The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 37, July 1933 - April, 1934 Page: 27
330 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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A Critical Study of the Siege of the Alamo
the story from both Texan and Mexican sources."o The following
chronology is compiled from all available sources:
First Day, Tuesday, February 23. The Texans discovered the
arrival of the first division of the Mexican army. Travis ordered
his troops into the Alamo; they retired to the fort in good order.
Although preparations for a siege were insufficient and food was
scarce, the Texans were fortunate enough to drive off the streets
of Bexar into the stockpens of the fort some thirty head of beeves,
and to find in deserted Mexican jacals near the Alamo, ninety
bushels of corn.6' Santa Anna demanded a surrender at discretion,
to which the Texans replied with a single shot from an 18-pounder
cannon. They hoisted their flag62 and raised their battle cry-
"Victory or Death." Travis sent out messengers to Gonzales and
to Goliad, asking for help. James Butler Bonham, whom Travis
had sent on February 16, as his private messenger to Fannin,
returned and entered the Alamo after the investment had begun.
Santa Anna's troops occupied the town and displayed from the
tower of the San Fernando church, a blood red flag which signified
"no quarter." The siege was begun, but the investment was not
yet close.
Second Day, February 24. Travis sent out couriers to Goliad
and to Washington. The Mexicans bombarded the fort vigorously,
but did no harm. After midnight the Texans sallied forth and
6"Colonel Almonte's diary is the most continuous and valuable Mexi-
can source covering the siege and .fall of the Alamo. It was picked up
on the San Jacinto battlefield, after the battle, by Dr. Anson Jones.
The entries covering February 23, to March 6, 1836, have been fre-
quently published.
'State Deaprtment of the State of Texas, Memorial No. 39, File Box
60, shows an application made by one Gabriel Martinez, on June 1,
1850, for pay for one house (jacal), -destroyed in March, 1836, by the
Texans. Martinez swore that the house was situated on the east side,
close to the Alamo, and that it contained clothes, and 36 fanegas of
corn. Its appraised value was $170.
'William Kennedy, Texas, II, 180-181, and H. H. Bancroft, North
Memican States and Texas, II, 208, no doubt err in stating that the flag
used by the Texans at the Alamo was the Mexican tricolor with two
blue stars in the white bar. It is true that was the flag of Coahuila-
Texas, but hardly the one used by the Texas revolutionists, since the
union with Coahuila, was one cause of their revolt from Mexico.
Yoakum, Potter, McArdle, and other more recent students -of Texas his-
tory agree that the Alamo flag was the Mexican tricolor with black
numerals 1824 on the white bar. Their tenet is logical, for that was
the flag of the Federal party of Mexico, and in the beginning of the
revolution, the Texans officially held to the principles of that party.
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Texas State Historical Association & Barker, Eugene C. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 37, July 1933 - April, 1934, periodical, 1934; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101094/m1/35/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.