The Sound of the Alamo

No one can come to the story of the Alamo without shock and awe. The tiny Spanish mission, built for prayer, not battle; 13 days in the cold of February and March of 1836; the deaths of Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett; less than 300 courageous men, women and children facing off against Santa Anna’s army of 1,500. The Texans killed so many Mexican soldiers in one fierce battle, some soldiers ran away screaming, “Diablos! Diablos!” The fight was over land—Texas was then part of Mexico, who didn’t want to give it up, while the United States that Texas so wanted to join, didn’t want it. Until after the Alamo, which to this day, is a cherished American site that is visited by thousands of visitors every year. Many wonderful books have been written about the standoff, but it is almost impossible to “feel” what it was like to be in that little church, fighting for your life. Historian Lon Tinkle probably comes closest with this incredible observation: “The crashing noise of shattering walls, the human cries, the roar of guns were thunderous in the small area. If the bells of San Fernando church had rung at six o’clock that morning, they could not have been heard.”