The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 91, July 1987 - April, 1988 Page: 513
619 p. : ill. (some col.), maps (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Patriotic Faith at the Alamo
vitalization, a faith that the idealized attributes of the American fron-
tier can provide models of contemporary public behavior. For those
guided by such traditional messages, the symbol of the Alamo is com-
plete; it has no need of revision. It requires only proper veneration and
each generation's rededication. Failure to live up to the heroic ideal re-
veals only a lack of personal commitment to the lessons of the Alamo,
not a deficiency in the symbol itself. These traditional patriotic themes
are most obvious in the rhetoric delivered by military celebrants on Al-
amo Day, or in speeches given in Alamo pilgrimages during San An-
tonio's April Fiesta week, which honors Texas Independence. Fiesta
week was first celebrated in 1891, in honor of the visit of President
Benjamin Harrison. It continued as a celebration of the Texans' victory
at San Jacinto and the creation of the Republic. Fiesta pilgrimages to
the Alamo began in 1927 as a schoolchildren's commemoration, but by
the mid-193os they had become an all-city event. While Fiesta is a "week-
long period of unprecedented hilarity," the city always pauses "in the
twilight.., to pay solemn and thankful tribute to Texas heroes."'
Curiously, throughout the nineteenth century there were no cere-
monies at the Alamo on March 6, the day the Alamo fell. San Antonio
newspapers would usually mention the significance of the date, but
even the fiftieth anniversary passed with nothing except a comment
from the Daily Express: "It is suggested that a society be formed, whose
duty it shall be to see that the prominent anniversaries of Texas histo-
ries are properly observed." Formal anniversary ceremonies on March
6 were not held in San Antonio until 1897. The DRT then began to
hold services at the grave of Benjamin R. Milam, who died in the Tex-
ans' capture of San Antonio in December, 1835. Although no formal
services were held at the Alamo itself, visitors to the site could listen as a
Texas veteran, Captain Tom Rife, the custodian of the mission from
1885 to 1893, told the story "in a manner and a tone so impressive that
the mind [would] unconsciously go back to the story of the Iliad." By
19go9 formal anniversary services were being held at the Alamo as well,
and were so popular in 1912 that the Express proudly noted that "even
representatives of races the Anglo-Saxon world does not consider civi-
lized have been moved by the story every stone in the old church tells."7
6San Antomnio Express, Apr. 23, 1946. It was not until 196o, when Governor Price Daniel des-
ignated March 6 as Alamo Day, that the anniversary was officially recognized by the state. San
Antonio Light, Mar. 1, 1960; San Antomnio Express-News, Mar. 1, 1960.
7San Antonio Daily Express, Mar 6, 1886; San Antonio Express, Mar. 6, 18go (and quotation),
Mar. 6, 1912 I wish to thank William Green for the opportunity to read the manuscript of his
forthcoming book, "Remembering the Alamo: The Development of a Texas Symbol." My un-
derstanding of the nineteenth-century background relies heavily on his thorough examination.513
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 91, July 1987 - April, 1988, periodical, 1987/1988; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101211/m1/585/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.