Fascinating, Mr. Martin. I learned a great deal of previously unknown (to me) history. Frankly - and in all humility, maybe I'm not reading the right articles - that doesn't happen that often. Thank you!
A tremendous article, Dr. Martin! I remember when the original came out and commented on that one too. Davy Crockett was a true American hero. He was a rough and tumble pioneer, an able woodsman, a tough as nails Indian fighter, a principled Congressmen from the state of Tennessee who stood up to President Andrew Jackson and opposed the dreadful 1830 Indian Removal Act, and a martyr for Texas independence who was killed fighting like the devil against Santa Anna’s armies at the Alamo. Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, Colonel William Travis, and their men gave their lives to defend the small mission and they would buy the Texian Army crucial time to strategize and strike a fatal blow against Santa Anna and the Mexican Army which they did at San Jacinto six weeks later.
Let’s be clear about something, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was a Latin Saddam Hussein who had ambitions of becoming a 19th century Montezuma and ruling over a vast Mexican Empire. He would stop at nothing to achieve these goals. Santa Anna ruthlessly slaughtered Anglos and Tejanos alike. He murdered men, women, children, babies, and old people without even giving it a second thought. Just Google what he and his soldiers did at the Alamo or Goliad and that will tell you all you need to know about the General. He dreamed of capturing New Orleans and building a Mexican Empire that stretched from the West to New Orleans to Cuba and beyond.
If not for Davy Crockett and the heroes who fought and died at the Alamo, America would never have become a world power. We would’ve been relegated to a little fifth-rate power who was totally insignificant on the international scene and Mexico would have built a massive empire capturing New Orleans and reversing Jefferson’s Louisiana purchase, and would’ve swept across Cuba, Haiti and South and Central America. Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Minnesota, Texas, and New Mexico would all today be Mexican territory. All of the people of the West, Anglo and Tejano, white, black and Native American, free and enslaved, would live under Santa Anna’s tyrannical rule. But the heroes of the Texian Revolution prevented all that. Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, William Travis, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, Juan Seguin, Jose Antonio Navarro, Lorenzo de Zavala, and many others risked and some cases gave their lives, to achieve independence and self-determination for Texas and its people.
I think many people today don’t realize and/or don’t have an appreciation of this. The United States would ever have been anywhere close to where it is today without the brave Texians Anglo, Tejano and African American alike, who fought and died to free their land from Santa Anna’s brutal tyranny. Yes, I know the Texas War of Independence was fought in part to preserve slavery. Yes, the Tejanos would be treated as second-class citizens in the United States until the 1960s. Yes, I know the Texian rebels were products of their era and shared the common prejudices of their times. None of this changes the heroism or greatness of what they did or that we owe them a debt of gratitude that can never paid off. I also would like to applaud the Mexican statesmen who fought for Texas independence and against Santa Anna’s tyrannical rule and stayed true to their republican principles as well as the brave men of Yucatán and the Rio Grande who valiantly tried to break away from Mexico and strike out on their own. They died for the same principles our founding fathers did. We didn’t want to live under a king half way around the world, they didn’t want to live under a dictator all the way in Mexico City.
You are absolutely correct that not enough people today understand or appreciate the efforts and sacrifice of those Texas heroes. History of the United States is not properly taught in the government schools.
Want to learn more about this little explored and crucial chapter in American history and the players involved? Here are some excellent reads to add to your library!
* Eighteen Minutes: The Battle of San Jacinto and the Texas Independence Campaign by Stephen L. Moore
* The Texas War of Independence 1835-36: From Outbreak to the Alamo to San Jacinto by Alan C. Huffines
* Lone Star Nation: The Epic Story of the Battle for Texas Independence by H.W. Brands
* David Crockett: The Lion of the West by Michael Wallis
* James Bowie: Texas Fighting Man by Clifford Hopewell
* William Barrett Travis: A Biography by Archie McDonald
* The Blood of Heroes: The 13-Day Struggle for the Alamo and the Struggle That Forged a Nation by James Donovan
* The Texas Revolution: Tejano Heroes by Roy F. Sullivan
* Viva Tejas: The Story of the Tejanos, the Mexican-Born Patriots of the Texas Revolution by Rueben R. Lozano
* Sam Houston by James L. Haley
* Stephen F. Austin: Empersario of Texas by Gregg Cantrell
* Santa Anna of Mexico by Will Fowler
* Texian Iliad: A Military History of the Texas Revolution by Stephen L. Hardin
* Lust for Glory: An Epic Story of Early Texas and the Sacrifice That Defined a Nation by Stephen L. Hardin
As understand it (as always I Could Be Wrong!) John Lee Hancock’s outstanding The Alamo (2004), is the most historically actuate of the Alamo movies. I remember visiting it when I was in Basic. Man Is It Small!
For a terrific, detailed, and thrilling recounting of the events leading up to and after the Alamo, read "Blood of Heroes" by James Donovan. Includes new documents from Mexico (letters and journals, for example) to really give the reader a sense of what it was like.
Fascinating, Mr. Martin. I learned a great deal of previously unknown (to me) history. Frankly - and in all humility, maybe I'm not reading the right articles - that doesn't happen that often. Thank you!
Thank you!
A tremendous article, Dr. Martin! I remember when the original came out and commented on that one too. Davy Crockett was a true American hero. He was a rough and tumble pioneer, an able woodsman, a tough as nails Indian fighter, a principled Congressmen from the state of Tennessee who stood up to President Andrew Jackson and opposed the dreadful 1830 Indian Removal Act, and a martyr for Texas independence who was killed fighting like the devil against Santa Anna’s armies at the Alamo. Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, Colonel William Travis, and their men gave their lives to defend the small mission and they would buy the Texian Army crucial time to strategize and strike a fatal blow against Santa Anna and the Mexican Army which they did at San Jacinto six weeks later.
Let’s be clear about something, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was a Latin Saddam Hussein who had ambitions of becoming a 19th century Montezuma and ruling over a vast Mexican Empire. He would stop at nothing to achieve these goals. Santa Anna ruthlessly slaughtered Anglos and Tejanos alike. He murdered men, women, children, babies, and old people without even giving it a second thought. Just Google what he and his soldiers did at the Alamo or Goliad and that will tell you all you need to know about the General. He dreamed of capturing New Orleans and building a Mexican Empire that stretched from the West to New Orleans to Cuba and beyond.
If not for Davy Crockett and the heroes who fought and died at the Alamo, America would never have become a world power. We would’ve been relegated to a little fifth-rate power who was totally insignificant on the international scene and Mexico would have built a massive empire capturing New Orleans and reversing Jefferson’s Louisiana purchase, and would’ve swept across Cuba, Haiti and South and Central America. Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, the Dakotas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Minnesota, Texas, and New Mexico would all today be Mexican territory. All of the people of the West, Anglo and Tejano, white, black and Native American, free and enslaved, would live under Santa Anna’s tyrannical rule. But the heroes of the Texian Revolution prevented all that. Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, William Travis, Sam Houston, Stephen F. Austin, Juan Seguin, Jose Antonio Navarro, Lorenzo de Zavala, and many others risked and some cases gave their lives, to achieve independence and self-determination for Texas and its people.
I think many people today don’t realize and/or don’t have an appreciation of this. The United States would ever have been anywhere close to where it is today without the brave Texians Anglo, Tejano and African American alike, who fought and died to free their land from Santa Anna’s brutal tyranny. Yes, I know the Texas War of Independence was fought in part to preserve slavery. Yes, the Tejanos would be treated as second-class citizens in the United States until the 1960s. Yes, I know the Texian rebels were products of their era and shared the common prejudices of their times. None of this changes the heroism or greatness of what they did or that we owe them a debt of gratitude that can never paid off. I also would like to applaud the Mexican statesmen who fought for Texas independence and against Santa Anna’s tyrannical rule and stayed true to their republican principles as well as the brave men of Yucatán and the Rio Grande who valiantly tried to break away from Mexico and strike out on their own. They died for the same principles our founding fathers did. We didn’t want to live under a king half way around the world, they didn’t want to live under a dictator all the way in Mexico City.
You are absolutely correct that not enough people today understand or appreciate the efforts and sacrifice of those Texas heroes. History of the United States is not properly taught in the government schools.
Want to learn more about this little explored and crucial chapter in American history and the players involved? Here are some excellent reads to add to your library!
* Eighteen Minutes: The Battle of San Jacinto and the Texas Independence Campaign by Stephen L. Moore
* The Texas War of Independence 1835-36: From Outbreak to the Alamo to San Jacinto by Alan C. Huffines
* Lone Star Nation: The Epic Story of the Battle for Texas Independence by H.W. Brands
* David Crockett: The Lion of the West by Michael Wallis
* James Bowie: Texas Fighting Man by Clifford Hopewell
* William Barrett Travis: A Biography by Archie McDonald
* The Blood of Heroes: The 13-Day Struggle for the Alamo and the Struggle That Forged a Nation by James Donovan
* The Texas Revolution: Tejano Heroes by Roy F. Sullivan
* Viva Tejas: The Story of the Tejanos, the Mexican-Born Patriots of the Texas Revolution by Rueben R. Lozano
* Sam Houston by James L. Haley
* Stephen F. Austin: Empersario of Texas by Gregg Cantrell
* Santa Anna of Mexico by Will Fowler
* Texian Iliad: A Military History of the Texas Revolution by Stephen L. Hardin
* Lust for Glory: An Epic Story of Early Texas and the Sacrifice That Defined a Nation by Stephen L. Hardin
* Goliad: The Other Alamo by William Bradle
As understand it (as always I Could Be Wrong!) John Lee Hancock’s outstanding The Alamo (2004), is the most historically actuate of the Alamo movies. I remember visiting it when I was in Basic. Man Is It Small!
For a terrific, detailed, and thrilling recounting of the events leading up to and after the Alamo, read "Blood of Heroes" by James Donovan. Includes new documents from Mexico (letters and journals, for example) to really give the reader a sense of what it was like.
Thank you for this history lesson! The Alamo was not even addressed in any history class I had in public school.