13 Days to Glory by Lon Tinkle
The Siege of the Alamo
In thirteen
chapters I learned about the background and the people involved in the siege
that began on February 23, 1836.
There was the wild
and daring Jim Bowie, after whom the Bowie knife is named. As a child, he rode
on the backs of alligators in Louisiana. Before coming to the Alamo and before
tragedy struck, he was a land scammer and slave trader.
Davy Crockett, the
renown frontiersman, legendary marksman, and congressman came to the Alamo in
his buckskin outfit with a dozen Tennessee volunteers. When he wasn’t elected
for his fourth campaign in congress, he famously said something to the effect,
“You can go to hell, I’m going to Texas.” That’s when he took up “Old Betsy,”
his favorite rifle, and moved on.
Colonel William
Barret Travis, a young South Carolinian lawyer, had his own reasons for heading
west—murder. He admitted to killing a man and fled leaving his wife and children
behind. Until Jim Bowie’s accident and illness, the 27-year-old struggled for
control with him in commanding the Alamo.
Another attorney at
the Alamo was Travis’s friend Jim Bonham.
He once hit the opposing counsel for insulting his female client, then
tossed him out of the courtroom. When
the judge rebuked him for it, Bonham threatened to tweak his nose. Probably not
a good idea. That got him a little jail time. Not to worry though, after word
of his gallantry got out, ladies around town sent him loads of chicken and
flowers to make his stay a little more comfortable.
John W. Smith came
to Texas to collect a debt. He loved the
area, the hot summers, and mild winters and decided to stay. He wanted his wife
and kids to join him in this new land, but that’s when she must echoed Crockett
and told him to go to hell. She divorced him instead.
Among the few
survivors was Mrs. Susanna Dickinson.
She was only 13 or 14 when she married Captain Almeron Dickinson and
followed him to the Alamo with their small daughter five years later. She
watched as her husband and almost everyone around her was killed and her
daughter was injured. When the men knew they would likely not survive, they
starting giving letters and mementos for her to pass on to their loved ones,
though every one of those precious items were taken from her after the defeat.
Let’s not forget the Mexican
general leading the forces against the foreign invaders, Antonio Lopez de Santa
Anna. He directed the attack on the
Alamo. Commanding his troops from a small adobe house, he had regimental bands
play continuously during the entire battle. He even took time on the second day of the
attack to stage a quick fake wedding to a local girl. The nuptials appeased the girl’s mother who
wanted the honor of marriage before giving her daughter up to the randy
general. He was, in fact, already married to a woman in Mexico City. Maybe he
considered it a victory romp. He knew without a doubt that his troops would
decimate the small number of fighters holed up in the Alamo. Six weeks later he wasn’t quite so confident.
In a total of twenty minutes, he was defeated at the Battle of San Jacinto led
by General Sam Houston, where the cry “Remember the Alamo!” filled the
air.
Admission to the Alamo
and four other missions in San Antonio is free.
They were all built in the 1700s.
All have been restored to a certain degree, and except for the Alamo,
all still offer church mass. We drove to
see the four missions, but the Alamo was walking distance for us, right in the
heart of downtown where we stayed on our vacation. Besides touring the Alamo chapel, there is a
museum, an area showing a film on the history of the Alamo, and a gift shop, of course. In the
courtyard there was a living history display with three areas in which actors
in time period costumes explained about everyday life at the Alamo. We stopped and learned about the soldiers' illegal gambling in their idle time and how silver coins were cut into pieces
to make “bits” or smaller coins. Very
interesting!
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| Missions: Concepcion and San Jose |
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| Missions San Juan and Espada |
The River Walk in San Antonio is probably just as popular if not more than the Alamo. What a gorgeous area!! The walkways that flank the San Antonio River are truly beautiful. Lush landscaping intertwines with restaurants and shops in a lively and stunning setting. At night many of the restaurants have mariachi bands playing, which adds to an already vivacious scene. River boat cruises seem to be particularly busy in the evenings.
We took our river boat
cruise early in the day and it was much less crowded at that time. The tour was entertaining and informative. We
learned from our guide, Alfred, that San Antonio has a large German influence
that began in the 1800s. He also
informed us about a laser show projected onto the San Fernando Chapel in the
Historic Main Plaza on certain evenings. And what a show that was! Set to
music, the history of San Antonio was depicted on the church through a kaleidoscope
of images and colors. It was like a firework display, where the images burst, splashed,
dripped, slid and danced across the 150-year-old cathedral for almost a half hour. Spectacular!
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| Before and During the Light Show |
Another fun spot we went to a couple
times was the Historic Market Square. This place is a tourist's shopping mecca
with store after store of Mexican pottery, jewelry, leather goods, and fun
geegaws. It reminded me of the many vacations we took to Ensenada, Mexico
growing up.
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| Sternewirth tavern and club room at the Hotel Emma. |
One of the highlights of our trip was
meeting with my husband's cousin and his wife at this swanky bar in the
boutique Hotel Emma. What an amazing place! The bar used to be a
brewery and the huge room has been converted into an extraordinary tavern and club
room with various seating areas in a posh setting. It exudes rustic elegance
with lots of leather, wood, textiles, and metal accents. On one side there are
still three giant brewtanks that reach to the dramatic 25-foot high ceilings.
For a price, you can reserve the brewtanks, which have been transformed to
private, intimate seating areas with padded walls and circular seating that
seemed to have the vibe of a genie’s bottle. We didn’t sit there, but were
comfortably happy in one of the cozy couches. While we were sipping our drinks
and nibbling on our appetizers, we were treated to a show. An all-female
mariachi band came in and played while couples in authentic Mexican dress danced
and swirled to the music. It was an unexpected bonus, especially since we found
out that this is not an ordinary event. What
luck for us! It was a perfect ending to
our vacation.
Oh, one more thing I have to mention is
the private library this hotel has for its guests. After drinks, our relatives showed us around
the hotel and I had to pick my jaw up off the floor when I peeked into the
magnificent library! Oversized black, glass-paned doors open to a room of rich,
dark paneled wall-to-wall bookcases. On
either end two stair cases lead up second level where guests can choose from
thousands of books and look over the seating area below. It’s an avid reader’s
ultimate dream library.
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| Photo from Hotel Emma website, TheHotelEmma.com |
Happy
Reading,
Annette
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