today we're looking at the alamo
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you'll find more resources that go with many of the bellringer videos before joining the united
states in 1845 the state of texas was part of mexico and then for a short time operated as an
independent country the texas war for independence was fought from october 1835 to april of 1836 but
to learn more about the background of the texas independence movement check out my other video
covering the entire conflict in december of 1835 texans had successfully pushed mexican troops
out of san antonio the mexican army abandoned the makeshift fort of the alamo which was a
former spanish mission with construction beginning in 1744 but never truly being completed
it was used as a church until 1793 since that time it had been converted into a military outpost by
the mexican military when they abandoned the fort they left 19 pieces of artillery or cannons behind
along with other supplies the overall commander of the mexican army was general antonio lopez de
santa anna santa ana was furious at the loss of san antonio and was determined to retake the area
realizing this the texans needed to prepare for an attack however by january of 1836 there were only
100 men left at the alamo to defend it sam houston who was one of several leaders claiming to be the
commander of the texas forces was asked by james neal who was the current commander at the alamo to
send aid houston felt that he could not spare the manpower to send to the alamo and instead ordered
jim bowie a notorious knife fighter to lead about 30 men to the alamo and recover the guns from the
alamo and then destroy the fort so that it would not fall into the hands of the mexican army
once buoy arrived he realized there would be not enough horses and oxen to pull the artillery out
of the fort and colonel neal soon convinced bowie that the fort needed to be defended on february 11
1836 colonel neal left the fort to go recruit more texans to fight he left the fort under the command
of 26 year old william travis although many of the men in the fort did not want to be under
travis's command and instead wanted jim bowie to be the leader in the end bowie agreed to share
command with travis in the midst of this famous outdoorsman and former u.s congressman davey
crockett along with a small group of volunteers arrived at the fort crockett had been wanting to
come to texas and also he was promised 4 600 acres of land by the texas government if he agreed to
volunteer to fight by late february the number of defenders in the alamo numbered close to 200
and approaching them was the mexican army under santa ana that numbered between 1 800 to 8 000
troops early on february 23 1836 the mexican army began to surround the alamo for the next 13 days
the enormously outnumbered defenders of the alamo would hold out against the much larger mexican
army sporadic exchanges of gunfire occurred over the next few days as the mexican army began to
close in and establish artillery which constantly shelled the fort throughout the siege the mexican
army raised a red flag which could clearly be seen by the defenders of the alamo that signified no
quarter or another word no prisoners of war would be taken and anyone captured would be
killed on the evening of march 5th 1836 the artillery barrage of the alamo ceased
shortly after midnight santa ana's men began to line up into columns to prepare for an all-out
assault on the alamo at 5 30 in the morning on march 6th the attack began approximately
1800 mexican troops stormed the fort with the 200 defenders desperately attempting to keep them out
two assaults were repulsed by the defenders before the third push by the mexican army broke through
fierce fighting broke out within the walls as the texans retreated to the barracks inside the
fort by 6 30 a.m barely an hour after the attack began the fort was taken and all of the defenders
were killed with the exception of a small group of women and children that were allowed to live
there are reports that some texans surrendered and then they were executed and among them
was davey crockett but there's little evidence to support that claim
in the end it is estimated that somewhere between 1 000 to 600 mexican troops were killed
and officially 189 texans were killed within the fort word of the siege and the death of all
the defenders in the alamo spread and remember the alamo became the rally cry for the texans
this inspired the texans to fight and eventually win their independence after the battle of san
juacinto in april of 1836 to this day the alamo is a symbol of texas independence and of fighting
against all odds so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching
you