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Victory or Death™

On February 24, 1836, with the garrison surrounded and the Texan Army at the Alamo outnumbered, one of the most famous letters in American history was written by William B. Travis. It was addressed, "To the People of Texas and All Americans in the World." This letter was a passionate plea for aid for the Alamo garrison. He ended the letter "Victory or Death" - the only outcome this battle could have.

Commandancy of the The Alamo

Bejar, Feby. 24th. 1836

To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World-

Fellow Citizens & compatriots-

I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna - I have sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man - The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken - I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls - I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch - The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country - Victory or Death.

William Barret Travis.

Lt. Col.comdt.

P. S. The Lord is on our side - When the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn - We have since found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels and got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves.

Travis

Credit: Texas State Library and Archives

Credit: Texas State Library and Archives

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On February 24, 1836, with the garrison surrounded and the Texan Army at the Alamo outnumbered, one of the most famous letters in American…

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William Barret Travis was a lawyer and soldier who is remembered as the Texas commander at the Battle of the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas.

Born in the Edgefield District of South Carolina on August 9, 1809, William's family later moved to Alabama. After finishing his education, Travis worked as a school teacher and a lawyer. Travis fled his wife and family in 1831, setting up a law office in Anahuac, Texas. Strongly disliking Mexican rule, he became one of the leaders of what became known as the "war party," On June 29, 1835, he raised a company of 25 volunteers and captured Captain Antonio Tenorio, the commander of Mexican forces in Anahuac.

After the outbreak of the Texas Revolution, Travis joined the Texas Army, and soon afterward, Samuel Houston appointed him as lieutenant colonel of cavalry. Soon after, the Texans surrounded San Antonio de Bexar on December 7, 1835, and the volunteers attacked the town. On January 21, 1836, Travis was ordered to go to the Alamo with volunteers to reinforce the 120-150 men already there.

On February 3rd, he arrived with 20-30 reinforcements, and within a short time, he immediately became the commander of the regular soldiers, while James Bowie commanded the volunteers. When General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and 7,000 Mexican troops arrived in San Antonio, the Texans took refuge in the fortified grounds of the Alamo. Bowie was struck down with typhoid, and Travis eventually took over sole command of the fortress.

Santa Anna ordered the shelling of the Alamo, but the Texans refused to surrender. On March 6th, the Mexican army stormed the fortress, and during the battle, 189 Texans, including Travis, Bowie, and Davy Crockett, were killed, but not without a valiant fight. It is estimated that 1,500 Mexicans died during the battle.

© Kathy Alexander/ Legends of America, updated October 2022.
Also See: Remember the Alamo - The Battle San Antonio Missions National Historic Park San Antonio Photo Gallery The Texas Revolution

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William Travis - Texas Hero Who Died at the Alamo

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William Barret Travis was a lawyer and soldier who is remembered as the Texas commander at the Battle of the Alamo in San Antonio, Texas. Born in the Edgefield District of South Carolina on August 9, 1809, William's family later moved to Alabama. After finishing his education, Travis worked as a school teacher and a lawyer.

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Antonio López de Santa Anna Facts for Kids

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Learn Antonio López de Santa Anna facts for kids

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Antonio López de Santa Anna Pérez de Lebrón, soldier and five-time president of Mexico, was born at Jalapa, Vera Cruz, on February 21, 1794, the son of Antonio López de Santa Anna and Manuela Pérez de Lebrón. His family belonged to the criollo middle class, and his father served at one time as a subdelegate for the Spanish province of Vera Cruz. After a limited schooling the young Santa Anna worked for a merchant of Vera Cruz. In June 1810 he was appointed a cadet in the Fijo de Vera Cruz infantry regiment under the command of Joaquín de Arredondo. He spent the next five years battling insurgents and policing the Indian tribes of the Provincias Internas. Like most criollo officers in the Royalist army, he remained loyal to Spain for a number of years and fought against the movement for Mexican independence. He received his first wound, an Indian arrow in his left arm or hand, in 1811. In 1813 he served in Texas against the Gutiérrez-Magee expedition, and at the battle of Medina he was cited for bravery. In the aftermath of the rebellion the young officer witnessed Arredondo's fierce counterinsurgency policy of mass executions, and historians have speculated that Santa Anna modeled his policy and conduct in the Texas Revolution on his experience under Arredondo. He once again served under Arrendondo against the filibustering expedition of Francisco Xavier Mina in 1817. The young officer spent the next several years in building Indian villages and in occasional campaigns, while he acquired debts, some property, and promotions. In 1820 he was promoted to brevet captain, and he became a brevet lieutenant colonel the following year. In March of 1821 he made the first of the dramatic shifts of allegiance that characterized his military and political career by joining the rebel forces under Agustín de Iturbide in the middle of a campaign against them. He campaigned for Iturbide for a time and was promoted to brigadier general. In December 1822 Santa Anna broke with Iturbide over a series of personal grievances, and he called for a republic in his Plan of Casa Mata in December 1822.

After serving as military governor of Yucatán, Santa Anna retired to civil life and became governor of Vera Cruz. In 1829 he defeated the Spanish invasion at Tampico and emerged from the campaign as a national hero. In the course of this campaign, he demonstrated several of his characteristic military strengths and weaknesses; he was able to pull an army together quickly and with severely limited resources, but he also combined elaborate planning with slipshod and faulty execution. He rebelled against the administration three years later and was elected president of Mexico as a liberal in 1833, but in 1834 he stated that Mexico was not ready for democracy and emerged as an autocratic Centralist. When the liberals of Zacatecas defied his authority and an attempt to reduce their militia in 1835, Santa Anna moved to crush them and followed up his battlefield victory with a harsh campaign of repression. In December 1835 he arrived at San Luis Potosí to organize an army to crush the rebellion in Texas. In 1836 he marched north with his forces to play his controversial role in the Texas Revolution. After his capture by Sam Houston's army, he was sent to Washington, D.C., whence he returned to Mexico. He retired to his estates at Manga de Clavo for a time, then emerged to join the defense of Mexico against the French in December 1838 during the so-called "Pastry War." He lost a leg in battle and regained his popularity. He was acting president in 1839, helped overthrow the government of Anastasio Bustamante in 1841, and was dictator from 1841 to 1845. Excesses led to his overthrow and exile to Havana.

At the beginning of the Mexican War, Santa Anna entered into negotiations with President James K. Polk. He offered the possibility of a negotiated settlement to the United States and was permitted to enter Mexico through the American blockade. Once in the country he rallied resistance to the foreign invaders. As commanding officer in the northern campaign he lost the battle of Buena Vista in February 1847, returned to Mexico City, reorganized the demoralized government, and turned east to be defeated by Winfield S. Scott's forces at Cerro Gordo. Secret negotiations with Scott failed, and when Mexico City was captured, Santa Anna retired to exile. In 1853 he was recalled by the Centralists, but again power turned his head. To help meet expenses he sold the Mesilla Valley to the United States as the Gadsden Purchase and was overthrown and banished by the liberals in 1855.

For eleven years he schemed to return to Mexico, conniving with the French and with Maximilian. After a visit from the American secretary of state, W. H. Seward, he invested most of his property in a vessel that he sailed to New York to become the nucleus of a planned invading force from the United States. Disappointed in his efforts, he proceeded towards Mexico, was arrested on the coast, and returned to exile. From 1867 to 1874 he lived in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Nassau. During this time he finally abandoned politics and wrote his memoirs. In 1874 he was allowed to return to Mexico City, where he lived in obscurity until his death on June 21, 1876. He was buried at Tepeyac Cemetery, near Guadalupe Hidalgo. Santa Anna was married twice, to Inés García in 1825, and, a few months after the death of his first wife in 1844, to María Dolores de Tosta, who survived him.

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The Handbook of Texas is your number one authoritative source for Texas history. Read this entry and thousands more like it on our site.

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Freedoms Worth Fighting For

Credit: Texas General Land Office

Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821 following 11 years of conflict. With independence achieved, Mexico struggled to find its own independent identity, first establishing a monarchy then a constitutional republic. The need to protect the northern frontier prompted the government to establish colonization laws that allowed colonists into Texas. Large groups of people moved to Texas, with the attraction of land and an opportunity to start over. People, such as Stephen F. Austin, helped to facilitate the arrival of immigrants to Texas by ways of colonies and land grants. Many of these colonists, along with the native population, enjoyed a semi-autonomous way of life far from the capital in Mexico.

The Texas colonists' autonomy was challenged with the centralization of power in Mexico City. In 1833, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was elected President of Mexico. When he abolished the Constitution of 1824, it prompted a Mexican Civil War and the Texas independence movement. His political views would change from federalism to centralism, causing Mexico to fall into a civil war and Texas to seek its own independence. Laws changed curtailing the influx of immigrants as well as the autonomy that Texans had grown used to. Texas, with its lower population, was joined to the neighboring state of Coahuila, forming the state of Coahuila y Texas.

Revolution Breaks Out: Battle of Gonzales

On October 2, 1835, the Texas Revolution began as tension boiled over and shots were fired in the town of Gonzales. The Mexican Army had been sent to recover a cannon that was loaned to the town for protection against aggressive native tribes. Upon their arrival, 18 men stood on the opposite side of the river and refused to hand over the cannon. The Mexican Army searched for a way to cross the river, but while searching were called back by the colonists to discuss the cannon.

This time there were approximately 180 men on the other side of the river - outnumbering the Mexican Army force of 100 dragoons (mounted infantry). The people of Gonzales once again refused to return the cannon, arguing that they were fighting to uphold the Constitution of 1824.

That night, the men of Gonzales crossed the river searching for the Mexican Army. It was foggy and both defensive forces bumped into one another in the night. Both groups fell back to await daybreak.

The following day, October 2, 1835, both groups met on the field of battle. The Texans fired a shot at the Mexican Army, leading to the start of the Texas Revolution. The Mexican Army retreated to arrange for a parlay. Discussions did not lead to a resolution, and therefore the fighting continued. The Mexican Army realized they were outnumbered and retreated to Bexar.

After this encounter, the Mexican Army returned to San Antonio without the cannon, which was seen as a victory for the Texan army. Emboldened, Texan forces decided to follow and march to San Antonio as well.

Texans Prepare the Alamo for a Counter-Attack

With General Cos' soldiers gone, but in expectation of a counter-attack, the Texans began to fortify both the Alamo and the town. The Texans worked to repair the Mexican constructed entrenchments and fortifications, and brought additional cannons to the site. Just after the Siege of Bexár and the Battle of the Alamo, the Alamo had over 30 cannons on site. Some were distributed to other locations in Texas to help prepare for ensuing clashes. Because San Antonio de Bexár was located on the main roads leading into Texas, it was of strategic importance in maintaining supply lines as well as communications. The Texans saw it was necessary to maintain it in order to protect the settlements located to the east.

Siege of the Alamo: 13 Days Under Fire

Credit: Phil Collins Texana Collection

Just as General Cos' Army headed towards the Rio Grande to Mexico, General Santa Anna's Army were marching north towards Texas, unbeknownst to the Texans. Their plan was to take back the town of Bexár and end the Texas Revolution once and for all.

Santa Anna's Army began to arrive in San Antonio de Bexár on February 23, 1836. Their arrival prompted members of the Texan Army to enter the Alamo, which was by now heavily fortified.

The Alamo had 18 serviceable cannons and approximately 150 men at the start of the siege. As the Mexican Army arrived, a parlay was called by one of the two Alamo Commanders, James Bowie, a famous adventurer and knife fighter. Green B. Jameson, chief engineer of the garrison met with Mexican officials. Santa Anna's terms were surrender at discretion, meaning he would decide their fate. The other Alamo Commander, 26-year-old William B. Travis answered with a cannon shot from the 18-pounder cannon. The Siege of the Alamo had begun. Santa Anna ordered a red flag to be flown from San Fernando Church showing that no quarter would be given.

On February 24, 1836, with the garrison surrounded and the Texan Army at the Alamo outnumbered, one of the most famous letters in American history was written by William B. Travis. It was addressed, "To the People of Texas and All Americans in the World." This letter was a passionate plea for aid for the Alamo garrison. He ended the letter "Victory or Death" - the only outcome this battle could have. That letter left the Alamo and the siege continued.
On March 1, 1836, 32 men from the town of Gonzales arrived to aid the Alamo. This brought the number of defenders up to almost 200 men.

On March 2, 1836, Texas declared its independence from Mexico.

On March 3, 1836, courier James Butler Bonham arrived at the Alamo with word from Robert Williamson informing Travis help was on the way. Unfortunately it would not arrive in time.

On March 5, 1836, Santa Anna held a council of war, setting forth this plan for a four pronged attack of the garrison.

A Revolution Won: A Republic Born

Credit: Phil Collins Texana Collection

The following day, Santa Anna was captured and brought to Sam Houston. An agreement was made and the Republic of Texas was born. The Texas Revolution, while short, would change the course of U.S. and world history.

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The following day, Santa Anna was captured and brought to Sam Houston. An agreement was made and the Republic of Texas was born. The Texas…

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Santa Anna's Role in the Texas Revolution

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On September 29, 1835, a detachment of the Mexican army arrived in Gonzales, Texas, a Mexican state, to confiscate a cannon . The cannon was well hidden, but eighteen armed men stood in plain sight. They taunted the Mexicans to "come and take it." The two sides talked and dickered, but no action was taken.

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James Bowie ( ) ( c. 1796 - March 6, 1836) was a 19th-century American pioneer, slave smuggler and trader, and soldier who played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution. He was among the Americans who died at the Battle of the Alamo. Stories of him as a fighter and frontiersman, both real and fictitious, have made him a legendary figure in Texas history and a folk hero of American culture.

Bowie enlarged his reputation during the Texas Revolution. After moving to Texas in 1830, Bowie became a Mexican citizen and married Ursula Veramendi, the daughter of Juan Martín de Veramendi, the Mexican vice-governor of the province. Bowie led an expedition to find the lost San Saba mine, during which his small party repelled an attack by a large Native American raiding party. This enhanced his reputation, although they didn't find the mine.

At the outbreak of the Texas Revolution, Bowie joined the Texas militia, leading forces at the Battle of Concepción and the Grass Fight. In January 1836, he arrived at the Alamo, where he commanded the volunteer forces until an illness left him bedridden. Bowie died on March 6, with the other Alamo defenders. Despite conflicting accounts of his death, the "most popular, and probably the most accurate" accounts maintain that he died in his bed while defending himself against Mexican soldiers.

Early years

According to his older brother, John, James Bowie was born in Logan County, Kentucky, on March 10, 1796 (Historical marker: 36° 46' 25"N 86° 42' 10"W). In his 1948 book, Bowie Knife, historian Raymond Thorp gives Bowie's birth date as April 10 but does not support it with any documentation. Bowie's surname was pronounced . (Some reference works refer to an incorrect alternate pronunciation ).

Land speculator and slave smuggler

Shortly before the senior Bowie died, circa 1820, he gave ten slaves and horses and cattle to both James and Rezin. For the next seven years, the brothers worked together to develop several large estates in Lafourche Parish and Opelousas. Louisiana's population was growing rapidly, and the brothers hoped to take advantage of its rising land prices through speculation. Lacking the capital required to buy large tracts, in 1818 they entered into a partnership with pirate Jean Lafitte. By then, the United States had outlawed the importation of slaves from Africa. Most Southern states gave incentives for informing on an illegal slave trader: Informers could receive half of what the imported slaves would earn at auction, as a reward.

In the late 1820s, Bowie and his brother John were involved in a major Arkansas court case over land speculation. When the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory in 1803, it promised to honor all former land grant claims made to French and Spanish colonists. For the next 20 years, efforts were made to establish who owned what land. In May 1824, Congress authorized the superior courts of each territory to hear suits from those who claimed they had been overlooked.

In late 1827, the Arkansas Superior Court received 126 claims from residents who claimed to have purchased land in former Spanish grants from the Bowie brothers. Although the Superior Court originally confirmed most of those claims, the decisions were reversed in February 1831, after further research showed that the land had never belonged to the Bowies and that the original land grant documentation had been forged. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the reversal in 1833. When the disgruntled purchasers considered suing the Bowies, they discovered that the documents in the case had been removed from the court. Left without evidence, they declined to pursue the lawsuit.

Bowie knife

Bowie became internationally famous as a result of a feud with Norris Wright, the sheriff of Rapides Parish. Bowie had supported Wright's opponent in the race for sheriff, and Wright, a bank director, had been instrumental in turning down a Bowie loan application. After a confrontation in Alexandria one afternoon, Wright fired a shot at Bowie, after which Bowie resolved to carry his hunting knife at all times. The knife he carried had a blade that was 9.25 inches (23.5 cm) long and 1.5 inches (3.8 cm) wide.

The following year, on September 19, 1827, Bowie and Wright attended a duel on a sandbar outside of Natchez, Mississippi. Bowie supported duelist Samuel Levi Wells III, while Wright supported Wells's opponent, Dr. Thomas Harris Maddox. The duelists each fired two shots and, because neither man had been injured, resolved their duel with a handshake. Other members of the groups, who had various reasons for disliking each other, began fighting. The man knocked Bowie to the ground. Wright shot at and missed the prone Bowie, who returned fire and possibly hit Wright. Wright wounded Bowie. Bowie pulled him down and killed Wright. The doctors who had been present for the duel patched Bowie's wounds.

Newspapers picked up the story and named it the Sandbar Fight, describing in detail Bowie's fighting prowess and his unusual knife. Witness accounts agreed that Bowie did not attack first, and the other combatants had focused their attack on Bowie because "they considered him the most dangerous man among their opposition." Bowie's reputation as a superb knife fighter was set across the South.

Scholars disagree as to whether the knife Bowie used in this fight was the same design as the blade, now known as a Bowie knife, fabricated by a knifemaker in Arkansas who created another renowned large blade known as the Arkansas toothpick. There are multiple accounts of the design and fabrication of the first Bowie knife. Some claim that Bowie designed it, while others attribute the design to noted knife makers of the time. In a letter to The Planter's Advocate, his brother Rezin claimed to have designed the knife. Many Bowie family members, as well as "most authorities on the Bowie knife tend to believe it was invented by" Rezin. However, Rezin Bowie's grandchildren said that Rezin only supervised his blacksmith, who was the designer of the knife.

After the Sandbar Fight and subsequent battles in which Bowie used his knife in self-defense, the Bowie knife became very popular. Many craftsmen and manufacturers made their own versions, and major cities of the Old Southwest had "Bowie knife schools" that taught "the art of cut, thrust, and parry." Bowie's fame, and that of his knife, spread to Great Britain, and by the early 1830s, many British manufacturers were producing Bowie knives for shipment to the United States. The design of the knife continued to evolve, but a Bowie knife is now generally considered to have a blade 8.25 inches (21.0 cm) long and 1.25 inches (3.2 cm) wide, with a curved point, a "sharp false edge cut from both sides", and a cross-guard to protect the user's hands.

Establishment in Texas

In 1828, after recovering from the wounds he received in the Sandbar Fight, Bowie decided to move to Coahuila y Texas, at that time a state in the Mexican federation. The 1824 Constitution of Mexico banned religions other than Roman Catholicism and gave preference to Mexican citizens in receiving land. Bowie was baptized into the Roman Catholic faith in San Antonio on April 28, 1828, sponsored by the alcalde (chief administrator) of the town, Juan Martín de Veramendi, and his wife, Josefa Navarro. For the next 18 months, Bowie traveled through Louisiana and Mississippi. In 1829, he became engaged to Cecilia Wells, but she died in Alexandria on September 29, two weeks before they were to be married.

Bowie was elected a commander of the Texas Rangers later that year, with the rank of colonel. Although the Rangers would not be organized officially until 1835, Austin had founded the group by hiring 30 men to keep the peace and protect the colonists from attacks by hostile Native Americans. Other areas assembled similar volunteer militias. Bowie commanded a group of volunteers.

Bowie renounced his American citizenship and became a Mexican citizen on September 30, 1830, after promising to establish textile mills in the state of Coahuila y Tejas. To fulfill his promise, Bowie entered into partnership with Veramendi to build cotton and wool mills in Saltillo. With his citizenship assured, Bowie had the right to buy up to 11 leagues of public land. He convinced 14 or 15 other citizens to apply for land and transfer it to him, giving him 700,000 acres (280,000 ha) for speculation. Bowie may have been the first to induce settlers to apply for empresario grants, which could be sold in bulk to speculators, as Bowie had. The Mexican government passed laws in 1834 and 1835 that stopped much of the land speculation.

On April 25, 1831, Bowie married nineteen-year-old Maria Ursula de Veramendi, the daughter of his business partner, who had become the vice governor of the province. Several days before the ceremony, he signed a dowry contract promising to pay his new bride 15,000 pesos (approximately $15,000 then, or $382,000 today ) in cash or property within two years of the marriage. At the time, Bowie claimed to have a net worth of $223,000 ($5,670,000 today), mostly in land of questionable title. Bowie also lied about his age, claiming to be 30 rather than 35.

The couple built a house in San Antonio, on land Veramendi had given them near the San José Mission. After a short time, however, they moved into the Veramendi Palace to live with Ursula's parents, who supplied them with spending money. The couple had two children, Marie Elve (b. March 20, 1832) and James Veramendi Bowie (b. July 18, 1833).

Maria Ursula, her parents, and both children died in September 1833 during a cholera epidemic that swept through the South and along major waterways.

Los Almagres Mine

To the town's surprise, the surviving members of the group returned to San Antonio on December 6. Bowie's report of the expedition, written in Spanish, was printed in several newspapers, further establishing his reputation. He set out again the following month, with a larger force, but returned home empty-handed after 2 months of searching.

Bowie never talked about his exploits, despite his increasing fame. Captain William Y. Lacey, who spent eight months living in the wilderness with Bowie, described him as a humble man.

Texas Revolution

Texan rumblings

In July 1832, after hearing that the Mexican army commander in Nacogdoches, José de las Piedras, had demanded that all residents in his area surrender their arms, Bowie cut short a visit to Natchez to return to Texas. On August 2, 1832, he joined a group of other Texans and marched into Nacogdoches to "present their demands" to Piedras. Before the group reached the building housing the town officials, they were attacked by a force of 100 Mexican cavalry. The Texans returned fire and the Battle of Nacogdoches began. After the cavalry retreated, they laid siege to the garrison. After a second battle, in which Piedras lost 33 men, the Mexican army evacuated during the night. Bowie and 18 companions ambushed the fleeing army and, after Piedras fled, marched the soldiers back to Nacogdoches. Bowie later served as a delegate to the Convention of 1833, which formally requested that Texas become its own state within the Mexican federation.

Several months later, a cholera epidemic struck Texas. Fearing the disease would reach San Antonio, Bowie sent his pregnant wife and their daughter to the family estate in Monclova, in the company of her parents and brother. The cholera epidemic struck Monclova, and between September 6 and September 14, Ursula, their children, her brother, and her parents all died of the disease. Bowie, on business in Natchez, did not hear of his family's deaths until November.

The following year, the Mexican government passed new laws allowing sale of land in Texas, and Bowie returned to land speculation. He was appointed a land commissioner and was tasked with promoting settlement in the area purchased by John T. Mason. His appointment ended in May 1835, when President Antonio López de Santa Anna abolished the Coahuila y Tejas government and ordered the arrest of all Texans (including Bowie) doing business in Monclova. Bowie was forced to flee Monclova and return to the Anglo areas of Texas.

The Anglos in Texas began agitating for war against Santa Anna, and Bowie worked with William B. Travis, the leader of the War Party, to gain support. Bowie visited several Native American villages in East Texas in an attempt to persuade the reluctant tribes to fight against the Mexican government. Santa Anna responded to the rumblings by ordering large numbers of Mexican troops to Texas.

Battle of Concepción

On the foggy morning of October 28, Mexican General Domingo Ugartechea led a force of 300 infantry and cavalry soldiers and two small cannons against the Texian forces. Although the Mexican army was able to get within 200 yards (183 m), the Texian defensive position protected them from fire. When the Mexicans stopped to reload their cannon, the Texians climbed a bluff and picked off some of the soldiers. The stalemate ended shortly after Bowie led a charge to seize one of the Mexican cannons, at that time only 80 yards (73 m) away. Ugartechea retreated with his troops, ending the Battle of Concepción. One Texian and ten Mexican troops had been killed. One of the men under Bowie's command during the battle later praised him "as a born leader, never needlessly spending a bullet or imperiling a life, who repeatedly admonished... Keep under cover boys, and reserve your fire; we haven't a man to spare."

Grass Fight and commission difficulties

An hour after the battle ended, Austin arrived with the rest of the Texian army to begin a siege of San Antonio de Béxar, where General Martín Perfecto de Cós, the overall commander of Mexican forces in Texas, and his troops were garrisoned. Two days later, Bowie resigned from Austin's army because he did not have an official commission in the army, and he disliked the "minor tasks of scouting and spying".

On November 3, 1835, Texas declared itself an independent state, and a provisional government was formed, with Henry Smith of Brazoria elected provisional governor. Austin asked to be relieved of his command of the army, and Sam Houston was named army chief. Edward Burleson was chosen as temporary commander of the troops in San Antonio. At some point, Bowie appeared before the council and spoke for an hour, asking for a commission. The council refused his request, probably because of lingering animosity over his land dealings.

Houston offered Bowie a commission as an officer on his staff, but Bowie rejected the opportunity, explaining that he wanted to be in the midst of the fighting. Instead, Bowie enlisted in the army as a private under Fannin. He distinguished himself again in the Grass Fight on November 26. Cós had sent approximately 187 men to cut grass for his horses. As they returned to San Antonio, Bowie took 60 mounted men to intercept the party, which they believed carried valuable cargo. The Mexican troops quickened their pace in hopes of reaching the safety of the city, but Bowie and his cavalry chased them. At the end of the fight, the Texians had two wounded men but had captured many horses and mules.

Shortly after Bowie left San Antonio, Ben Milam led an assault on the city. In the ensuing fighting, the Texians suffered only a few casualties, including Milam, while the Mexican army lost many troops to death and desertion. Cós surrendered and returned to Mexico, taking with him the last Mexican troops in Texas. Believing the war was over, many of the Texian volunteers left the army and returned to their families. In early January 1836, Bowie went to San Felipe and asked the council to allow him to recruit a regiment. He was turned down again, because he "was not an officer of the government nor army."

Battle of the Alamo

After Houston received word that Santa Anna was leading a large force to San Antonio, Bowie offered to lead volunteers to defend the Alamo from the expected attack. He arrived with 30 men on January 19. They found a force of 104 men with a few weapons and a few cannons, but not many supplies and little gunpowder. Houston knew that there were not enough men to hold the fort in an attack, and he gave Bowie authority to remove the artillery and blow up the fortification. Bowie and the Alamo commander, James C. Neill, decided they did not have enough oxen to move the artillery, and they did not want to destroy the fortress. On January 26, one of Bowie's men, James Bonham, organized a rally that passed a resolution in favor of holding the Alamo. Bonham signed the resolution first, Bowie's signature came second.

Because of Bowie's fluency in Spanish and his connections through his marriage, the predominantly Mexican population of San Antonio often furnished him with information about the movements of the Mexican army. After learning that Santa Anna had 4,500 troops and was heading for the city, Bowie wrote several letters to the provisional government asking for help in defending the Alamo, especially "men, money, rifles, and cannon powder". In another letter, to Governor Smith, he reiterated his view that "the salvation of Texas depends in great measure on keeping Béxar out of the hands of the enemy. It serves as the frontier picquet guard, and if it were in the possession of Santa Anna, there is no stronghold from which to repel him in his march toward the Sabine." The letter to Smith ended, "Colonel Neill and myself have come to the solemn resolution that we will rather die in these ditches than give it up to the enemy."

On February 3, Davy Crockett appeared with thirty Tennesseans. Neill went on furlough on February 11 to visit his sick family, leaving Travis, a member of the regular army, in command. Bowie was older than Travis, had a better reputation and considered himself a colonel, thus outranking Travis, who was a lieutenant colonel. Bowie refused to answer to Travis, who called an election for the men to choose their own commander. They chose Bowie, infuriating Travis. Bowie celebrated his appointment by causing havoc in San Antonio, releasing all prisoners in the local jails and harassing citizens. Travis was disgusted, but two days later the men agreed to a joint command: Bowie would command the volunteers, and Travis would command the regular army and the volunteer cavalry.

On February 23, the bells of San Fernando sounded the alarm for the approach of the Mexicans. Travis ordered all the Texan forces into the Alamo. Bowie hurried to gather provisions and herd cattle into the Alamo compound. Fearing for the safety of his wife's relatives in San Antonio, Bowie invited her cousins, Getrudis Navarro and Juana Navarro Alsbury, as well as Alsbury's 18-month-old son, Alijo Perez Jr., to stay inside the walls of the Alamo. Bowie also brought several black servants, some of whom worked at the Veramendi Palace, into the security of the Alamo fortress. Bowie had been ill, and two doctors, including the fort surgeon, were unable to diagnose his illness. Travis became the sole commander of the forces when Bowie was confined to bed. Santa Anna and his army began a siege of the Alamo on February 24. The Mexican army raised a red flag to warn the defenders that no quarter would be given.

Bowie and Travis began sending out couriers with pleas for provisions and assistance. On February 25, Travis sent Juan Seguin, on Bowie's horse, to recruit reinforcements, and 32 additional men arrived. On February 26, Crockett reported that Bowie, though suffering from his affliction, continued to crawl from his bed around noon every day and present himself to the Alamo's inhabitants, which much boosted the morale of his comrades. Thirty-five years after the Alamo fell, a reporter identified Louis "Moses" Rose as the only man to have "deserted" the Texian forces at the Alamo. According to the reporter's version of Rose's account, when Travis realized that the Mexican army would likely prevail, he drew a line in the sand and asked those willing to die for the cause to cross the line. At Bowie's request, Crockett and several others carried his cot over the line, leaving Rose alone on the other side. After this article appeared, several other eyewitnesses confirmed the account, but because Rose was deceased the story can only be authenticated by the word of the reporter, who admitted to embellishing other articles, "and thus many historians refuse to believe it."

Bowie perished with the rest of the Alamo defenders when the Mexicans attacked on March 6. Most of the noncombatants in the fort, including Bowie's relatives, survived. Santa Anna ordered the alcalde of San Antonio, Francisco Antonio Ruiz, to confirm the identities of Bowie, Travis, and Crockett.

When Bowie's mother was informed of his death, she calmly stated, "I'll wager no wounds were found in his back." One year after the battle, Juan Seguin returned to the Alamo and gathered the remaining ashes from the funeral pyre. He placed these in a coffin inscribed with the names of Bowie, Travis, and Crockett. The ashes were interred at the Cathedral of San Fernando.

Despite his continual claims of wealth, Bowie's estate was found to be very small. His possessions were auctioned for only $99.50. His larger legacy is his position as "one of the legendary characters of the American frontier." Bowie left a "frustratingly sparse paper trail" of his life, and for many "where history failed, the legends prevailed." Although Bowie's name and knife were well known during his lifetime, his legend grew after October 1852, when DeBow's Review published an article written by his brother, John Jones Bowie, called, "Early Life in the Southwest-The Bowies." The article focused primarily on the exploits of Jim Bowie. Beginning with that article, "romanticized stories" about Bowie began appearing in national press. In many cases, "these stories were pure melodrama, with Bowie rescuing some naïve planter's son or damsel in distress."

Jim Bowie was inducted posthumously into the Blade Magazine Cutlery Hall of Fame at the 1988 Blade Show in Atlanta, Georgia, in recognition of the impact that his eponymous design had upon generations of knife makers and cutlery companies.

A number of films have depicted the events of the Battle of the Alamo, and Bowie has appeared as a character in each.

Alan Ladd plays Bowie in The Iron Mistress, a 1952 film that begins near Bayou Sara in 1825 and ends with his marriage to Ursula Veramendi (Phyllis Kirk) and therefore never shows the Battle of the Alamo.

From 1956 to 1958, Bowie was the subject of a CBS television series, The Adventures of Jim Bowie, which was primarily set in 1830s Louisiana, although later episodes ventured into the Mexican province of Texas. The show, which starred Scott Forbes as Jim Bowie, was based on the 1946 novel Tempered Blade.

Rock star David Bowie, who was born David Robert Jones, adopted the folk legend's surname. Jones changed his last name in the 1960s because he feared confusion with Davy Jones, a member of the already famous The Monkees. He chose the Bowie eponym because he admired James Bowie and the Bowie knife, although his pronunciation uses the () variant.

Bowie County in northeast Texas, and the city of Bowie in Montague County, Texas, were both named in honor of James Bowie. James Bowie Elementary in Corsicana, Texas was also named in his honor.

In Spanish: James Bowie para niños

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A Frontier Legend

Dr. R. Bruce Winders, Former Alamo Director of History and Curator
One name forever linked to the Battle of the Alamo is James Bowie. Although not yet a household name like "Crockett" at the time of the battle, Bowie and his exploits had gained renown in some quarters. His death on March 6, 1836, however, ensured his place in history as one of Texas' most interesting figures.

Many early Americans were drawn to the western frontier of the new republic - among them the Bowies. James' parents had lived in Tennessee before moving to Kentucky, where James was born 1796. On the move again in 1800, the family crossed the Mississippi River into Missouri and settled in what was then Spanish Louisiana. Following the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the Bowies moved once more, this time to southeastern Louisiana. Not yet a state, Louisiana still retained a frontier atmosphere.

James soon struck out on his own, intent on making his mark on the world. In the antebellum South, two commodities could lead to wealth and respectability - land and slaves. James Bowie speculated in both. Before long he had acquired title to thousands of acres throughout Louisiana and Arkansas Territory. High-stakes speculating was a risky business and while amassing a small fortune, Bowie was also making enemies. In 1826, Bowie was shot and wounded by a rival in the lobby of an Alexandria hotel, an event that proved to be a turning point for him.

James and his older brother, Rezin, shared an extremely close relationship. Concerned for his brother's safety, Rezin gave James a long-bladed butcher knife. The "Bowie Knife", as it came to be called, gained its reputation the following year in the hands of James near Natchez in an incident known as the Sand Bar Fight. Although shot twice and stabbed several times, James was still able to fend off his attackers. The incident made both the man and the knife legends as word of the deadly fight spread. Demand for the "Bowie Knife" grew as others wanted to own such a formidable weapon.

James Bowie immigrated to Texas in 1830 after U.S. officials determined that many of his land claims were rooted in fraud. A charming and energetic man in his mid-thirties, Bowie visited San Antonio de Béxar where he met Ursula de Veramendi, the daughter of Juan Martín de Veramendi, vice governor of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas. James and Ursula were married in 1831. Thus, Bowie had allied himself to one of the most powerful families in Texas and with the Tejano community. Tragically, his young wife and her parents died in Monclova in 1833 when a cholera epidemic swept across northern Mexico.

Relying on his old skills, Bowie speculated in Texas lands. He also searched for a lost silver mine thought to be located near the ruins of an old Spanish mission, Santa Cruz de San Sába. Although he never found the elusive treasure, Bowie won the admiration of his fellow citizens when he and his small party of prospectors held out for several days against a large band of hostile Indians who attacked their camp. The title of "Indian fighter" only added to his reputation.

Bowie's role in the Texas Revolution extends beyond his well-known participation in the Battle of the Alamo. During the Siege of Béxar in October 1835, Bowie served on the staff of Stephen F. Austin, commander of the "Federal Army of Texas." On the morning of October 28, troops under Colonels Bowie and James W. Fannin drove off a larger force of Mexican soldiers, winning the Battle of Concepcíon. On November 26, troops under Bowie helped capture a Mexican horse herd in what was to be called the Grass Fight. Bowie left the army and therefore missed the Battle of Béxar (December 5-10, 1835) in which the Texans defeated General Martín Perfecto de Cos and forced the Mexican garrison to withdraw below the Rio Grande.

In January 1836, Bowie returned to San Antonio at the request of General Sam Houston. Once there, he and Lieutenant Colonel James C. Neill, commander of the Alamo, agreed the place must be defended as it was clear that the Mexican Army planned to reoccupy Texas. "Colonel Neill and myself have come to the solemn resolution that we will rather die in these ditches than give up this post to the enemy," Bowie informed the provisional government.

Neill's departure from the Alamo on February 11, 1836, set the stage for a potentially serious struggle over command. Neill had left William Barret Travis, a lieutenant colonel in the newly formed Texas Army, in charge of the garrison, but the majority of the men wanted the popular "Colonel" Bowie to lead them. After holding an election, the two officers settled on a joint command with Travis in charge of the regulars and Bowie in command of the volunteers. This is how the situation stood on February 23, 1836, when General Antonio López de Santa Anna's army arrived in San Antonio.

Ironically, on the second day of the siege, the man who had earned a reputation as a fierce fighter, became ill and was confined to his bed, too sick to participate in the greatest battle of his life. For years historians have puzzled over the exact nature of his illness, most agreeing that it was some form of pneumonia. Most would also agree, too, that Bowie's association with the Battle of the Alamo guaranteed his status as a legendary frontiersman.

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Relying on his old skills, Bowie speculated in Texas lands. He also searched for a lost silver mine thought to be located near the ruins of…

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https://www.legendsofamerica.com/james-bowie/

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Sam Houston, one of the most illustrious political figures of Texas, was born on March 2, 1793, the fifth child (and fifth son) of Samuel and Elizabeth (Paxton) Houston, on their plantation in sight of Timber Ridge Church, Rockbridge County, Virginia. He was of Scots-Irish ancestry and reared Presbyterian. He acquired rudimentary education during his boyhood by attending a local school for no more than six months. When he was thirteen years old, his father died; some months later, in the spring of 1807, he emigrated with his mother, five brothers, and three sisters to Blount County in Eastern Tennessee, where the family established a farm near Maryville on a tributary of Baker's Creek. Houston went to a nearby academy for a time and reportedly fed his fertile imagination by reading classical literature, especially the Iliad.

Rebelling at his older brothers' attempts to make him work on the farm and in the family's store in Maryville, Houston ran away from home as an adolescent in 1809 to dwell among the Cherokees, who lived across the Tennessee River. Between intermittent visits to Maryville, he sojourned for three years with the band of Chief Oolooteka, who adopted him and gave him the Indian name Colonneh, or "the Raven." Houston viewed Oolooteka as his "Indian Father" and the Cherokees much as a surrogate family. He henceforth maintained great sympathy toward Indians. At age eighteen he left the Cherokees to set up a school, so that he could earn money to repay debts.

After war broke out with the British, he joined the United States Army as a twenty-year-old private, on March 24, 1813. Within four months he received a promotion to ensign of the infantry; in late December he was given a commission as a third lieutenant. As part of Andrew Jackson's army, he fought at the battle of Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River on March 26, 1814. During the engagement he received three near-fatal wounds. One of them, from a rifle ball in his right shoulder, never completely healed. For his valor at Horseshoe Bend, Houston won the attention of General Jackson, who thereafter became his benefactor. Houston, in return, revered Jackson and became a staunch Jacksonian Democrat.

While convalescing, he was promoted to second lieutenant and traveled extensively-to Washington, New Orleans, New York, and points between. While stationed in Nashville, he was detailed in late 1817 as sub-Indian agent to the Cherokees. In that capacity, he assisted Oolooteka and his clan in their removal to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River, as stipulated by the Treaty of 1816. Houston, by then first lieutenant, resigned from the army on March 1, 1818, and shortly thereafter from his position as subagent, following difficulties with Secretary of War John C. Calhoun. Still in poor health, Houston read law in Nashville for six months during 1818 in the office of Judge James Trimble. He subsequently opened a law practice in Lebanon, Tennessee. With Jackson's endorsement, he became adjutant general (with the rank of colonel) of the state militia through appointment by Governor Joseph McMinn. In late 1818, Houston was elected attorney general (prosecuting attorney) of the District of Nashville, where he took up residence. After returning to private practice in Nashville by late 1821, he was elected major general of the state militia by his fellow officers. He was likewise prominent in the Nash Masonic order by the early 1820s.

Houston's rapid rise in public office continued in 1823, when, as a member of Jackson's political circle, he was elected to the United States House of Representatives from the Ninth Tennessee District. As a member of Congress, he worked mightily, though unsuccessfully, for the election of Andrew Jackson to the presidency in 1824. In 1825 he was returned to Congress for a second and final term. In 1827, ever the Jackson protégé, Houston was elected governor of Tennessee. He was thirty-four years of age, extremely ambitious, and in the thick of tumultuous Tennessee politics. Standing six feet two inches tall and handsome, he cut a dashing figure wherever he went.

On January 22, 1829, he married nineteen-year-old Eliza Allen of Gallatin, Tennessee. Houston subsequently announced his bid for reelection to the governorship. After eleven weeks and amid much mystery, the marriage ended. Eliza returned to her parents' home. Extremely distraught, Houston abruptly resigned from his office on April 16 and fled west across the Mississippi River to Indian Territory. Both parties maintained a lifelong silence about the affair. Houston's exit brought the Tennessee phase of his career to an end. As a possible heir apparent to Andrew Jackson, he may well have given up an opportunity to run eventually for president of the United States.

He made his way to the lodge of Oolooteka in what is now Oklahoma to live once again in self-imposed exile among the Cherokees, this time for three years. Among the Indians he tried to reestablish his tranquility. He dressed Indian-style and, although he corresponded with Andrew Jackson, he secluded himself from contacts with White society. Initially, too, he drank so heavily that he reportedly earned the nickname "Big Drunk." He quickly became active in Indian affairs, especially in helping to keep peace between the various tribes in Indian Territory. He was granted Cherokee citizenship and often acted as a tribal emissary. Under Cherokee law, he married Diana (also known as Tiana) Rogers Gentry, an Indian woman of mixed blood. Together, they established a residence and trading post called Wigwam Neosho on the Neosho River near Fort Gibson.

Gradually re-involving himself in the White world, he made various trips East-to Tennessee, Washington, and New York. In December 1831, while on the Arkansas River, Houston encountered Alexis de Tocqueville, the latter on his famous travels in the United States. Houston impressed the Frenchman as an individual of great physical and moral energy, the universal American in perpetual motion; Houston undoubtedly served as an example for Tocqueville's composite description of the "nervous American," the man-on-the-make so pervasive in the United States during the Age of Jackson.

On the evening of April 13, 1832, on the streets of Washington, Houston thrashed William Stanbery, United States representative from Ohio, with a hickory cane. The assault resulted from a perceived insult by Stanbery over an Indian rations contract. Houston was soon arrested and tried before the House of Representatives. Francis Scott Key served as his attorney. The month-long proceedings ended in an official reprimand and a fine, but the affair catapulted Houston back into the political arena.

Leaving Diana and his life among the Indians, Houston crossed the Red River into Mexican Texas on December 2, 1832, and began another, perhaps the most important, phase of his career. His "true motives" for entering Texas have been the source of much speculation. Whether he did so simply as a land speculator, as an agent provocateur for American expansion intent on wresting Texas from Mexico, or as someone scheming to establish an independent nation, Houston saw Texas as his "land of promise." For him, it represented a place for bold enterprise, rife with political and financial opportunity.

He quickly became embroiled in the Anglo-Texans' politics of rebellion. He served as a delegate from Nacogdoches at the Convention of 1833 in San Felipe, where he sided with the more radical faction under the leadership of William H. Wharton. He also pursued a law practice in Nacogdoches and filed for a divorce from Eliza, which was finally granted in 1837. As prescribed by Mexican law, he was baptized into the Catholic Church, under the name Samuel Pablo. In September 1835 he chaired a mass meeting in Nacogdoches to consider the possibility of convening a consultation. By October, Houston had expressed his belief that war between Texas and the central government was inevitable. That month he became commander in chief of troops for the Department of Nacogdoches and called for volunteers to begin the "work of liberty." He served as a delegate from Nacogdoches to the Consultation of 1835, which deliberated in Columbia in October and at San Felipe in November. On November 12 the Consultation appointed Houston major general of the Texas army.

During February 1836, Houston and John Forbes, as commissioners for the provisional government, negotiated a treaty with the Cherokee Indians in East Texas, thus strategically establishing peace on that front. In March, Houston served as a delegate from Refugio to the convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos, where, on his birthday, March 2, the assembly adopted the Texas Declaration of Independence. Two days later Houston received the appointment of major general of the army from the convention, with instructions to organize the republic's military forces.

After joining his army in Gonzales, Houston and his troops retreated eastward as the Mexican army under Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna swept across Texas. This campaign caused Houston much anguish because the Texan rebels suffered from a general lack of discipline. He likewise fretted when the citizenry fled in the so-called Runaway Scrape. Despite these problems, Houston and his men defeated Santa Anna's forces at the decisive battle of San Jacinto on the afternoon of April 21, 1836. During this engagement, his horse, Saracen, was shot beneath him, and Houston was wounded severely just above his ankle. The capture of Santa Anna the next day made the victory complete. At San Jacinto, Sam Houston became forever enshrined as a member of the pantheon of Texas heroes and a symbol for the age.

Riding the wave of popularity as "Old Sam Jacinto," Houston became the first regularly elected president of the Republic of Texas, defeating Stephen F. Austin. During his two presidential terms he successfully guided the new ship of state through many trials and tribulations. His first term lasted from October 22, 1836, to December 10, 1838. The town of Houston was founded in 1836, named in his honor, and served as the capital of the republic during most of his first administration. During this term Houston sought to demilitarize Texas by cannily furloughing much of the army. He also tried, with limited success, to avoid trouble between White settlers and Indians. One of his biggest crises came with the Córdova Rebellion, an unsuccessful revolt in 1838 by a group of Kickapoo Indians and Mexican residents along the Angelina River. In late 1836, Houston sent Santa Anna, then a prisoner of war, to Washington to seek the annexation of Texas to the United States. Although Houston favored annexation, his initial efforts to bring Texas into the Union proved futile, and he formally withdrew the offer by the end of his first term.

After leaving office because the Constitution of the Republic of Texas barred a president from succeeding himself, Houston served in the Texas House of Representatives as a congressman from San Augustine from 1839 to 1841. He was in the forefront of the opposition to President Mirabeau B. Lamar, who had been Houston's vice president. Houston particularly criticized Lamar's expansionist tendencies and harsh measures toward the Indians.

On May 9, 1840, Houston married twenty-one-year-old Margaret Moffette Lea of Marion, Alabama. A strict Baptist, Margaret served as a restraining influence on her husband and especially bridled his drinking. They had eight children: Sam Houston, Jr., (1843), Nancy Elizabeth (1846), Margaret (1848), Mary William (1850), Antoinette Power (1852), Andrew Jackson Houston (1854), William Rogers (1858), and Temple Lea Houston (1860).

Houston succeeded Lamar to a second term as president from December 12, 1841, to December 9, 1844. During this administration, Houston stressed financial austerity and drastically reduced government offices and salaries. He and the Congress even tried to sell the four-ship Texas Navy, an effort forcibly prevented by the people of Galveston. Houston reestablished peace with the Indians by making treaties with the bands that still remained in Texas. Although many Texans clamored for action, President Houston deftly managed to avoid war with Mexico after the two Mexican invasions of 1842. After the first incursion Houston directed that the government archives be moved from Austin, an order that ultimately resulted in the " Archive War," in which residents of Austin forcibly prevented removal of the files. After the second invasion Houston authorized a force under Gen. Alexander Somervell to pursue the enemy to the Rio Grande and, if conditions warranted, to attack Mexico. Part of Somervell's legion became the disastrous Mier expedition, an escapade that Houston opposed. In 1843 Houston approved of the abortive Snively expedition, which sought to interdict trade along the Santa Fe Trail. In 1844 Houston found it necessary to send the militia to quell the Regulator-Moderator War in Shelby County, an East Texas feud that presented one of the most vexing problems of his second administration. Houston was succeeded to the presidency by Anson Jones, whom the electorate viewed as a "Houston man." Sam Houston's name had become synonymous with Texas. Indeed, Texas politics during the republic had been characterized by a struggle between Houston and anti-Houston factions.

When Texas joined the union, Houston became one of its two United States senators, along with Thomas Jefferson Rusk ( see SENATORS). Houston served in the Senate from February 21, 1846, until March 4, 1859. Beginning with the 1848 election, he was mentioned as a possible candidate for president. He even had a biography published in 1846 by Charles Edwards Lester entitled Sam Houston and His Republic, which amounted to campaign publicity. As senator, Houston emerged as an ardent Unionist, true to his association with Andrew Jackson, a stand that made him an increasingly controversial figure. He stridently opposed the rising sectionalism of the antebellum period and delivered eloquent speeches on the issue. A supporter of the 1820 Missouri Compromise, which banned slavery north of latitude 36°30', Houston voted in 1848 for the Oregon Bill prohibiting the "peculiar institution" in that territory, a vote proslavery Southerners later held against him. Although he was a slaveowner who defended slavery in the South, Houston again clashed with his old nemesis who led the proslavery forces when he opposed John C. Calhoun's Southern Address in 1849.

Houston always characterized himself as a Southern man for the Union and opposed any threats of disunity, whether from Northern or Southern agitators. He incurred the permanent wrath of proslavery elements by supporting the Compromise of 1850, a series of measures designed to ensure sectional harmony. In 1854, Houston alienated Democrats in Texas and the South even further by opposing the Kansas-Nebraska Bill because it allowed the status of slavery to be determined by popular sovereignty, a concept he saw as potentially destabilizing to the nation. He likewise embraced the principles of the American (Know-Nothing) party as a response to growing states'-rights sentiment among the Democrats. In 1854, he joined the Baptist Church, no doubt in partial response to the troubles of this period of his life. His career in the Senate was effectively ended when, in 1855, the Texas legislature officially condemned his position on the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

As a lame-duck senator, Houston ran for governor of Texas in 1857. He was defeated in a rigorous campaign by the state Democratic Party's official nominee, Hardin R. Runnels. Predictably, the state legislature did not reelect Houston to the Senate; instead, in late 1857, it replaced him with John Hemphill. The replacement took place at the end of Houston's term, in 1859. So concerned was Houston about sectional strife that during his final year in the Senate he advocated establishing a protectorate over Mexico and Central America as a way to bring unity to the United States.

Out of the Senate, Houston ran a second time for governor in 1859. Because of his name recognition, a temporary lull in the sectional conflict, and other factors, he defeated the incumbent, Runnels, in the August election and assumed office on December 21. As governor he continued to pursue his fanciful plans for a protectorate over Mexico, and envisioned the use of Texas Rangers and volunteers to accomplish that end. He likewise tried to enlist the aid of Robert E. Lee, Benjamin McCulloch, and some New York financiers for his scheme. Because of his staunch Unionism, Houston was nearly nominated for the presidency in May 1860 by the National Union party convention in Baltimore, but narrowly lost to John Bell. His possible candidacy received favorable mention by people in many regions of the nation who longed to prevent sectional strife.

When Abraham Lincoln was elected president of the United States, the clamor of discontent in Texas prompted Houston to call a special session of the state legislature. Adamantly opposed to secession, Houston warned Texans that civil war would result in a Northern victory and destruction of the South, a prophecy that was borne out by future events. The Secession Convention, however, convened a week later and began a series of actions that withdrew Texas from the Union; Houston acquiesced to these events rather than bring civil strife and bloodshed to his beloved state. But when he refused to take the oath of loyalty to the newly-formed Confederate States of America, the Texas convention removed him from office on March 16 and replaced him with Lieutenant Governor Edward Clark two days later. Reportedly, during these traumatic days President Lincoln twice offered Houston the use of federal troops to keep him in office and Texas in the Union, offers that Houston declined, again to avoid making Texas a scene of violence. Instead, the Raven-now sixty-eight years of age, weary, with a family of small children, and recognizing the inevitable-again chose exile.

After leaving the Governor's Mansion, Houston at least verbally supported the Southern cause. Against his father's advice, Sam, Jr., eagerly joined the Confederate Army and was wounded at the battle of Shiloh. Houston moved his wife and other children in the fall of 1862 to Huntsville, where they rented a two-story residence known as the Steamboat House, so called because it resembled a riverboat. Rumors abounded that Houston, though ailing and aged, harbored plans to run again for governor. But on July 26, 1863, after being ill for several weeks, he died in the downstairs bedroom of the Steamboat House, succumbing to pneumonia at age seventy. Dressed in Masonic ceremonial trappings, he was buried in Oakwood Cemetery at Huntsville. See also ANTEBELLUM TEXAS, and HOUSTON, MARGARET MOFFETTE LEA

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Samuel "Sam" Houston (March 2, 1793 - July 26, 1863) was an American statesman, politician, and soldier. He is best known for his leading role in bringing Texas into the United States. Houston, Texas and Sam Houston State University was named after him.

Shortly afterwards, he relocated to Coahuila y Tejas, then a Mexican state, and became a leader of the Texas Revolution. Sam Houston supported annexation by the United States. When he assumed the governorship of Texas in 1859, Houston became the only person to have become the governor of two different U.S. states through direct, popular election, as well as the only state governor to have been a foreign head of state.

Houston was born on March 2, 1793 in Rockbridge County, Virginia. He was of an Irish- Scottish descent. Houston was married to Eliza Allen from 1829 until they divorced in 1837. Then he was married to Diana Rogers Gentry until they divorced. Then he was married to Margaret Moffette Lee from 1840 until his death in 1863. Houston had seven children. Houston died on July 26, 1863 in Huntsville, Texas from pneumonia, aged 70.

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Samuel "Sam" Houston (March 2, 1793 - July 26, 1863) was an American statesman, politician, and soldier. He is best known for his leading role in bringing Texas into the United States. Houston, Texas and Sam Houston State University was named after him.

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Kids learn about the the Battle of the Alamo fought between the Republic of Texas and Mexico including what led up to the battle, the leaders, the fort, the Texas Revolution, and facts. Educational article for students, schools, and teachers.

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Alamo, (Spanish: "Cottonwood") 18th-century Franciscan mission in San Antonio, Texas, U.S., that was the site of a historic resistance effort by a small group of determined fighters for Texan independence (1836) from Mexico.

The building was originally the chapel of the Mission San Antonio de Valero, which had been founded between 1716 and 1718 by Franciscans. Before the end of the century, the mission had been abandoned and the buildings fell into partial ruin. After 1801 the chapel was occupied sporadically by Spanish troops. Apparently, it was during that period that the old chapel became popularly known as "the Alamo" because of the grove of cottonwood trees in which it stood.

In December 1835, at the opening of the Texas Revolution (War of Texas Independence), a detachment of Texan volunteers, many of whom were recent arrivals from the United States, drove a Mexican force from San Antonio and occupied the Alamo. Some Texan leaders-including Sam Houston, who had been named commanding general of the Texas army the month before-counseled the abandonment of San Antonio as impossible to defend with the small body of troops available, but the rugged bunch of volunteers at the Alamo refused to retire from their exposed position. On February 23, 1836, a Mexican army, variously estimated at 1,800-6,000 men and commanded by Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna, arrived from south of the Rio Grande and immediately began a siege of the Alamo. Estimates of the size of the small defending force (including some later arrivals) usually vary between 183 and 189 men, though some historians believe that figure may have been larger. That force was commanded by Colonels James Bowie and William B. Travis and included the renowned frontiersman Davy Crockett. At the beginning of the siege, Travis dispatched "To the People of Texas & all Americans in the world" an impassioned letter requesting support. For 13 days the Alamo's defenders held out, but on the morning of March 6 the Mexicans stormed through a breach in the outer wall of the courtyard and overwhelmed the Texan forces. Santa Anna had ordered that no prisoners be taken, and virtually all the defenders were slain (only about 15 persons, mostly women and children, were spared). The Mexicans suffered heavy casualties as well; credible reports suggest between 600 and 1,600 were killed and perhaps 300 were wounded.

Although the Texan defenders suffered defeat, the siege at the Alamo became for Texans a symbol of heroic resistance. On April 21, 1836, when Houston and a force of some 900 men routed 1,200-1,300 Mexicans under Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto, the Texan forces shouted, "Remember the Alamo!" That popularized battle cry later was used by U.S. soldiers in the Mexican-American War (1846-48).

For many years after 1845-the year that Texas was annexed by the United States-the Alamo was used by the U.S. Army for quartering troops and storing supplies. In 1883 the state of Texas purchased the Alamo, and in 1903 it acquired the title to the remainder of the old mission grounds. The Alamo and its adjacent buildings have been restored and are maintained as a state historic site. They are managed on a daily basis by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (1891), a women's organization composed of descendants of Texan pioneers. In 2015 the Alamo along with four other 18th-century Spanish missions nearby and a historic ranch to the southeast in Floresville were collectively designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

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Alamo | Description, Battle, Map, & Facts

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Alamo, 18th-century Franciscan mission in San Antonio, Texas, U.S., that was the site of a historic resistance effort by a small group of determined fighters for Texan independence (1836) from Mexico. Learn more about the history of the Alamo in this article.

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History of the River Walk

The history of the Riverwalk is an interesting one. The downtown loop of the famed San Antonio Riverwalk, or Paseo del Rio, is a 2 1/2 mile stretch of beautifully landscaped waterfront that features many of San Antonio's most spectacular hotels, restaurants, night clubs, bars, shopping centers and businesses. It is one of the most dynamic tourist attractions in the entire state of Texas, pouring nearly $800 million a year into the local economy. While it is an amazing and romantic place to visit, that wasn't always true.

In the beginning, Spanish Explorers used the waterway to supply water to their missions. Mission San Antonio de Valero, also known as The Alamo, was the first to benefit from it. The river flooded its banks many times. In September 1921 the worst flood in its history killed over fifty people and caused millions of dollars in damage to the city. City planners struggled over what to do while large debates rang among the people. One man, an architect named Robert H. H. Hugman proposed a plan that would turn the area into a beautiful urban park with apartments, dining, shopping, boat rides and walk ways lit with old-fashioned street lamps. He wanted it to be just as if one were walking in Venice, Italy. After convincing city officials and business leaders of the financial benefits of his plan, the dream became a reality and the riverwalk was eventually sculpted into the masterpiece you see today.

Later, in the 1930's, many efforts were made to clean and beautify the river by groups like the San Antonio Advertising Club, Daughters of the American Revolution San Antonio chapter, and the San Antonio Real Estate Board. Hugman worked many years with the city to construct the plans for the riverwalk, however, despite their best efforts it would be years before the riverwalk could be called a success due to low business volumes and a high level of crime. The 1960's, on the other hand, was a great time for improvement and growth. Paseo Del Rio Association was established in 1969 to promote the continuous improvement and development of the riverwalk.

Today, the people of San Antonio continue to preserve its history and beauty and develop its economic resources. It truly is one of the greatest vacation destinations in the United States.

In the late 1990's and early 2000's City and County leaders began planning for extensions of the Riverwalk to the North and to the South. The river is not just an entertainment area for visitors and residents but also functioning waterway that funnels water through central San Antonio and the southern parts of the City and South Texas. Plans were developed for the additions of the Museum Reach section of the Riverwalk to the North of Downtown and the Mission Reach section of the Riverwalk South of Downtown. After voter approval of the use of a Bexar County tax to finance the projects, construction began on both new sections in 2007. In 2009, the Museum Reach section of the Riverwalk opened and in 2008, stages of the Mission Reach section of the Riverwalk began to open.

What we have today is nearly 15 miles of Riverwalk entertainment areas, parks, residential areas and natural areas for visitors are residents to use and enjoy. It is an amazing history of the Riverwalk.

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Learn about the history of the San Antonio Riverwalk. Learn about how the Riverwalk developed into what it is today.

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Virtually step into the Alamo Church to discover more about the historic site and immerse yourself within a cornerstone of Texas history.