History of The Alamo: (Jerry Skinner Documentary)

[Music] this is the Alamo Mission and that's what most people think of when they think of the Alamo however in 1836 the Alamo compound was much larger that was the problem with around only 250 Defenders against more than 1,800 seasoned Mexican soldiers defeat was simply a matter of time Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa only a few years earlier had taken control of Mexico promising to make Mexico a full democracy he first had to support of many of the Alamo Defenders but when it became clear that his policies had changed it was obvious he was ruling as a dictator now the story of the Alamo can best be told from its three most famous Defenders Colonel Jim Buie Lieutenant Colonel William Barrett Travis and probably its most famous defender Davey Crockett now this is the only known painting of Colonel Jim Buie it was painted in 1820 when Jim was around 24 years old boy left Louisiana when he was about to be charged with forging Spanish land grants and selling them to unsuspecting settlers he was also involved in the illegal slave trade now Jim had gained the reputation of being a fierce knife fighter making the buy knife famous now after moving to the Mexican Providence of Texas Buie in order to continue his questionable land dealings had to become a Mexican citizen so Jim bu was a Mexican citizen during the siege of the Alamo Now by this time Jim had become a well respected Texan partly because of his marriage in 183 1 into a wealthy respected Mexican family and in 1833 the dreaded disease of chera spread through parts of Texas while Jim was away from his family his wife and child along with both his wife's parents died of chalera Jim Buie was devastated started drinking heavily and to make matters worse shortly afterwards he contracted tuberculosis which steadily Through The Years grew worse now Steven E Fon appointed Buie colonel in the Texas volunteers and in 1836 Texas was in the midst of a revolution against Mexican dictator Santa Ana Bo had direct orders to dismantle and transport the Alamo cannons out of the hands of the Mexican military unfortunately Jim didn't have the mules or the means to transport the Cannons and he could not afford to leave them in the hands of Santa Ana if he had had the means to have transported the Cannons we might not have the Battle of the Alamo that we knowed today so disobeying orders and realizing the Strategic importance of the location of the Alamo boy decided to fortify the Alamo instead Jim being in bad Health agreed to share command of the Alamo with the much younger Lieutenant Colonel William Barett Travis and two days after the siege of the Mo began buy fell ill with tuberculosis pneumonia and high fever he took to his bed deathly sick the full command then passed to Travis it's believed that bu was taken to a room in the low bcks located on the south side of the compound the x is believed to be the room where he lay for 11 days and may have died [Music] there now as close as I can guess this may be the spot that buoy lay and it's possibly the spot that he died on however one of the women survivors of the Alamo later stated that buoy had been moved for security reasons to a room on the north side of the mission now this is the north side of the mission she also said that Jim buy fought and killed Mexican soldiers from his bed however it is entirely possible that Jim Buie was unconscious at the time of his death he was 40 years old now this is Lieutenant Colonel William Barrett Travis who after Jim buy became sick and confined to quarters became the sole commander of the Alamo at this time Travis was only 26 years old he was born in South Carolina but raised in Alabama where he had become a practicing attorney after getting into some Financial difficult difficulties Travis simply up and left his creditors left his wife and small child and never looked back he headed for the promising Mexican Providence of Texas there he quickly become involved in the Texas movement for Independence he accepted the commission as Lieutenant Colonel and one of his his first major jobs was to fortify the Alamo it's believed that Travis assigned David Crockett and his Tennessee volunteers to protect the Palisades a location in front of the Alamo Mission now in front of the mission is where legend has it that Travis drew a lion in the sand with his sword asking for volunteers to stay in defend the Almo Legend also says that Jim buy asked to be carried across the line in his bed it's been said that one man refused to cross a line and snuck out of the Alamo the next night during The 13-day Siege Travis sent Riders out with messages pleading for reinforcements he did receive 32 men from Gonzalez that raised everybody's hopes for a while they had been able to sneak into the cam before the Mexican troops crossed the San Antonio River and completely encircled Almo but after fighting off several small attacks Travis realized his weakest point was the northern wall where the x is and he was right around 4:30 on the morning of March the 6 1836 Travis and his men were awakened by Mexican soldiers shouting Viva Santa Ana they were attacking for the first time from three different sides 800 men with 400 in reserve against the north wall 400 against the East wall and 100 against the South wall now according to Joe the slave of Colonel Travis's he stated that Travis had only fired one shot from his shotgun when he was struck in the head and killed it's believed that Joel then retreated back possibly to this room on the southwest corner of the mission where women and children were staying you will notice that there is no top on the Alamo Mission it was never finished until years after the battle now the northeast corner of the compound was approximately where the corner of this building across the street is I'm now looking west from the northeast corner towards the northwest corner about 12 ft inside the building Straight Ahead the north wall that Travis defended ran close to the top of these steps a cannon was placed here and Travis was killed and fell close to the cannon ramp they say now the Mexicans broke through the north wall close to the northeast corner here now looking South across the plaza now the long Barracks is on the left and the Western Wall of the compound runs inside those buildings on the right down the street some 500 and something feet or so to the Southwest corer I'm now standing about halfway down the West Wall looking East the monument there that they've built would have been inside the Alamo compound now the X indicates the southwest corner of the Alamo compound one of the largest cannons an 18 pounder was positioned here from this position it is believed that Travis ordered the 18 pounder to answer the challenge of Santa Ana when he raised a red flag over the San Fernando Mission indicating that they had give no quarter or no lives would be spared now the mission is located about four blocks west of the Alamo and the San Anon River tall buildings now block the view of the Alamo from the mission but it was clear back in 1836 from the southwest corner now looking West we're only about a 100 yards from the San Antonio River now this is what the river might have looked like back in 1836 and this is the modernday River Walk they have a walk on both sides of the river with restaurants and tall buildings on each side [Music] T boats run ever so often and the walk goes for miles [Music] now if we look East towards the Alamo along the South Wall it would run straight through here this is the famous David Crockett probably the best known of the Alamo Defenders David has served as a US congressman from Tennessee and he was well liked by his fellow Congressman so much so that he was a possible presidential candidate for 1836 unfortunately the people of Tennessee didn't reelect Davey to Congress in 1835 now this shattered his presidential Ambitions and they said that David said to his constituency they could go to hell and he'd go to Texas if he could not be the president of the United States who knows what about Texas the difference between Davy and some of the other Texas adventurers was that Davy fully intended to bring his family to Texas once he was established and settled it has been said that Crockett was offered partial command of the Alamo but he refused it it's believed that Davy and the Tennessee Volunteers were assigned the area in front of the AL mission to defend it called the Palisades which they did very well on several occasions one of the women survivors of the Alamo stated that after the battle she saw Davy Crocket and several Tennessee volunteers' bodies lying here in front of the door trying to defend the Alamo Mission it's been said that the entire battle lasted only 90 minutes as the Mexicans poured over the walls the Alamo Defenders fell back into the long barings now the area here on the least side of the long BS is where the Almo Defenders had their livestock now some of the most furious hand toand fighting a cared right here in the long Barracks as the fight progressed room to room using swords and bayonets it was extremely bloody and cruel after the battle General santaa ordered all the bodies of the Alamo Defenders to be taken outside the compound and put in a pile and burnt now the Alamo Defenders not only consisted of white American anglos but also of Mexicans one story goes that one of the Santa Ana's own troops went to him and asked that he might take his brother's body back to her back to his mother his brother was an Alamo Defender permission was granted Santa Ana had spared the lives of women and children along with slaves that was believed to be barricaded in this room on the southwest corner of the mission now this is Susanna Dickerson she was the wife of Captain Dickerson who was in charge of the mission artillery he was killed but Susanna and their 15mon old child was spared now over the 100 years after the Battle of the Alamo a box was discovered under the San Fernando Cathedral the same mission that General Santa Ana had raised the red flag given No Quarter over a letter was found inside the Box stating these are the bones of Jim Buie William Travis and Dav [Music] Crockett [Music] come

Channel: Jerry Skinner

Views: 1,364,687

Keywords: Siege Of The Alamo, San Antonio (City/Town/Village), Davy Crockett (U.S. Congressperson), Jim Bowie (Military Person)

Id: _rtbRGkpyxI

Length: 18min 22sec (1102 seconds)

Published: Mon May 04 2015