The Alamo

Location: The Alamo, San Antonio, Texas

Summary: A memorable visit to the historic Alamo, including a humorous guided tour and a look at the mission’s long and complex history.

The Alamo

I thought The Alamo was a fantastic place and would have loved to spend more time there. Our hotel was right opposite the site, just a short walk across the square. We joined a guided tour, and the guide told us a story about the outside garden area. It was full of information, but he delivered it with such humour that we were all in fits of laughter. I would love to visit again someday when I can spend much more time exploring.

History

The Alamo Mission in San Antonio, originally known as the Misión San Antonio de Valero, is a former Roman Catholic mission and fortress compound. It is best known as the site of the Battle of the Alamo in 1836. Today, it stands as a museum in the Alamo Plaza Historic District in downtown San Antonio, Texas. Built by Spanish Franciscan priest Antonio de Olivares and the Payaya Indians, it is one of the foundations of the modern city of San Antonio, along with the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar and the Acequia Madre de Valero.

The compound was constructed in the 18th century by the Spanish Empire as a mission for educating Native Americans after their conversion to Christianity. In 1793, the mission was secularised and later abandoned. Ten years later, it became a fortress for a Spanish Army unit, the Second Flying Company of San Carlos de Parras, who likely gave the mission the name Alamo during the early years of the Mexican War of Independence.

After Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821, Mexican soldiers held the mission until December 1835, when General Martin Perfecto de Cos surrendered it to the Texian Army following the siege of Béxar. A small number of Texian soldiers then occupied the compound. General Sam Houston believed the Texans lacked the manpower to defend it and ordered Colonel James Bowie to destroy the fort. Bowie, however, chose to work with Colonel James C. Neill to fortify the mission instead, partly because there were not enough oxen to move the cannons.

On February 23, 1836, Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna arrived with a large force and began a siege. It ended on March 6, when the Mexican army overran the compound. By the end of the battle, nearly all the defenders had been killed. When the Mexican army later retreated from Texas after the Texas Revolution, they destroyed many of the Alamo’s walls and burned several buildings.

During the Republic of Texas period, which overlapped with civil conflict in Mexico, the Alamo was used intermittently by Texan and Mexican garrisons but was eventually abandoned. In 1849, after Texas joined the United States, the US Army rented the site as a quartermaster’s depot. During the Civil War, the Confederate Army took control, and the US Army regained it after the war, using the site until 1876 when Fort Sam Houston was established. The Alamo chapel was sold to the state government of Texas, which offered occasional tours but did not restore it. Other buildings were sold to a mercantile company that operated them as a wholesale grocery store.

In 1892, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas began efforts to preserve The Alamo. In 1905, Adina Emilia De Zavala and Clara Driscoll persuaded the state legislature to purchase the remaining buildings and appoint the DRT as custodians. A long dispute between the two women over restoration methods led to a court case and temporary state control in 1912. The site was returned to the DRT later that year. Attempts in 1988 and 1994 to transfer control to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department failed after Governor George W. Bush vowed to veto any bill removing the  authority of the DRT.