7th Grade Presentation on the Siege of the Alamo.

1. Siege of The Alamo:
Thirteen Days of Terror

2. Essential Question: Why is the Alamo
remembered?

3. Revolution!
Texas has declared war on Mexico! After the Battle of Gonzales saw the
Texian forces win their first victory against Santa Anna, a
consultation of Texas leaders has called for a revolution to defeat
Santa Anna and restore the Mexican Constitution of 1824. As people
across Texas must choose sides, thousands of lives hang in the
balance. And as Texas begins to rise, much attention is already
focused on a former Spanish mission called San Antonio de Valero,
better known as…
The Alamo

4. The Siege of Bexar
After the Battle of Gonzales, Mexican General Martin Perfecto de Cos
led his troops back to San Antonio de Bexar, the Mexican Capitol of
Texas. At the same time, Texian citizens gathered in Gonzales to form
the first Army of Texas. Despite having no military training, Stephen F.
Austin was elected the General of the Texian Army. He immediately
led his troops to San Antonio, where they laid siege to the city.

5. What is a Siege?
A Siege is when an army
surrounds a city or another army
and keeps anyone from leaving
or entering the enemy territory.
The goal is to make the enemy
run out of food, water, and other
essentials and force them to
surrender. Sieges can last a very
long time and can be
psychologically devastating to the
enemy. The Siege of Bexar
lasted for two months.

6. The Alamo Begins
An old Spanish Mission called San Antonio de Valero, nicknamed The
Alamo, was taken over by General Cos and his troops to use as a
barracks. There, they waited out the Texian siege from October of 1835
to December of 1835. Finally, the Texian Army grew frustrated and
began to consider leaving for the winter. However, one of the Texian
officers, Colonel Ben Milam, refused, and asked his soldiers “Who will
go with old Ben Milam into San Antonio?" Feeling courageous, the
Texians chose to launch one final attack on San Antonio to drive Cos
out. On December 5, Milam led his men into San Antonio, and after 5
days of fighting Cos was forced to abandon the city once and for all.
The Alamo belonged to the Texians.

7. Texas Rises
While the Texian Army took San
Antonio, the Texas Government, called
The Consultation, met to make a
formal Texas Army. In November of
1835, they replaced Stephen F. Austin
as Commander-in-Chief with General
Sam Houston. Houston had once
been the governor of the American
state of Tennessee, but after a scandal
had forced him to resign he found his
way to Texas. Tough, smart, and
resourceful, Houston immediately
began drawing up plans to free Texas
from Mexico once and for all.

8. Texas Goes To War!
Across Texas, people answered the call to fight. In San Antonio,
frontiersman, smuggler, and illegal slave trader James “Jim” Bowie
smelled opportunity and joined the Texas Army with 30 men. Juan Seguin,
the former mayor of San Antonio and a leader in the Tejano community,
also joined up, believing that Santa Anna’s tyrannical rule had to be
defeated. Another Tejano leader, Jose Antonio Navarro, and his uncle
Jose Francisco Ruiz left San Antonio to join the Consultation. In New York
City in America, exiled Mexican politician Lorenzo de Zavala heard about
the revolution and sailed for Texas, eager to fight Santa Anna. Lawyer
William B. Travis and his friend James Butler Bonham began raising
troops for the Texas Army. In Mexico City, Santa Anna was furious. He
immediately began making preparations to retake Texas himself.

9. Preparing the Alamo
With San Antonio captured, the Texas Army began preparing to defend
it against the inevitable Mexican counterattack. Colonel James C. Neill
held the Alamo with 104 men at the beginning of the new year in 1836.
Not long after, General Houston received word that Santa Anna was
heading North to retake San Antonio. Knowing that time was short,
Houston sent Jim Bowie and James Bonham to the Alamo with orders to
decide whether or not the fort could be held and, if not, to blow it up.
Bowie, Bonham, and Neill chose to try and hold the fort, and
immediately began calling for reinforcements.

10. Preparing the Alamo
On February 3, reinforcements arrived in the form of William Travis and
30 men. Travis immediately took over command of the Texas Army
troops from Niell, and began preparing for Santa Anna’s attack.
However, the Texian volunteers who were not part of the Texas Army
refused to follow his orders and chose Bowie as their commander,
infuriating Travis. Bowie celebrated by getting drunk and releasing all
the prisoners in San Antonio’s jails, irritating the local population and
Travis. Finally, the two men agreed to command the fort together. A
few days later, 17 more reinforcements arrived, commanded by an
American legend- Davy Crockett.

11. Spotlight: Davy Crockett
David “Davy” Crockett was already an American
legend when he arrived at the Alamo. Born in
Tennessee in 1787, Crockett began to make a
name for himself as a scout for the Tennessee
Militia during a war with the Creek tribe, during
which he served under future American president
Andrew Jackson. When his military career ended,
Crockett chose to run for the U.S House of
Representatives, and during his campaign made a
name for himself as a sharpshooter, storyteller,
and hunter. He was elected and served in the
United States Congress off and on for many
years, at one point even intervening after a man
tried to assassinate President Jackson and saving
the assassin from the furious President’s cane.
However, in 1835 Crockett was finally voted out
of office and replaced with a man with a peg leg.
Bored with politics anyway, Crockett chose to help
Texas in its’ revolution, telling his voters in
Tennessee: “Since you have chosen to elect a
man with a timber toe to succeed me, you may all

12. The Siege of The Alamo
On February 23, 1836, the bells of San Fernando Church sounded to
alert the Texans that Santa Anna’s army was approaching the Alamo.
Caught off guard, Travis and Bowie ordered all the defenders inside the
fort. Not long after, the bells went silent, and the Texans at the fort
saw the Mexican Army raise a blood-red banner from San Fernando’s
tower, a signal that Santa Anna would take no prisoners among the
Texans. Travis responded to this gesture in typical Texas fashion- by
shooting at it. Travis fired a cannon, signaling to Santa Anna that the
Texans would not surrender. The Mexicans fired back, and settled in to
wait the Texans out. The Siege of the Alamo had begun.

13. The Siege: Day Two
On February 24, a courier named Albert Martin slipped through the
Mexican siege and made his way to Gonzales. He delivered a letter
written by Colonel Travis, titled “Victory or Death”. The letter was
addressed "To the People of Texas and All Americans in the World". The
letter contained a request for reinforcements, but none would arrive.
Sam Houston had wanted the Alamo abandoned for a reason- he knew
that the ragtag army of Texans would not be able to keep it. The Alamo
defenders would be on their own. However, Travis’ letter had another
effect- it inspired Texans across the state to keep fighting.

14. Victory or Death- Travis’ Letter
Fellow citizens and compatriots;
I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna. I have sustained a continual
Bombardment and cannonade for 24 hours and 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, and 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 and everything dear to the
American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch. The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily and
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 and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his
own honor and 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

15. The Siege: Day 3
On February 25, Santa Anna’s cannons began to close in around the
Alamo. Inside, the 200 Texans tried to keep their spirits up. Travis was
now in sole command, as Jim Bowie had fallen extremely ill and was
confined to the infirmary. However, despite his weakened state Bowie
made a point of crawling out to see the men and check on them, a
gesture which touched and inspired them.

16. Spotlight: Jim Bowie
Of all the men to fight at the Alamo,
Jim Bowie is probably the most controversial.
Born in Kentucky in 1796, Bowie grew up in
the American West, developing skills as a
frontiersman as well as a quick temper. After
fighting in the War of 1812, Bowie met the
pirate Jean Laffite and became an illegal
slave trader. America had outlawed the
importation of new enslaved people, but
Lafitte would attack slave ships in the
Caribbean and send the enslaved people he
captured to Bowie, who would smuggle them
into America to sell. During this time Bowie’s
temper made him enemies, and he began
carrying around a large hunting knife in a
style that would later be named after him-
the Bowie Knife. In 1830, Bowie came to
Texas and met Stephen F. Austin for the first
time. He moved to San Antonio and married
a Tejano woman named Ursula de
Veramendi.
In 1833, Ursula and several other members of
Bowie’s family died in a Cholera epidemic, leaving Bowie
devastated. In 1835, when the Texian army began the
Siege of Bexar, Bowie and several volunteers escaped the
city to join them, participating in the Battle of Conception,
one of the first battles of the siege. Bowie earned the
respect of his volunteers and General Houston, who
decided he would be the right man to send to evacuate
the Alamo. But Bowie didn’t evacuate the Alamo. Instead,
he chose to try and hold it, a decision that would change
history forever.

17. The Siege: Day 4
On February 26, a brief skirmish broke out between Texan and Mexican
forces while the Texans were out gathering firewood. The Texians inside the
fort continued to hold out, despite the overwhelming odds. Santa Anna’s
army contained over 2,000 men, with more arriving every day. To make
matters worse, the Mexican Army had tried to cut off the Alamo’s water
source. They failed, but when the Texan’s tried to dig a well just in case
they accidentally collapsed part of a wall, leaving them no way to fire over
that part of the fortifications. There was some good news, however. Though
Travis had ordered most of his soldiers to stop shooting at the Mexicans to
conserve bullets, he allowed Davy Crockett and his Tennesseans to continue
firing because they were such good shots they almost always hit their
targets. At one point, they even spotted a Mexican officer and fired at him,
almost hitting him. They did not realize that the officer in question was
Santa Anna.

18. Spotlight: Santa Anna
Born in 1794 in the Mexican state of Veracruz
under Spanish rule, Antonio de Padua María
Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de
Lebrón would go on to become the main villain
in the stories of the Alamo. He began his
military career when he was 16 years old,
serving in the Spanish Army during the
Mexican War of Independence. It was here
that he learned to deal harshly with rebels, and
he would later use the tactics he learned in the
Spanish Army when fighting the Texian Rebels.
In 1821 Santa Anna switched sides, fighting
for Mexican Independence. He continued his
career in the Mexican Army under the new
Republic of Mexico, until a politician named
Anastasio Bustamante took control of the
Mexican government in 1830, prompting Santa
Anna to lead a rebellion against him in 1832.
Supported by many Mexican states, including
Texas, Santa Anna deposed Bustamante and
became the president of Mexico. However, the
lure of power proved too great for Santa Anna,
and within a couple of years he declared
himself dictator of Mexico. Not long after, he
received word that Texas had risen in rebellion
against him.

19. The Siege: Day 5
On the night of February 27, the Texans in the Alamo got little sleep as
Santa Anna’s forces bombarded the fort all night, while meanwhile
James Bonham rode through Mexican lines to try and find
reinforcements. The people in the fort included not just the Texas
Army, but a number of Tejano volunteers, enslaved Africans, and
various family members of the people inside. Less is known about these
more diverse people then about the Texans, due to the early Texas
government’s choice to promote the heroism of the Alamo’s male
Anglo-American defenders after the battle while minimizing the
contributions of women, Hispanics, and Africans. However, they were
vital to the defense of the Alamo, and more so to the legend of it that
would rise later.

20. Spotlight: Juan Seguin
Not all of the Texans fighting Santa Anna were
Anglos. Born in San Antonio in 1806, Juan
Seguin rose to fame as a leader in the Tejano
community before the Texas Revolution, and
even became the mayor of San Antonio.
However, Seguin was troubled by the
dictatorial Santa Anna’s rise to power. Seguin
had grown up during the devastating Mexican
War of Independence against Spain, and
having seen the evil that a bad ruler could do
he immediately sympathized with the Texans.
Seguin and his family were also slaveholders,
and Mexico’s attempts to end slavery may
have contributed to his zeal for revolution.
When Texian forces began the Siege of Bexar
in 1835, Seguin and 30 men escaped San
Antonio to join up with the rebels. Seguin was
eventually stationed at the Alamo after the
siege, serving under Colonel William Travis as
a courier, or message-carrier. As the Texans in
the Alamo grew more desperate, Travis began
sending out messages to call for
reinforcements. On February 25, 1836, Juan
Seguin braved the battlefield to ride through
the Mexican siege and carry a message from
Travis to Gonzales. It was a mission that would
save his life.

21. The Siege: Days 6 and 7
On February 28 and 29, the Alamo was continually bombarded by
Santa Anna’s forces. Inside, the defenders tried to stay cheerful. Davy
Crockett entertained people with the stories of his adventures on the
American frontier. Meanwhile, across Texas other Texan forces began
making plans to come to the Alamo’s aid. None would succeed.

22. The Siege: Day 8
On March 1, 1836, the Alamo got a welcome surprise- a small group of
reinforcements from Gonzales snuck through the siege to join them.
Meanwhile, in the town of Washington-on-the-Brazos, the Consultation
government met with representatives from across Texas to decide
whether or not Texas should declare full independence from Mexico.
This would become known as the Convention of 1836, and the debate
would be short.

23. The Siege: Day 9
On March 2, the Convention of 1836 came to a decision: it was time to
declare full independence from Mexico. A Declaration of Independence,
based on America’s, was immediately drawn up and signed by such
prominent Texans as Stephen F. Austin, Sam Houston, and politician
David Burnet, who was elected the first President of the Republic of
Texas. Among the signers, only two had actually been born in Texas:
Jose Antonio Navarro and his uncle Jose Francisco Ruiz. These two
were also among the three Tejanos to sign the declaration, along with
Lorenzo de Zavala. Unfortunately, this didn’t do much for the
defenders at the Alamo.

24. The Siege: Days 10-11
On March 3, James Bonham returned to the Alamo, having found no
reinforcements. For the next two days, the Mexican cannons
bombarded the Alamo continually. Inside, Travis knew that the siege
was reaching a breaking point.

25. The Siege: Day 12
On March 5, according to Alamo legend, Travis gave the Texan
defenders a chance to leave. He drew a line in the dirt with his sword
and told the troops that he was planning to stay and fight, and if they
would stand with him they should cross over the line and stand with
him. All of the defenders did, except for one man named Moses Rose.
The Texans were in the fight until the end.

26. The Siege: Day 13
On Sunday, March 6, 1836, at 1:00 AM, Santa Anna began preparing
his troops for an all-out attack on the Alamo. The siege was becoming
costly, and it needed to end quickly if Santa Anna would have a chance
of reclaiming Texas. Throughout the early morning hours Santa Anna
and his generals moved his troops into position quietly so as not to
wake the Texans in the fort. Santa Anna was nervous as the morning
wore on, and he paced back and forth in his command tent drinking a
ridiculous amount of coffee. Finally, at 5:00 AM, he gave the order to
begin firing. The explosions woke the Texans, who began shooting back
desperately. The final battle for the Alamo had begun.

27. The Battle of The Alamo

28. The Battle
All fighters in the Alamo charged to the walls to repel the Mexican
attack, but they were caught off guard as the Mexican troops began
raising ladders to scale the North Wall of the Alamo. However, it was
now the Mexicans’ turn to be caught off guard as a ferocious Texan
defense tore through their ranks, forcing them to regroup. However,
the Mexicans began climbing the ladders and poured onto the walls.
Colonel Travis charged to the top to help, but was immediately shot in
the forehead by a Mexican soldier and killed. The men of the Alamo
were forced to retreat further into the fort.

29. The Battle
Mexican soldiers poured over the walls into the fort, forcing the
defenders to withdraw to the barracks. The Mexican soldiers were
careful to spare any noncombatants- women, children, or enslaved
people- but on Santa Anna’s orders they killed any fighter they came
across, offering no chance to surrender. In the infirmary, Jim Bowie
rose from his sickbed, knife and pistol in hand, as Mexican soldiers
charged in, but he was killed before he could fire a shot. The Mexican
Army swept through the Alamo, killing any Texan fighter they came
across. The last part of the fort to fall was the chapel, where James
Bonham died trying to man a cannon against the Mexicans. After an
hour and a half of fighting, the Alamo had finally fallen.

30. The Aftermath

31. The Survivors
None of the men who fought for the Alamo survived the battle. There
were rumors for years afterward that Davy Crockett may have been
taken prisoner, but all the accounts ended with Santa Anna having him
executed. The only survivors were the noncombatants, the women,
children, and enslaved people whom the Mexican Army had spared.
After the battle the survivors were sent to the Anglo- American
settlements to relay the story of the Alamo’s fall. They were led there
by a former slave named Ben who served as a cook for the Mexican
Army, and the survivors were led by Susanna Dickenson, the widow of
one of the Alamo’s defenders, and Joe, an enslaved person who had
been owned by William Travis. Joe and Susanna told the tale of the
Alamo, and their accounts are how we know what happened today.

32. Spotlight: Joe
It is perhaps one of the greatest ironies in American history that we only know about the
fate of the Alamo, called one of the greatest fights for freedom in American and Texan
history, because of the account of an enslaved human being whose face we do not know and
whose name is only known as Joe. Joe was born some time around 1813 into slavery. It is
unknown how he came to be enslaved by William Travis. However, he came with Travis to
the Alamo, where he endeared himself to the other noncombatants with his kind and friendly
manners. Despite being enslaved, Joe fought with the other defenders of the Alamo until the
end, but he was spared because he was a slave. He was interrogated by Santa Anna and
sent with Susanna Dickinson and the other survivors to the Texas Army to report what had
happened to the Alamo. Their two accounts are the only way we know what happened in the
Alamo’s final hours. Though Joe impressed the Texan Army with the quality of his account,
he was returned to slavery on Travis’ estate nonetheless. However, Joe was not going to go
quietly, and one year later, on April 21, 1837, he escaped slavery and was never recaptured.
The last known sighting of the formerly enslaved person called Joe was in Austin, Texas in
1875, indicating that he lived a good, long life. Slavery was abolished in the United States,
including Texas, in 1865, meaning that Joe lived to see the institution that had once kept
him in bondage ended in Texas once in for all.

33. The Aftermath
Following the Battle of the Alamo, the Consultation found itself in an
awkward position. They had just declared independence, and then four
days later suffered the worst military defeat of the war. It looked like
Texas was doomed. Across the state, hundreds of people began to flee
the Mexican Army. Only Sam Houston and his army stood between
Santa Anna and total victory…

34. To Be Continued…