Newspaper Accounts of the Battle of the Alamo

Last Friday, March 6, marked the 173rd anniversary of the final assault on the Alamo garrison. In 1836, those living in Texas and beyond learned about this event (and the general course of the Texas Revolution) through published newspaper accounts. The information contained in these articles was gathered from named and unnamed sources such as Almaron Dickinson’s wife, Susanna; William Barret Travis’s slave, Joe; Ben, the servant to the Mexican officer Colonel Almonte; and Andres Barsena and Anselmo Bergara, Tejanos who based their statements on testimony given by Antonio Pérez, who was in San Antonio on March 6.

The second page of the Telegraph and Texas Register from March 24, 1836. The article about the Alamo begins on the right-hand column under the heading "More Particulars Respecting the Fall of the Alamo."

The DRT Library’s newspaper collection includes papers published in the spring of 1836 containing “news from Texas.” While the majority of these materials were published in American cities, also included is a photocopy of the Telegraph and Texas Register published in San Felipe, Texas, on March 24, 1836. According to Todd Hansen, editor of The Alamo Reader, this document “is probably the most influential single account of the fall of the Alamo by virtue of being the first in print, its access to authoritative sources, and its near universal dissemination” (551). Indeed, argues Hansen, this account “would be the picture of the fall for Texans (and the United States) and the starting point for all later secondhand accounts” (565).

According to Todd Hansen, the casualty list included in the Telegraph and Texas Register account is "particularly valuable" because it was "based on the most authoritative sources known in Washington-on-the-Brazos" at the time (565).

Another important newspaper account of the fall of the Alamo in the library’s collections can be found in the Diario del Gobierno de la Republica Mexicana published on March 21, 1836. The draft of a 1968 press release announcing the library’s acquisition of the document states that it is “a rare copy of a Mexican newspaper containing the earliest known official announcement of the fall of the Alamo.”

Front page of the Diario del Gobierno de la Republica Mexicana from March 21, 1836.

As the official newspaper of the Mexican government, the Diario celebrated the bravery and success of Mexican officers and soldiers in achieving what is described as a complete and brilliant victory. “Long Live the Mexican Republic!” proclaimed the headline of this article, “Long live General Santa Anna and the brave army, victors of the Fort of the Alamo in Texas!”

The report on the fall of the Alamo appears on the fourth page of the March 24th Diario.

A supplement to this edition of the newspaper contained additional details about the Alamo, specifically General Santa Anna’s report about the battle, his March 5th General Order outlining the plan for the assault, and a March 3rd letter from General Urrea to Santa Anna describing the former’s victory over James Grant’s men at San Patricio. The article also includes a Spanish translation of Robert McAlpin Williamson’s March 1st letter to Travis. Taken from Travis’s body or his quarters, the letter concludes with Williamson’s impassioned statement, “For God’s sake hold out until we can assist you.” The Diario supplement may be the first printing of the text of the letter; since the original manuscript of this letter has never been found, the publication is significant for revealing its existence.

First page of the "Suplemento al Diario del Gobierno de la Republica Mexicana" for March 24, 1836.

Like other primary sources describing the siege and battle of the Alamo, newspaper accounts contain some confusing, problematic, and contradictory statements that researchers are still exploring, analyzing, and debating. For example, the report published in the Diario del Gobierno de la Republica Mexicana claimed that more than 600 Texans were killed, an estimation three times the actual number. Additionally, while only seventy deaths are attributed to the Mexican force, actual losses are estimated to be up to 600 soldiers.

An inventory for the entire newspaper collection can be accessed by visiting the DRT library; we are in the process of editing the guide so that it can be accessed and searched via the library’s online catalog.

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The Alamo and DRT celebrate Texas Independence Day

The Alamo and the DRT commemorate Texas Independence Day with a ceremony in Alamo Plaza.

On Monday, March 2, the Alamo and the DRT celebrated Texas Independence Day with a ceremony in Alamo Plaza. The ceremony, held by the Alamo Mission Chapter of the DRT, featured a speech from DRT Library Director Leslie Stapleton. Mrs. Stapleton spoke about the library’s history and collection. Specifically, Mrs. Stapleton discussed the great primary sources that the library has in its archives.

Leslie Stapleton, DRT Library Director, speaks about the library's history and collection.

Among the one-of-a-kind documents is a letter written by Alamo defender Daniel William Cloud on December 26, 1835 to his brother, John B. Cloud. A lawyer from Kentucky, Daniel William Cloud joined David Crockett’s Tennessee Volunteers to help in the fight for Texas Independence. He describes what many of these young men might have been feeling when he writes,

If we succeed, the Country is ours. It is immense in extent, and fertile in its soil, and will amply reward all our toil. If we fail, death in the cause of liberty and humanity is not cause for shuddering. Our rifles are by our side, and choice guns they are, we know what awaits us, and are prepared to meet it.

This letter was donated to the library by the Cloud family in 1979. Click here for a previous post about the Cloud letter.

Another great document in the collection is a letter written by Abishai Mercer Dickson written to his wife from New Orleans on December 29, 1835 on his way to Texas. He writes to her,

My Dear, my lips have not been wet with spirits of any description since I left you and I do hope they never will again and I think this trip will not only wean me entirely from it but will give me a new constitution.

He closes the letter by writing:

I have some hopes of making a little fortune. I feel more anxious than I ever did.

Dickson joined the Alabama Red Rovers and served under Col. Fannin at Goliad, where he was killed by the Mexican army along with more than 340 other Texan soldiers.

Lastly, another unique document in the collection is Samuel Augustus Maverick’s copy of the Texas Declaration of Independence. Maverick was an early Texas land baron, legislator, and leading citizen of the Republic. He lived at the corner of Alamo Plaza and Houston Street and played a large role in the Siege of Bexar in December 1835. He was chosen as one of two representatives from the Alamo to go to the independence convention on March 1, 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos.

Maverick left on March 2 but did not arrive at the convention until March 5. By that day, the Declaration had already been drafted and adopted. Maverick printed his name as well as the names of the other late arrivals to his broadside copy of the Declaration. Although one thousand broadside copies were originally printed, today only thirteen are known to exist. The DRT Library is fortunate to have two of these known copies. Click here for a previous post about the Maverick copy of the Declaration of Independence.

After the ceremony, Mrs. Stapleton invited all guests to visit the library, which is not usually a browsing collection, to view these and other special primary sources from the library’s collection.

Library visitors look at items on exhibit from the collection.

Special Event, Feb. 27: The Alamo Under Siege

This Friday, February 27, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas and the Alamo invite the public to a museum gallery presentation of “To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World: The Alamo Under Siege.” Visitors will be escorted through the Alamo grounds to observe a series of historical vignettes that tell the story of the Siege of the Alamo.

The event will run from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. The audience will be limited to the first 500 people who purchase tickets. Tickets in advance are on sale for $9. Tickets purchased the day of the event are $10.

To purchase tickets or for additional ticket information, call 210-225-1391, ext. 28 or email Ernesto Rodriguez at erodriguez@thealamo.org.

Texas Secession, Continued

Main Plaza in San Antonio. This photograph is captioned "Texas troops at San Antonio at the time of the surrender of the U.S. arms." (SC11484C)

In last week’s post, we presented some documents in the library’s collections relating to the actions taken by Texans in February 1861 to secede from the union. Meanwhile, members of the Committee of Public Safety, assembled by the state’s secession convention, also worked to move their state toward allegiance with the Confederacy.

Dismissed from the U.S. army due to his surrender to McCulloch, Twiggs joined the Confederate army in May 1861. (SC96.381)

According to historian Walter L. Buenger, when General David E. Twiggs, commander of the Department of Texas, “appeared ready to resign, the [Committee of Public Safety] ordered General Ben McCulloch and his men to enter San Antonio rather than wait and deal with Twiggs’s successor, who was less favorably inclined to the South.” On February 16, 1861, Twiggs agreed to surrender between 1.3 and “three million dollars’ worth of federal stores to Texas” and to evacuate all federal troops in the state (154), which included 160 men in San Antonio and 2,700 soldiers (or approximately fifteen percent of the entire pre-war U.S. army) scattered in forts across Texas.

One unit that participated in the surrender of federal supplies and troops was the Alamo City Guards, a local militia company comprised of volunteers from the San Antonio area that was formed in 1859. Captain William M. Edgar, commander of the unit, recorded what happened once the Texans accepted Twiggs’s surrender:

…as I with my command was placed in charge of the Alamo, this flag was hoisted and remained on the Alamo building for some time and in recognition of the Secession of the State [and] was the first flag and only flag used in San Antonio at that eventful time.

Edgar’s company was later sent east, where it served under the command of Confederate General Earl Van Dorn during the Civil War.

In this letter of February 16, 1861, Samuel Maverick authorizes and orders Captain William Edgar to seize an iron safe and its contents.

The flag described by Edgar was donated to the Alamo by his daughter in the early twentieth century and restored in 2006 by Textile Preservation Associations. The field was always thought to have originally been blue; however, conservators determined it had actually been cream colored with a salmon colored star in the center. The Latin motto on the flag translates to Let justice be done though the heavens should fall.

The flag of the Alamo City Guards. Donated by Mrs. O. M. Burt; restoration assisted by the Sons of Confederate Veterans. Image courtesy of Ernesto Rodriguez, Alamo assistant curator.

The flag is temporarily on display inside the Alamo shrine.

Some information for this entry was provided by Dr. Bruce Winders, Alamo historian and curator.

References and Further Reading

The Exodus of Federal Forces from Texas, 1861 by J. J. Bowden.

Secession and the Union in Texas by Walter L. Buenger.

Ben McCulloch and the Frontier Military Tradition by Thomas W. Cutrer.

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Christmas in San Antonio

San Antonio is home to many Christmas traditions, some of which continue today and some of which are no longer practiced. The picture files at the DRT Library document some of ways in which San Antonians have enjoyed the holiday season.

The first photograph, taken in December 1922, shows a Christmas tree in Alamo Plaza. According to a November 25, 2006 article in the San Antonio Express-News, the tradition of a tree in front of the Alamo dates to 1914, “when the local Rotary Club put up an artificial tree for poor and homeless children and showered them with toys and sweets.” In fact, the sign to the left of the tree in the picture says “Rotary Christmas Tree…Dec. 22, 1922.” In later years, the city of San Antonio was responsible for the Alamo tree, and beginning in 1986 a live tree was sponsored each year by a grocery store.

Christmas tree in Alamo Plaza, December 1922. (SC5029.1)

In the below photograph, residents of Boysville enjoy a visit from Santa in 1952. The history of Boysville dates to 1943, when Reverend Don Holliman sought to help the orphaned, homeless, and abandoned boys he observed in Travis Park. As stated at Boysville’s website, “police picked these boys up from the park in an effort to provide some safety and shelter for them,” but “because they had no other place to take them the police took them to a detention center even though they had not committed a crime.” Known as “A Home with a Heart for Boys,” Boysville provided a safe and caring environment for boys, and today continues to provide boys and girls with food, shelter, clothing, medical care, community, and access to education.

Children at Boysville visiting with Santa, 1952. (SCElicson.08.005)

The final photograph shows Joske’s famous forty-foot fiberglass Santa being hoisted and positioned onto the roof of the department store in downtown San Antonio. Julius Joske, a German Jewish immigrant, opened his dry goods store near Main Plaza around 1867; after several relocations and name changes, Joske Brothers opened at the corner of East Commerce and Alamo Streets in 1887. This flagship store became known as “The Big Store.” In 1936, a joint venture between Joske’s and the city of San Antonio turned the store into the first fully air-conditioned store in Texas. By 1953, Joske’s boasted a slogan of “the biggest store in the biggest state” and its 551,000 square foot, five-story store was the largest department store west of the Mississippi River, a distinction it held until its closure in 1987.

Santa Claus on the roof of Joske's department store, downtown San Antonio, circa 1950-1970. (SCElicson.08.001)

Joske’s was known for its elaborate Christmas decorations, which included holiday window displays and the elaborate fourth-floor Fantasyland, where children saw a winter forest, a miniature town square, and Talking Bears while standing in line with their parents to see Santa. The outdoor Santa enjoyed a commanding view of downtown San Antonio from the 1950s to the 1970s; while he was brought out of retirement in 1994, in 1997 he was severely damaged in a windstorm and permanently removed from the building’s roof.

Merry Christmas!

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Alamo Premiere Weekend

Today is the 48^th anniversary of the world premiere of the John Wayne classic, The Alamo. The film premiered in San Antonio, and the city threw a weekend-long celebration to honor the movie and its stars.

On Saturday, the 22^nd, the city welcomed guests, including Wayne, at an airport reception. That was followed by a press reception, a symphony concert featuring the film’s score, and a San Antonio Press Club Gridiron Show. Also, according to the San Antonio Light, Frankie Avalon (pre-Annette) made an appearance at the Trinity-McMurray football fame. In the film, Avalon played “Smitty,” a fictional character.

Sunday, the 23^rd, was marked by other receptions and a special Night in Old San Antonio in the evening. Like NIOSAs during Fiesta, the event took place at La Villita and featured a wide variety of food and entertainment. The San Antonio Light reported that about 8,000 people attended. Below is a broadside advertising the event.

Broadside for the special NIOSA during the premiere.

Monday, the 24^th, began with a breakfast held at Alamo Plaza and ceremony honoring the Alamo defenders. This was followed by a luncheon at the Menger Hotel. Then, that evening, the highly anticipated premiere occurred at the Woodlawn Theatre.

The library has several copies of an official program created by the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce for the weekend. Below is the schedule of official events from that program. Because of the document’s 18 inch by 12.5 inch size, a few words were cut off from the scan. The broadside featured above and the program reside in the library’s Ephemera Collection. Click on the images for larger views.

A list of events for October 22nd from the Chamber of Commerce's program.

The program's list of events for October 23rd and 24th.

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JFK at the Alamo

On this day 48 years ago, September 12, 1960, Democratic presidential nominee John F. Kennedy, his running mate Lyndon B. Johnson, and Senator Ralph Yarborough stopped at the Alamo during Kennedy’s campaign. Less than two months later he defeated Republican candidate Richard Nixon. Kennedy later visited San Antonio as president on November 21, 1963, the day before his assassination in Dallas. Thesephotos are part of the library’s Octavia West collection.

John F. Kennedy signs the guest register in the Alamo. To the left is his sister Patricia Lawford and to the right the DRT hostess. (SC03.007)

From left, Senators Ralph Yarborough, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson in the Shrine. (SC03.008)

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