Remember the Alamo!
by roscoe
Today, the 23rd of February, is important in both American military and Texan history.
The following is excerpted from an article written by W. Thomas Smith Jr. that appears in the current issue of Guns & Patriots, an online publication of Human Events.
Feb. 23, 1836: The advance elements of a 4,000-plus-man Mexican army under the command of Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna begin the siege of the isolated Texas Army garrison at the Alamo mission near (now part of present-day) San Antonio, Texas, during the Texas War of Independence.
The following day, South Carolina-born Lt. Col. William Barret Travis, the garrison commander, dispatches a letter “to the People of Texas and all the Americans in the World” a portion of which reads:
“… The enemy has demanded the surrender; at discretion, otherwise the garrison is to be put to the sword if the fort is taken. I have answered the summons with cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat. … I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible, and die like a soldier who never forfeits what is due to his own honor and that of his country. Victory or death!”
The Alamo’s approximately 200-man garrison – including Travis, Kentucky knife-fighter Col. Jim Bowie, and Tennessee’s legendary frontiersman and legislator Davy Crockett – will be wiped out nearly to a man when the Mexicans storm the mission on March 6. But the drama which plays out over the two-week period as well as the courage and against-all-hope tenacity of the Alamo’s little force, will make heroes of the defenders. And the battle will become as much a part of American military history and tradition as it is Texas lore.
How interesting that the siege began in such close proximity to Santa Anna’s birthday. I wonder if that old vampire thought of the Alamo as a sort of birthday present…Hey… Santa Anna as a vampire…Sam Houston, vampire hunter… now THAT would make for a great graphic novel.
Heh. You’re right, it would.
Somewhere back in my boxes I’ve a comic book (or two) depicting Abraham Lincoln as a vampire hunter, and BloodRayne 2: Deliverance, comic book and movie, portrays Billy the Kid as a vampire. So casting popular characters from roughly that time period of American history in vampire stories is something that has been done successfully.
Right. And later this spring or summer, “Cowboys & Aliens” is being released, starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. It looks like a fun one to watch.
“Cowboys & Aliens” – Oh yeah, I saw the trailer for that during a rare, recent visit to the local cinema. That does look like fun!