The+Alamo

= = =(Aaron Plymire)The Alamo =

**The Question:** Why is the battle of the Alamo important in American history?


Sam Houstan received a message that Santa Anna was on his way with a large army to San Antonio. James Bowie offered to lead a group of volunteers to defend the Alamo to stop Santa Anna. Bowie arrived with thirty men and met up with one-hundred four that were already at the Alamo. They had limited supplies. Bowie, knowing that he needed men, and supplies to hold off Santa Annas fourty-five thousand troops he sent letters to the government asking for men and supplies. William Travis then arrived with thirty more troops shortly followed by Davey Crockett and twelve tenneseans. The Alamo was seen as the battle of American Settlers against the Mexicans. However many tejanos sided with the Americans. The tejanos wanted Mexico to have a loose cenral government. Volunteers came from all over the nation to defend the Alamo. On February 16th and 18th Ambrosio Rodriquez warned Travis that Santa Anna was on a march towards Bexar. Travis and a council at the Alamo discussed these rumors of Santa Annas arrival and decided to disregard the warnings because they thought he would arrive later in the spring. Santa Anna had crossed the Rio Grande on February 16th. On February 23rd the residents of Bexar began to leave town. Travis wondered about the sudden migration and soon found that Santa Annas arrival was imminent. Without proper preparations the soldiers at the Alamo quickly rushed to gather supplies from the abandoned town. As the Mexican army approached Travis sent a man named Johnson to send for reinforcements. Soon after artillery began to fire. February 24th was the first full day of the siege. Fighting continued and Bowie became sick and was confined to a room and kept away from others to keep the disease from spreading. The siege continued in the morning of thee 25th. The siege further continued for 12 days. At the end of these 12 days the number of Mexican forces attacking the fort were as high as 4,000 to 5,000. In the end the Alamo was over run. Although we lost this battle it gave us time to prepare for the Mexicans. The soldiers of the Alamo will forever be remembered as heroes.

**Answer: The Alamo was important in American history because it bought time for the Americans to gather their forces and stop the Mexicans from taking over territory.**
Primary Source #1

 [|The Battle of the Alamo]  

[|Siege and Battle of the Alamo]
=Slide Show=



Narrative The Mexican army was fast approaching. General Sam Houstan was worried and called upon volunteers to go down into San Antonio and try to hold off the Mexican forces. A man named James Bowie volunteered to lead a group of men down into San Antonio. Upon Bowie’s arrival he came to find that other men were already stationed there and were in need of many supplies. They were in need of food and weapons. The Alamo was where these brave men stayed to face the force of Santa Annas army. There were only about 185 men to fight against the Mexican army, which consisted of 4000 – 5000 soldiers. With no supplies James Bowie started to write letters to Washington that they were in need of weapons and food if they were to win this battle. However the men at the Alamo received nothing. While they waited for the arrival of Santa Annas army more men began to arrive along with these men was the famous Davey Crockett. The siege began with heavy artillery. As the red flag rose the Americans knew that this would be a fight to the death with no prisoners. The siege lasted for thirteen days. There leader James Bowie became sick and was confined to a secure room so as not to risk sickening any of the other men. The battle raged on and the Americans started to realize that this was not going to be a win able battle. They knew that they had to hold the Mexicans as long as they could. Mean while Sam Houstan was gathering many men and supplies to stop the Mexican forces and end this struggle over Texas. The Alamo and the men that fought there will forever be remembered as a brave attempt to hold of the Mexicans. Without those men that fought and held the Mexican army for those 13 days we may never have gained Texas as a new nation and eventually a new state. When the Mexican army was defeated later Texas was made into a new nation called the Republic of Texas. Without the Alamo a huge part of our nation would be in Mexican territory today. The men that fought in the Alamo will forever be remembered as heroes.