Alamo Defenders Fought to the Last Man
Many still cling to the fiction that Alamo defenders died fighting to the last man. This myth demands too much of human nature. When the tide of battle turns against them, nearly all soldiers succumb to the instinct of self-preservation. Those at the Alamo were no exception.
Credible Mexican sources reveal that some of the defenders attempted to surrender. José Enrique de la Peña recalled that during the struggle for the long barracks, a few defenders “poked the points of their bayonets through a hole with a white cloth, the symbol of ceasefire, and some even used their socks.” When the Mexican assault troops poured over the north and west walls, as many as eighty defenders sought to escape by bounding through the gun emplacements at the northeast corner of the cattle pen, over the wall of the horse corral, and, finally, over the south wall palisade and through the abatis. Now outside the fort, they ran for cover but lancers commanded by General Joaquín Ramírez y Sesma intercepted them. In his post-battle report, he testified to the escapees’ “desperate resistance” and lauded the Texians for selling “their lives at a very high price,” but all but one died under the lethal lances. One escapee burrowed deep into the heavy brush and refused all demands to come out. Finally, the cavalrymen shot him where he crouched.
Not just Peña, but several eyewitness Mexican accounts, confirm that soldados took six or seven defenders captive. General Manuel Fernández Castrillón interceded with Santa Anna to spare their lives but, turning on his heel, His Excellency ordered their immediate deaths. Proper soldiers, those who had actually fought in the battle, balked at obeying such a barbarous order. Yet, members of the generalissimo’s personal staff, those who had not taken an active part in the assault, drew their swords and hacked the helpless prisoners to pieces. An overwhelming body of evidence asserts that Congressman David Crockett was among these unfortunate defenders murdered at Santa Anna’s direct command.
No, the defenders did not fight to the last man. Rather, Santa Anna ordered his staff lackeys to kill them to the last man and therein rests a delicious irony. Had Santa Anna been willing to take prisoners he would have robbed the battle of its moral power; Americans would remember the Alamo only as a terrible debacle; Hollywood would have had no interest in making movies about a military disaster; and few today would express any curiosity in a long forgotten defeat. Whatever mythic mojo the battle contains is because it was a last stand. And who was responsible for making sure it was one? Antonio López de Santa Anna.