From Goliad to the ALamo
Many people from the U.S. came to fight, among which the most notable was Davy Crockett. He was stationed at the Alamo and fought in the defense for it. The Alamo was reinforced with about 67 more soldiers. These were added to Colonel James C. Neill's 104 soldiers. Also, 9 Tejanos (Mexicans fighting for the Texans) defended the Alamo. In February of 1836, Colonel Neill left the Alamo due to family illness. Colonel James Bowie became the leader of the volunteers and Lieutenant Colonel William B. Travis became the leader of the regular army. On February 23, 1836, the advance wing of the Mexican army arrived at the Alamo. The Texans were very surprised but they had already strengthened some of the defenses because they knew they had too few men to fight off an attack if there was one. Travis wrote a letter to the "people of Texas and all Americans in the world" to come and help the defenders at the Alamo. He also sent Juan Seguin and some other messengers to ask for help from Sam Houston.On March 1, 1836, about 32 more volunteers snuck into the Alamo. However, Travis still knew that he couldn't win. When Santa Anna asked him to surrender, he fired a cannon in reply. On March 6, 1836 the Mexicans launched a full scale attack on the Alamo.The 3rd wave of Mexican troops made it into the Alamo and started killing the defenders. As more and more troops poured in, the situation became hopeless. The Texans fought bravely to the end, killing 600-1,000 Mexicans at the cost of 189-250 defenders. Almost all male defenders were killed and only women and children were spared. Texas was shocked. Next came Goliad. General James Fannin's 300 troops were defeated by General Jose Urrea's 300-500 troops. On March 20, 1836 Fannin requested surrender. The Battle of Goliad had ended but the fate of Fannin and his troops were still to come. Santa Anna ordered that the Texans be executed, even after General Urrea requested that their lives be spared. On March 27, 1836, Palm Sunday, Urrea reluctantly executed almost all Texan male prisoners. About 350 Texans were executed. Both the Alamo and Goliad angered many Texan soldiers. They made the war cries "Remember the Alamo!" and "Remember Goliad", an important rallying point.