'FORGET THE ALAMO' UNRAVELS A TEXAS HISTORY MADE OF MYTHS, OR RATHER, LIES

[IrishBubbaLiberal]

They pull no punches describing Bowie as a “murderer, slaver, and con man;” Travis as “a pompous, racist agitator;” and Crockett as a “self-promoting old fool.”


https://www.texasobserver.org/forget-the-alamo-unravels-a-texas-history-made-of-myths-or-rather-lies/

‘FORGET THE ALAMO’ UNRAVELS A TEXAS HISTORY MADE OF MYTHS, OR RATHER, LIES

Three Texan authors build on a long tradition of dissent from patriotic accounts of Texas history in a new book on the racism baked into our story of the Alamo

by NIC YEAGER
JUNE 10, 2021, 8:00 AM, CDT

As a former student of Texas public schools, much of what I remember from Texas history class boils down to this: General López de Santa Anna, of Mexico, was evil incarnate—my old friends and I still marvel at how much this was hammered into our heads—and the Texas Revolution was a fight for liberty against the tyrannical Mexican government. The Battle of the Alamo, where Texian fighters held out for 13 days and then were slaughtered by Mexican forces, has long been a central part of that story. Every Texan has been told to “remember the Alamo.”

It doesn’t look like that will change any time soon. On Monday, Governor Greg Abbott signed a bill creating “The 1836 Project,” designed to “promote patriotic education” about the year Texas seceded from Mexico. In other words, the law will create a committee to ensure that educational materials centering “Texas values” are provided at state landmarks and encouraged in schools. This comes on the heels of the “critical race theory” bill that has passed through the Legislature, which would restrict how teachers can discuss current events and teach history. The American Historical Association has described the bill as “whitewashing American history,” stating: “Its apparent purposes are to intimidate teachers and stifle independent inquiry and critical thought among students.”

(……….)

The traditional telling, which Texas public schools are still required to teach, glorifies the nearly 200 men who came to fight in an insurrection against Mexico in 1836. The devastation at the Alamo turned those men into martyrs leaving behind the prevailing story that they died for liberty and justice. Yet the authors of Forget the Alamo argue that the entire Texas Revolt—“which wasn’t really a revolt at all”—had more to do with protecting slavery from Mexico’s abolitionist government. As they explain it, and as Chicano writers, activists, and communities have long agreed, the events that occurred at the Alamo have been mythologized and used to demonize Mexicans in Texas history and obscure the role of slavery.

Taking a comprehensive look at how the mythos of the Alamo has been molded, Burrough, Tomlinson, and Stanford paint a picture of American slaveholders’ racism as it made its way into Texas. In their stories of these early days, they peel back the facade of the holy trinity of Alamo figures: Jim Bowie, William Barret Travis, and Davy Crockett. All three died at the Alamo and their surnames are memorialized on schools, streets, buildings, and even entire counties. They pull no punches describing Bowie as a “murderer, slaver, and con man;” Travis as “a pompous, racist agitator;” and Crockett as a “self-promoting old fool.”

More….

[al bupp]

1. Excellent review of a pernicious myth long overlooked

Thanks for the post.

[IrishBubbaLiberal]

2. My spouse's family of New Spain, was in what became Tejas, in 1718

Long before the asshole Gringos of the fictional Alamo arrived illegally in
New Spain…..

In fact one of her relative died in La Bahia, at that original French ‘fort’ that Texas A & M was looking for a finally think they found a few years ago.

An Indian arrow into his neck, he died I believe in 1723 on Christmas Eve
at Bahia according to written accounts

More than you wanted to know,,,,,
https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/la-bahia

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/ramon-domingo

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/nuestra-senora-de-loreto-de-la-bahia-presidio

NUESTRA SEÑORA DE LORETO DE LA BAHIA PRESIDIO.Nuestra Señora de Loreto Presidio, popularly called La Bahía, dates from April 4, 1721, when Capt. Domingo Ramón occupied the site of La Salle's Texas Settlement on the right bank of Garcitas Creek five miles above its mouth in Lavaca Bay. Ramón, as part of the Aguayo expedition, was to hold this crucial site while the main thrust of the expedition, led by the Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo, proceeded into East Texas. Aguayo’s purpose was to drive out any French and reestablish the missions abandoned in 1719 ahead of the French invasion—actually a feeble French thrust known as the Chicken War, the Texas manifestation of the War of the Quadruple Alliance.

A year after Ramón’s occupation, April 6, 1722, the Marqués de Aguayo laid out the plan for construction of fortifications at the La Salle settlement site, in southern Victoria County. The new presidio was to guard the coast against possible French intrusion: a prescient move in view of the fact that French maritime expeditions had probed the coast in 1720 and 1721, seeking “La Salle’s bay” with expectations of building fortifications.

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[IrishBubbaLiberal]

3. More details.....

Last edited Sat Mar 22, 2025, 01:52 PM - Edit history (1)

With construction begun, Aguayo placed Captain Ramón in charge of the fort and its ninety soldiers and turned his attention to the founding of Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo de Zúñiga Mission, which Peña says was “close to the presidio.” The site of this effort to Christianize the Karankawan tribes, however, has not been definitely identified.

Scarcely two years into Ramón’s administration of the presidio, he proved so inept in dealing with the mission subjects that it cost him his life. When the entire Indian population became aroused over what should have been a minor incident in the house of a soldier, the captain ordered all the Indians, including women and children, imprisoned in a small hut. Official reports of the episode claim he planned to remove them a few at a time to be hanged. Some of the Indians tried to escape, and, in the melee that followed, Ramón was stabbed in the breast. He died of the wound eight days later.

———

My NOTES……

I have read other historical accounts of his death, where it was attributed to
a arrow at his neck, and he yes died a few days later

That Texas historical website does indeed get it wrong sometimes on the details,
Or at least ONLY states one version, and leaves out other historical documentation

[al bupp]

5. Muy interesante

Muchas gracias, señor!

[Grins]

4. Old story but still fun to read.

I bought the book as soon as it came out for two reasons:

- One of the authors is Bryan Burroughs who also wrote the TERRIFIC best-seller book, “Barbarians at the Gate.”

- As soon as it was published Texas tried to ban it! In particular, Texas’ Lt. Gov., the despicable Dan Patrick.

Open the book and start reading - and you won’t put it down.

[Xipe Totec]

6. Forget the Alamo! Remember the Republic of the Rio Grande!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_the_Rio_Grande

It's now a restaurant in central McAllen.



I recommend te Ribeye Chicharrones; they're to die for!

https://www.therepublicmcallen.com/

Forget the history. Remember the food!

The story of an independent republic that was declared and fought over 10 months of 1840 started long before, during the social turmoil that embroiled Mexico and its vast geographical domain. Coming out of a valiant and victorious struggle for independence in 1821, against the 300 year rule of the Spanish Empire, Mexico adopted the constitution of 1824, which favored a federalist form of government. Almost immediately, an independent movement began the northern providence of Texas. This Texan separatist faction based their secession on the change from the federalist form of government in Mexico to a centralist one in 1836.

On November 5, 1838, Antonio Canales of Monterrey issued a proclamation calling for the re-adoption of the federalist constitution of 1824. By 1839, the citizens of Laredo had joined the case. Helped by the French blockade of Mexican ports, the federalists were able to capture several towns. By March, however, the French lifted their blockade, allowing the centralists to devote more resources to fight the federalists.

Between May and September 1839, Centralists captured Saltillo, Tampico, Monclova and Laredo. Antonio Canales and his Chief Lieutenant, Antonio Zapata, retreated on the Nueces River and sought the support of the president of Texas, Mirabeau Lamar.

In 1839, Laredo was taken back by the Federalists. By January 7th , 1840, the “Republic of the Rio Grande” was proclaimed by constitutional convention, and Laredo was named it’s capitol. On the 17th of that same month, Jesus Cardenas, a lawyer from Reynosa, was chosen president. Jose Maria Jesus Carbajal was appointed to represent the “Republic of the Rio Grande” in Texas, and enlist recruits for the army. Antonio Canales was named commander in chief .of the army, and Colonel Antonio Zapata served as commander of the calvary.

Almost immediately, the Republics forces embarked on a series of battles with Centralist forces, taking, losing and re-taking various villas along the Rio Grande, and even further south into Mexico. After a disastrous defeat at Santa Rita de Morelosin Coahulia (… in which Camale’s role was later described as cowardly and militarily inept) Federalist survivors of the battle were court-martialed, found guilty of treason, and shot. Zapata’s head was cut off, preserved in a cask of brandy, and returned to his hometown of Guerrero, where it was displayed on a pike for 3 days as a warning to others.



Sarcasm over the history. The food is for real. Seriously.

NO, really!

[Mblaze]

7. One of my favorite movies

is called "Lone Star", written and directed by John Sayles. The last line in the movie is "Forget the Alamo". That got a big round of applause from me.

[Paladin]

11. My favorite closing line of any movie, ever.

First-rate flick, by the way. Fun to watch Matthew McConaughey in an early role.

[IrishBubbaLiberal]

20. Here a write up on that movie

https://www.rogerebert.com/mzs/30-minutes-on-lone-star

Released 25 years ago this week, John Sayles’ “Lone Star” is the director’s best film and the most wide-ranging and sophisticated drama ever set in Texas. And it is the movie that best understands how Texans mythologize and lie about themselves, and how the lying and mythologizing dovetails with deception and self-deception in the rest of the nation, and the world.

“Lone Star” is set on the border separating Texas from Mexico in the fictional town of Frontera. As the story unfolds, we keep returning to the concept of the frontier as precisely that: a concept, not a real, measurable thing. The idea of “the frontier” nevertheless defined the self-image of white settlers in the 19th century, and powered the next 150 years’ worth of Western fiction, films, and TV series, as well as works in other genres that are essentially Westerns in science-fiction, crime thriller, or action movie drag (see in particular the career of director Walter Hill, who has worked in all four genres but ultimately always makes Westerns.)

But “frontier” means something different to Native Americans, Mexicans, Mexican-Americans, and Black Americans who were either displaced from their land or prevented from owning land in the first place. To them, the word was not a promise, but a threat. The phrase Manifest Destiny was even scarier, because it meant the assimilation and conquering was ordained by a higher power. The word ‘border,’ likewise, can mean everything or nothing depending on who’s using it. As one “Lone Star” character points out, a bird flying from the US to Mexico doesn’t see, much less recognize, a border.

Sayles’ script starts out telling stories of white, Black, Mexican-American and Mexican people that seem to be unfolding along parallel lines, with rare points of intersection. But when you get to the end, you realize they were never really separate—that, in fact, seemingly independent, self determined lives were set in motion decades ago by actions of parents or ancestors that our main players barely knew (or were told lies about). The result is a web of interdependence that requires representatives of every major demographic group to compromise their values, initially for survival and then (after they assimilate and have children) for land, money, and comfort. The separations cease to be important except as arbitrary markers of power, and by the end of the movie, all boundaries dissolve, even those determined by race, culture, and family bloodline. What makes “Lone Star” feel so honest and timeless is its insistence that its characters are just human beings, and when they act in cowardly, acquisitive, or treacherous ways, they are behaving in accordance with their conditioning, in ways they may not realize. And even when they strive to do their best, they fall short.

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[Mblaze]

21. Sayles's movies always have real human beings.

That's part of the reason I like them so much. His movie called "Matewan" is a great one as well. Thanks for the Ebert. 😀

PS - Forget the Alamo.

[bhikkhu]

8. Well said. I have a friend who is into the "Moorish American" thing

which has a whole fictitious back-story behind it. Talking with him about it, I used Texas as an example of how a lot of nation's (or regions) self-identities are based on fictions and creatively invented stories. He's at the "I want to believe" stage with the whole thing, and tends to lean whichever way the last person he talked to pushed him. It's easy to understand the psychology of it, but hard for me to imagine being so pliable.

[ashredux]

9. Folks, this is an easy one. We were stealing their land.

I repeat, we were out here stealing their land. They were fighting back. Simple as that.

[gay texan]

18. One other item you forget

They wanted slavery

[niyad]

10. Thank you for the reminder of this very important book. I read it

last year, and it made me even more glad that I managed to get tossed out of that place.

[Shipwack]

12. Excellent book! Abbott hates it... lol

Governor Abbot pulled strings to have a book reading at a local college campus cancelled at the last minute.

❄️

[Paladin]

13. Best book ever written about The Alamo is a novel.

"Gates Of The Alamo" by Stephen Harrigan. Outstanding work, highest recommendation.

[Zorro]

14. In Ulysses S. Grant's Autobiography

Last edited Sat Mar 22, 2025, 02:10 PM - Edit history (1)

He said the root cause of our Civil War was the admission of Texas as a slave state.

The Mexican-American War was instigated by Americans illegally immigrating into Mexican territory and bringing along their slaves, which Mexico had outlawed.

[raccoon]

16. Thanks for posting this. It wasn't until a few years ago that I learned that the "Mexican War"

was really about slavery.

[momta]

17. I was born in Travis County (Austin)

Grew up in East Texas, and when I was taught "Texas History" in seventh grade, my teacher was famous for crying when she taught the Alamo. Sure enough, she cried. And yeah, I got the bullshit, whitewashed (pun intended) version.

It always surprises me how people are so afraid to learn the history of the land they live in. Texas' history is of a piece with American history, which is completely in line with colonial world history. I'm a better person for knowing the crimes committed by my ancestors, and the pain and suffering that they caused, just as I am a better person for knowing of the selfless heroes who came before me.

[Texasgal]

19. I'm not shocked by this.

I remember learning Texas History in school before American History... Looking back it seems odd. Plus, the stories and the "history" never seemed to match up to anecdotal stories passed down for generations.

[Paladin]

22. I saw the 1960 John Wayne "Alamo" movie.

Me and all my fellow elementary school students, along with all the kids in the entire fucking school district. Free tickets and transportation to the theaters, for thousands of us. Any of you old-timers remember seeing it under similar circumstances?

Third-rate, piece-of-shit propaganda flick, spread by the Texas education system. If you ever wonder how Texas became such a far-right state, keep this in mind.