Remember the Alamo!

On February 23, 1836, the Siege of the Alamo began. The fort fell on March 6, 1936. On the second day of the battle, William Barrett Travis wrote a letter to the people of Texas. It began,

I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna — I have sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man — The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken — I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls — I shall never surrender or retreat.

The bravery of the garrison that fell at the Alamo became a rallying cry, "Remember the Alamo," and the Texans under Sam Houston, a former Maryvillian, defeated the Mexican army under Santa Anna in the Battle of San Jacinto to gain Texan independence from Mexico.