19. There Was No Need to Fight at the Alamo
A lot of what was long accepted as true about the Alamo is not true at all. A key inaccurate belief about the event is that a battle was even necessary in the first place. In reality, the Alamo’s defenders did not try to hold off Santa Anna’s forces in a bid to buy Sam Houston time to raise a Texan army. The Alamo’s commander, Colonel William Travis, ignored many warnings that Mexican forces were on the way, and was trapped when they showed up. Nor did the defenders buy Houston time. Santa Anna had expected to take San Antonio on March 2nd, 1836, but instead took it on the 6th. The battle cost him all of four days, and had no impact on his ultimate defeat six weeks later at the Battle of San Jacinto. So the Alamo’s defenders died for nothing.
Another widely repeated but inaccurate myth is an account about Travis’ line in the sand. Towards the end of the battle, the Mexican commander issued an ultimatum: surrender or die. Travis drew a line in the dirt with his sword, and asked the men to choose their fate: surrender, or cross the line and join him in a fight to the death. They all crossed the line. There is no evidence that ever happened, and the defenders did not fight to the last man. As the battle was lost, about half the Alamo’s defenders tried to flee, only to get run down and killed in the open by Mexican lancers. Nor did Davy Crocket go down fighting, as depicted by John Wayne. He surrendered, and was subsequently executed.
