Remember the Alamo: March 6, 1836

In our continuing observation of Irish-American Heritage Month at SVDP-ALC, we take you now back in time to the Republic of Texas to a small mission called The Alamo. (The photos from Wikipedia Commons are of an old map and a photo from the 1860's.) In the War for Texas Independence, 180 Texans and Americans held out for 13 days against the Mexican Army of Santa Anna of about 4,000 men plus Mexican cavalry and artillery units. Defending the Alamo were three noted leaders of Scotch-Irish descent -- Colonel William Travis, Jim Bowie, and Davy Crockett. (Several of Crockett's men were Irish as well.) Irish immigrants and Irish-Americans were also were a large part of a uniformed unit which came from New Orleans. They were called The New Orleans Greys (they wore grey and white uniforms). Most of the Alamo defenders did not wear actual uniforms except for the New Orleans Greys. The New Orleans Greys fought in almost every battle in the War for Texas Independence from Bexar, Pan Patricio, Coleto, and Goliad, to the Alamo. The few remaining, who were not at the Alamo, were later at the Battle of San Jacinto. They were bold and excellent fighters; but at the Alamo, they were greatly outnumbered.

All of the members of the New Orleans Greys who were at the Alamo died along with Travis, Bowie, and the legendary Davy Crockett. The Mexican Army lost about 500 men in the battle, killed our wounded. The Alamo fell on March 6, 1836. The 180 defenders who died there gave Sam Houston, the overall commander of the Texan military, time to train a new army for Texas which eventually defeated Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto and won independence for Texas. Eventually, Texas joined the United States. At San Jacinto Sam Houston rallied his men to victory with the war cry: "Remember the Alamo!"

An article about the Irish at the Alamo appears in "Irish Connections" magazine, see

http://www.irishconnectionsmag.com/archives/v5i2/alamo.htm The article lists 13 Alamo defenders who died as being born in Ireland. Their names are given as follows: Smith Bailey, Joseph M. Hawkins, James Nolan, Samuel Burns, William D. Jackson, Jackson C. Rusk, Andrew Duvalt, Edward McCafferty, Burke Tramell, Robert Evans, James McGee, William B. Ward, Robert McKinney. A good book about the Alamo is Volunteers in the Texas Revolution: The New Orleans Greys by Gary Brown. It discusses New Orleans' contribution to the Texas war and the Irish among the troops.

Although many Irish died at the Alamo, this was not the first time the Irish had fought for America (or Texas) and it was not the last, as we will see throughout Irish-American Heritage Month at the SVDP-ALC blog. Stay tuned...

REMEMBER THE ALAMO !!

Adrian