I was in Texas last week. A historian wannabe like me could not miss out seeing the Alamo while I was there. I got there on a hot June afternoon in Texas. I was so excited to see it, I rarely thought of the heat.
At the end of February 1836, the forces of Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna, who is referred to in the United States as Santa Anna, descended on town in the Mexican province, Texas, called San Antonio de Béxar. That is present-day San Antonio, Texas. The Texas Revolutionaries had just taken the town from the Mexicans. Santa Anna wanted it back.
Davy Crockett and James Bowie are a few notable names that rushed inside the roofless Alamo for protection as Santa Anna’s troops arrived.
The Alamo had been fortified with cannons and guns. Spies had alerted the Texas revolutionaries that Santa Anna was on the way with a massive force.
The men rushed in a building without a clear plan how to get out. They got pinned down by Santa Anna’s forces and all would be eventually killed. The anger among the Texas revolutionaries would spur Sam Houston to lead his troops to ultimate victory over Santa Anna’s forces.
Texas would become an independent country. That would be short lived. In 1845, the United States would annex it.
I paid a mere $4 fee online to see the inside of the Alamo. You get a time ticket for a specific time. Show up at that time and you get in immediately.
The footage is the Alamo as of June 2022. It still looks the same as it did in 1836. The state of Texas has kept it well preserved.
They installed a roof on the inside that was not there during the siege of 1836, but you can still get sense of what many felt as they were getting attacked.
I have some photos from around back that I will include at the end of this blog.
It is a beautiful building and represents the Mexican heritage of Texas. Most of San Antonio is very similar. As the only major city in Mexican controlled Texas before the Revolution, it still has that old Spanish architecture of the period.
I highly recommend visiting the Alamo and the surrounding San Antonio. If you are looking for a romantic excursion with a partner, I recommend dinner and a boat ride on the San Antonio River Walk.
Click the link to get tickets
