and what happened there. Read about Zacatecas and the brutality delivered by Santa Anna

"They Stole Texas" Indeed! People seem to think it was only whites who were involved when the truth of the matter is that there were just as many "hispanics" involved as anglos on the Texas side. Texas was far from settled in the 1830's. There was vast reaches of Texas that no one, no white man or Mexican, had settled. It was Indian Country. As has been iterated, Mexico was openly inviting whites from America to settle in Texas and become citizens of Mexico. That government, by way of it's own dictatorial policies, propogated it's own ouster and Texas is what stood when the dust settled. :fire:
 
I understand that we all don't think the same about the Alamo. That's cool. It'd be disturbing if we did.

I don't agree with what happened, or how; but I do know that I have never walked the road that the people involved in the Alamo (those on both sides, that is) chose to traverse, and so I tip them my hat. However misguided it may have been, it was nevertheless courageous.
 
by "what happened" do you mean the execution and wholesale slaughter of the men, women and children that remained after the main assault on the fort or that free men stood against tyranny.

How do you feel about the men who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776? or about the men who fought against the forces of King George? Was Washington just a greedy land grabber too?
 
First time I saw the Alamo was 1964. The Air Force figured we needed a time out from basic...
The very first thing that struck me was just how small it is.
Those guys held off how many Mexicans from this tiny place????

You just have to stop.

I was stationed in San Antonio in 1964 and visited the Alamo.
A inspiring place never to be forgotten.
Thank you for the reminder of the anniversary

We may have crossed paths there AFS.
 
So they stole Texas. So what

I can feel a 300 sentiment here, Texans saying to Mexico: "come and take it!",

Not that Mexico would do something like that, but if they did I volunteer myself to come down and give you guys some back-up (if you want a Yankee's assistance though :D)
 
geophysicishooter said:
Land belongs to that political entity with the strength and will to maintain it's possesion. Sad as it was, the Native American lost their lands in a long and protracted series of wars. Santa Anna was a brutal dictator who murdered and repressed his own people with brutality, rape, and murder. Revolutions were popping up all over Mexico at the time on account of General Antonio López de Santa Anna. Go read about the Yucatan Uprising and what happened there. Read about Zacatecas and the brutality delivered by Santa Anna

"They Stole Texas" Indeed! People seem to think it was only whites who were involved when the truth of the matter is that there were just as many "hispanics" involved as anglos on the Texas side. Texas was far from settled in the 1830's. There was vast reaches of Texas that no one, no white man or Mexican, had settled. It was Indian Country. As has been iterated, Mexico was openly inviting whites from America to settle in Texas and become citizens of Mexico. That government, by way of it's own dictatorial policies, propogated it's own ouster and Texas is what stood when the dust settled.
...
by "what happened" do you mean the execution and wholesale slaughter of the men, women and children that remained after the main assault on the fort or that free men stood against tyranny.


How do you feel about the men who signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776? or about the men who fought against the forces of King George? Was Washington just a greedy land grabber too?

Haha. I love how the 'Team America' mantra comes out when it comes to gaining indepenence or stealing land while wholly ignoring the genocide (in the millions) of the native Americans by the very same government.

Have you even READ the Declaration of Independence?

Let me fill you in on the BACK side of it:

Some fancy pants way back when said:
He [currently sighting grievances against King George] has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

Hmm. Kind of sounds like the systematic murder the Indians were trying to fight off since the days of Columbus.

Nevermind the facts. AMERICA, **** YEAH!
 
i indeed remember the alamo,,,

a man with the same last name as my mothers tryed to bring reinforcements to their aid.after doing this he coulda rode off into the sunset.

insted he returned to die with his comrades.

if the alamo was underseige by the forces of evil and opression today id move heaven and earth to stand with the defenders.
 
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