16. The Foundational Myth of Texas
Remember the Alamo! is at the heart of Texas’ foundational mythology. It is a dramatic tale of freedom-loving Anglos in Texas, who were oppressed by Mexican authorities. So they did what true blue Americans should: grabbed their guns. In the siege and Battle of the Alamo in 1836, they fought to the last man. They lost, but their sacrifice was worth it: it bought time for Sam Houston to gather an army that avenged them, and secured Texan independence. The American Thermopylae legend peaked in the 1960 hagiographic movie The Alamo. Starring John Wayne as Davy Crockett, Laurence Harvey as William B. Travis, and Richard Widmarck as Jim Bowie, it hit all the heroic highlights. In reality, the Alamo account contains more fiction than fact, whether the John Wayne version or the slightly less dramatic one taught generations of school children.
Much of what was long taken to be true about the Alamo is anything but. For starters, there had been no need to fight the battle in the first place. The Alamo’s defenders had not tried to hold off Santa Anna’s forces in a bid to buy Sam Houston time to raise a Texan army. Colonel William Travis, the Alamo’s commander, ignored many warnings that Mexican forces were on the way, and was trapped when they showed up. Nor did the Alamo’s defenders buy Houston any needed time. Santa Anna had expected to take San Antonio on March 2nd, 1836, but instead took it on the 6th. The Alamo cost him all of four days, and had no impact on his ultimate defeat six weeks later at the Battle of San Jacinto. So the mission’s defenders died for nothing. Also untrue, as seen below, is Travis’ line in the sand.