Battle of the Alamo

Mexicans on both sides, and there were for a known fact English, Irish, Scots. Danes and Germans on the Texian side. There were African Americans fighting with the Texians. To find other Nationalities or races within the ranks of the Mexican Army should and would have been an anticipated phenomenen. The mercenaries of the world migrate to where their talent is best paid and most needed. An honest broker of such skills has a nose for the hot spots of the world and even in 1846 commercial transportation was available from continent to continent.

William Travis, Jim Bowie, and, relative newcomer, Davy Crockett-

A combination or arrogance, poor leadership skills, and lack of planning all factored in to his downfall. They were trying to move heavy rifles and ammo in overloaded carts and wagons which moved very slow, even by those days standards. Plus in delaying his departure for San Antonio, the fog that hid them in the morning burned off by noon and they were sitting ducks for the Mexican Army.

They were not protecting the Alamo, it was protecting them. Santa Anna could not leave a rebel force in his rear no matter how small it was.

They were waiting for their stragglers, supply train and heavy weapons to arrive and had no reason to proceed with an earlier attack. The Alamo defenders were going nowhere, and the Texans appeared to be evacuating the Mexican lands.

because Santa Anna was proving a point to the Texans and Mexicans who defied his authority that could expect NO Quarter or no mercy in this battle Santa Anna takes no prisoners and shows no mercy to the Texans the worst act that took place on March 6,1836 is the funeral pyres on Soledad Street and Main Street and Main Plaza and Military Plaza and Military Dr. in modern san Antonio and in front of the Alamo shrine in Alamo plaza

The Battle of the Alamo was won by Mexico, but the War for Texas Independence was won by Texas and San Jacinto.

William Barret Travis was a 19th century American Lawyer and Soldier. At the time of the Alamo he was 26years old and a lieutenant colonel in the Texan army. He died in the Battle of the Alamo during the revolution.

Travis was ordered to take reinforcements to the Texan mission in San Antonio. He took over command from Col. James C.Neill. James (Jim) Bowie commanded the volunteers. Travis was shot and killed by a single shot to the head.

James Bowie, David Crockett, and William Travis where the leaders of the Alamo

with the introduction of sugar came the need for a larger labour force. after saerching the globe for the approipriate group to complete the task the negroes were chosen. the main persons behind black slavery were the planters who needed labour . they however were supported by tye africans who chose to sell of their own people for trinkets and alcohol.

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If you mean what is the history of slavery, slavery has been around for thousands upon thousands of years. If you want to know about the introduction of ;the slave trade into the Americas, the first slaves were introduced into the Americas by the Dutch when America was a British colony.

Mostly it's a good story, providing a sense of honor to the Texas Revolution. But in the actual chain of events in 1836, its importance was this: by delaying Santa Anna's army in San Antonio, it enabled Sam Houston to gather and prepare a larger army which was able to defeat the Mexicans at San Jacinto and win Texas's independence a few weeks later.

William B. Travis

Jim Bowie (co-commander of the fort), Davy Crockett (king of the wild frontier), and James Butler Bonham (Lieutenant in the Texian Cavalry) are among the Texians who died at the siege of the Alamo.

The Mexican Army was taken by surprise and soundly defeated by the Texan Army at San Jacinto. It was more of a conclusion than a turning point. The Mexican victories at the Alamo and Goliad were the turning point because Texans wanted to avenge them. Also, Santa Anna began to believe that his army was invincible, and he became careless.

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The battle of the Alamo was a tactical defeat for the Texans, who were slaughtered to the last man. However, nobody ever expected the Texans to win the battle; it was a holding action, designed to delay the Mexican army under General Santa Ana.

During the two weeks while the Mexican army was attacking the defenders at the Alamo, the main force of the Texan army under Sam Houston was assembling. The delay at the Alamo proved deadly to the Mexican army, which was routed at the Battle of San Jacinto a month later.

Additionally, the viciousness of the Mexican army at the Alamo and at Goliad (under Santa Ana's orders, they had executed any prisoners) inflamed the Texan soldiers who overran the Mexican forces and returned the favor.

General Santa Anna.

General Sam Houston led his army east, avoiding a conflict with the main Mexican army. This gave him time to build up the army some. Eventually, the Mexican army and Gen. Houston's army met up near the present-day city of Houston.

Houston and his men won an overwhelming victory at the Battle of San Jacinto, capturing the leader of the Mexican army, Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who surrendered to Gen. Houston.

Dolphin Ward Floyd died at the Alamo on his 32nd birthday.

The result of the Mexican victory was that fallen defenders became heroes to the cause of Texan independence.

When Mexico won its independence from Spain, the fledgling country found itself with a large supply of Spanish weapons. By the time of the Texas Revolution there were still thousands of Spanish weapons in the armories of Mexico. Since Mexico had no major facilities for producing the additional weapons necessary for its army, it subsequently procured arms from other sources. Available records show that they possessed a number of arms orginating from different countries including the United States. In the mid 1820s Mexico bought a large number of British arms and issued these to its regulars and active militia battalions. It's doubtful that Mexico used any weapons other than those supplied by the British during the Texan campaign because weapons standardization for the purposes of supply and spare parts was a vital issue. Though there exists no precise description of these arms, some evidence has surfaced through archaeological research. This evidence suggests that Mexico armed its infantry with the India Pattern musket, a 39 inch barrel of .752-.760 caliber. It weighed nine pounds, eleven ounces and came with a seventeen inch socket bayonet that itself weighed one pound. In essence, it was a cheaply made version of the famous "Brown Bess". It was not subject to the same rigid standards and testing as the usual army muskets and many of these were quite inferior. Apparently, the Mexican army did not issue all the arms they bought but stored many of them in the armories and issued them as needed. So, the muskets carried by the Mexican troops would have been a mixture of used and new. The Mexican soldier received standard issue paper cartridges that contained about 165 grains of powder if they followed British standards. Even if you use a measure of powder for priming the pan, modern black-powder experts consider this a very heavy charge for this gun. It's important to remember that the powder used by the Mexican forces in 1836 was inferior to modern powder. The Texans found the Mexican powder to be of such low quality that many considered it useless. All this powder created a large amount of fouling in the barrel that impeded the loading of subsequent shots. To compensate for this, soldiers used an undersized ball of .69 caliber. The accuracy potential for the musket is better than some might think. With a tight fitting ball and patch, propelled by a moderate powder charge, a musket will regularly hit a target at 100 yards or more using only modest sights. It would be dangerous against infantry formations at a distance of possibly 300 yards. That's only the potential of the musket, not the reality of its use. Poor powder quality, a loose fitting ball and lack of sights, coupled with the lack of experience of the average foot soldier all added together to make the musket a very inaccurate weapon. As used during this period, it was good only for volley fire against masses of infantry and was only effective against individual targets at close range. One very good study suggests that volley fire against enemy formations (under 200 yards over open ground) would average between .5 to 5.5% of the rounds fired actually striking its intended target. That is why some experienced officers had their troops hold their fire until the enemy was as close as 40 yards. To compensate for the poor performance of the average musket, many commanders would have their troops load their muskets with "buck and ball." This is a load that uses the standard ball, but with at least three buckshot added. This load will drop the impact of the ball a little but will greatly increase the hit probability because of the spread of the buckshot. This type of load was very popular among many armies of the period. With buck and ball the musket was menacing at 100 yards or more and deadly at about 40. Travis' servant Joe said that the shot that struck him in the side was not a single shot, but rather one composed of buckshot. This supports the theory that at least some Mexican troops used "buck and ball" at the Alamo. In addition, archaeologists found a .35 caliber round ball during excavations at the Alamo. This was the approximate size of the buckshot used in the large caliber British muskets. Mexico did not arm its Cazadores (light infantry) with the standard infantry musket. Like many light infantries of the day, the Cazadores used light infantry muskets, which were lighter and of smaller caliber than the standard musket. The British frequently referred to these weapons as carbines because they were of carbine bore (.65 caliber). According to research done by Kevin Young, the Mexicans referred to light infantry muskets as Tercerlos. Except for a piece of a .65 barrel and a few .59 caliber balls found at the Alamo, there is no conclusive information on what types of light infantry muskets the Cazadores carried. The British preferred to keep their best weapons for themselves and sell the inferior India Pattern weapons, as they did to the Mexican government. Therefore, it's reasonable to assume that the light infantry muskets would also be of the India Pattern. The most likely candidate would be the India Pattern Sergeants Carbine. This musket was similar in appearance to the standard musket but had a 37 inch, .65 caliber barrel. It weighed seven pounds 12 ounces and had a 13 inch socket bayonet that weighed 12 ounces. The Cazadores received more marksmanship training so they might fight as skirmishers and light infantry. Their shooting skills, compared to that of the common soldier, were far superior. Again, this was due to exceptional training and tactics. The musket and load were not any better than what the regular infantry carried. Not all the Cazadores carried the light infantry musket. A few carried the Baker rifle. The Baker rifle was probably the best made arm carried by the Mexican forces. Evidence suggests that the Bakers used by the Mexicans were some of the early models. These rifles had a short 30 inch barrel fitted with good sights. The earliest models were of .70 caliber and fired the same .69 caliber ball as the standard musket, but the British soon abandoned this model in favor of the .625 caliber, which fired a .615 caliber ball. This .625 caliber rifle weighed eight pounds 14 ounces. Some of the rifles bought by the Mexicans came with a 23 inch sword bayonet, while others had no provision for a bayonet. Those that came with the bayonet were virtually useless with the bayonet attached. The firing trauma caused much damage to the bayonet's hook and spring mechanism. When the muzzle blast struck the guard on the handle, it caused so much damage that, after only a few shots, the bayonet would simply fall off. Even if the bayonet did not fall off immediately, the two pound weight of it made the rifle difficult to fire from an off hand position. The rifle itself was considerably more accurate than the issue musket but was not as accurate as the American long rifle. The exageratted slow twist of the barrel rifling helped prevent premature fouling but made the rifle inaccurate at longer ranges. The use of cartridges sped the loading of the rifle in battle but did not allow the rifleman to fire the most accurate load for his particular rifle. So, although it had its limitations, the Baker was a deadly weapon when used by a trained marksman at ranges of 100 yards or less.

"Álamo" in Spanish means "poplar" or "aspen", types of trees. It is pronounced "AH-lah-mow". Please see this site for confirmation of the translation:

http://www.answers.com/library/Translations

1836. The Mexican force has been estimated from 2,400 to over 5,000. The Alamo defenders was only about 185. On March 6 after 13 days of siege the Mexican army stormed the citadel. It took three assaults and close combat to take the mission. Best estimate of Mexican dead range from 600 to 1600. Six weeks later the Texans won and took Santa Anna was captured on April 21, 1836.

The Battle of the Alamo was a defeat at the hands of General Santa Anna who surrounded the Alamo Mission and killed most of the defenders inside. The defeat was heroic, however, and the Alamo became famous as a symbol of Texas courage and bravery.

The Battle of Goliad was the second skirmish of the Texas Revolution which ended in a Texan victory, not defeat. However, the Goliad massacre which occured about 5 months later was the execution of 342 Texas patriots by the Mexican Army. The brutal killing of the prisoners-of-war fueled anti-Mexican sentiments in Texas for many years to come.

It was originally built as a semi-fortified Catholic mission station called the Mission San Antonio de Valero in 1724 as part of a string of such missions built by the Spanish Empire in the province of Tejas (Texas). The mission was designed as a religious community for monks and priests as well as a school and administrative center for the local natives and settlers. The missions was abandoned by the church in 1793 and passed into secular hands before the famous battle in 1836.

The "official" numbers vary from 189 to 257 defenders. There were several noncombatants which are probably what cause the confusion. All the defenders died fighting except a half dozen that were taken prisoner who were taken to Santa Anna and hacked to pieces by his officers for Santa Anna's entertainment.