Question about Crockett
If he "understood the fighting was over", why did he go to the Alamo? Why didn't he go see Houston first? Or was he on his way there until he got preoccupied at the Alamo? Just curious.
shareThe movie sort of makes this confusing.
Crockett left Tennessee with around 30 armed men, planning on joining in on the Texas Revolution (you remember Houston telling him those who serve will receive 640 acres of their own choosing) and claimed he was heading down to the Rio Grande river. He stopped in Nacogdoches, swore in as a volunteer, and went west to San Antonio. He must have realized that it was the hotbed of the all the action and decided to stay there with the men who were stationed. The Volunteers of the Texas Army sort of came and went as they pleased, which was a big reason the Alamo had such few defenders. I imagined Crockett would have done the same, as there was a conflict with authority (they had no one telling them what to do).
I imagine as well he must have thought he'd eventually simply run into Houston in Texas somewhere. The population was only around 30,000, so the chances weren't completely slim, but it'd be wasted time to simply search around Texas for his buddy.
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Cool, thanks for explaining, that definitely makes sense when you lay it out that way. It was also confusing when the coat maker asks Houston, "Defend against what"? Making it seem like theres nothing going on.
shareThe majority of Texans, at least the "common" people, thought that when the Alamo had been taken from the Mexicans in late 1835 that the Revolution was over, thus the comment. And Crockett obviously, being a newcomer, had heard this.
And on the subject of the Mexicans coming back, the scene where the Mexicans are marching through the snow? It's accurate, that winter there was heavy snowfall in northern Mexico/southern Texas.
A lot of campaigns in those days depended on the season. Look at the American Revolution at Valley Forge, it was winter and you need grass to supply your horse and other animals, not to forget the troops.
There is a scene where Col Neil says that they would need to march in the dead of winter to be there before he returned.
It was also confusing when the coat maker asks Houston, "Defend against what"? Making it seem like theres nothing going on.
Santa Anna sent a force into Texas the previous year to quell the rebellion - about 500 men to reinforce the few hundred that were already stationed there. They were headed by General Cos. Cos, rather than capture costal towns and forts, left only a handful of men to defend the costal towns and went off himself to San Antonio. At the time San Antonio was the cultural, economic, and political center of Texas. He captured it of course, but the men he left behind on the coast were easily defeated by the still forming Texian Army, leaving him with no route back to the shore. The Texians banded together and besieged Cos in San Antonio for two months. They eventually attacked and Cos surrendered and marched back to Mexico. This was the December before the Alamo siege and battle.
Everything in the Alamo was built by Cos. The cannon ramps, the fortifying and strengthening of the walls, etc. The film shows the Texians doing a little more to improve it, but it was probably more than they actually did. The wall the Crockett defended was built by the Mexican Army, not by the Texians as shown in the film. All the cannon in the Alamo was left behind by Cos too, as well as quite a bit of muskets and ammunition.
So as you can see, most Texian people believed the war was essentially over. Houston and others knew the Mexican Army would come back to reclaim Texas, but they believed it'd be late March or even April, in the spring. Santa Anna stunned them when he arrived with thousands of men in late February. You can imagine.
The film has a deleted scene where the Mexican Army is leaving San Antonio after they've been defeated that's on the DVD. The original screenplay had the Battle of San Antonio and all that in there, but they scrapped it before filming began.
The film actually leaves out quite a bit about the Revolution and only features two battles (Alamo/San Jacinto) out of many. share
So as you can see, most Texian people believed the war was essentially over. Houston and others knew the Mexican Army would come back to reclaim Texas, but they believed it'd be late March or even April, in the spring. Santa Anna stunned them when he arrived with thousands of men in late February. You can imagine.
In another thread I recommended Texian Iliad; the same writer produced Texian Macabre, tales of doings in the town founded by Yankee speculators near the site of Houston's victory. For years most of the city consisted of shacks & tents; Sam Houston lived in a two room cabin. (And there were far more saloons & brothels than churches.)
Because the Houstonians lived in fear that Santa Anna might return & burn the whole thing down.
The film actually leaves out quite a bit about the Revolution and only features two battles (Alamo/San Jacinto) out of many.
Gosh, sounds like a great subject for a miniseries! In response to Texas Rising, I finally got out my copy of this movie. Not bad at all. Of course, there's more to the story. But (except for some details like the layout of the Alamo compound), the movie did a pretty decent job.
The full story remains to be told.
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