Beginning in the early 1800s, Spanish military troops were stationed in the abandoned chapel of a former mission, which stood in a forest of cottonwood trees. The soldiers called their new fort “El Alamo,” from the Spanish word for cottonwood.

In December 1835, a group of Texan volunteers led by George Collinsworth and Benjamin Milam overwhelmed the Mexican troops and captured the Alamo. By February 1836, Colonel James Bowie and Lieutenant Colonel William B. Travis had taken command of Texan forces in San Antonio. The newly appointed commander-in-chief, Sam Houston, argued that San Antonio should be abandoned, but the Alamo’s defenders prepared to protect the fort to the end. These 185 defenders included Davy Crockett, the famous frontiersman and former Tennessee congressman.

On February 23, about 4000 Mexican soldiers commanded by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna began a siege of the fort. The Texans resisted for 13 days, but Mexican forces broke through the outer wall of the courtyard and overpowered the Texans. Santa Anna ordered his men to take no prisoners.

The Mexican forces also suffered heavy casualties in the Battle of the Alamo, losing between 600 and 1,600 men.

From March to May, Mexican forces once again occupied the Alamo. For the Texans, the Battle of the Alamo became a symbol of heroic resistance and a rallying cry in their struggle for independence.

On April 21, 1836, Sam Houston and some 800 Texans defeated the 1,500 Mexican forces commanded by Santa Anna at San Jacinto. The Texans shouted, “Remember the Alamo!” as they attacked.

Source: Battle of the Alamo
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