I’d forgotten the day but my friend remembered my search for the Best Chicken Fried Steak in Dallas and sent me the advertisement: “Norma’s Celebrates Texas Independence Day (March 2nd) With Home-Cooked Democracy.” And down the menu was listed the house specialty of the day
It was then I did remember.
The Lone Star State may be 183 years old today, but today isn’t the day I remember or the one most Texans remember. The day we remember is March 6, 1836, and we remember that day with a sad smile and a raised hand that wipes away a tear.
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The most popular tourist site in Texas is an old Spanish mission in San Antonio. It was never much to look at, and it’s not much of a site today: a sprawling complex with a few buildings and a chapel. The chapel has been restored, and the grounds are meticulously maintained, but the place is still not much to look at.
On March 6, 1836, 189 Texans died there.
In the early morning hours of that day, President General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna of the centralist government of Mexico ordered 1800 of his men to assault the Alamo Mission. Above his command station, a blood-red flag flew. The defenders had been declared “pirates.” As such, no quarter could be given. It would be a fight to the death.
Because some of the Alamo defenders were related to soldiers under his command, Santa Anna did excuse those relatives in the Mexican forces from joining in the attack. It was a small mercy.
The remaining Mexican soldiers and officers followed their orders. They attacked the mission from one side and were repulsed. Another attack was launched from the other side and was thrown back. Finally, a third attack of the combined forces was made. Overwhelming the defenders with their greater numbers, the Mexican soldiers breached the outlying walls. Uniformed attackers poured into the Mission compound, firing their rifles and stabbing with their bayonets.
Some weeks earlier, the Commanding Officer of the defenders, William B. Travis, had couriered an urgent message “To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World.” Perhaps the most famous part of that letter is this: “I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his honor & that of his country. VICTORY OR DEATH.”
Recognizing that attack was imminent and his forces could not prevail, on March 5th Colonel Travis gathered the defenders and explained their circumstances. The position was hopeless. The Colonel gave each the chance to escape or stay. At that time, Travis did not know that three days earlier, on March 2nd, the delegates to the Texas Convention in Washington on the Brazos had voted and declared independence from Mexico. The commander and the volunteers facing him were fighting for a new country, the Republic of Texas. Although they did not know Texas was a sovereign nation, those men knew who they were. They were Texans. The vast majority were from other states and other countries. Almost all the native-born Texans were of Mexican descent. Whatever their origins, they were one and all Texans. They were fighting for their homes, their families and freedom. Each made his own decision. They stayed.
There is little glory in the aftermath of battle. The bodies are collected and buried . . . or burned. Many fell that chilly winter day in the new State of Texas. All the defenders lay on the cold ground. They were joined by many young Mexican soldiers who knew little of why they had fought. Brave men died that day – on both sides.
On April 21st, at the Battle of San Jacinto near present-day Houston, General Sam Houston and his army took General Santa Anna and his army by surprise and defeated the invaders in 18 short minutes. No red flag flew that day. When the captured General presented himself before Sam Houston, Santa Anna asked that the Texans “be generous to the vanquished.” General Houston was. The captured General and his troops were allowed to return to their homes. In granting mercy, Houston did reply to the Mexican Commander, “You should have remembered that at the Alamo.”
“Remember the Alamo” is a cry that echoes still over the old Spanish mission in San Antonio. The buildings themselves may not be much to look at, even with the tender care they receive, but they do not go unnoticed. The blood of brave men stained the soil here. The visitors remember and they come. They come because men did not leave that mission. They stayed, they fought, and they died for what they believed.
Remember the Alamo.
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I will still go out for that chicken fried steak tonight. When I do, I’ll stand a bit taller and smile more kindly to most everyone, because I do remember that men stayed at their posts and gave their lives that Texas would live today.
I would not forget that.
Thank you,
Grandpa Jim