San Antonio

 January 25, 2021 

It's time to go see the Alamo.

Cleaned up Alamo by blog photo editor

"The Alamo Mission, commonly called the Alamo and originally known as the Misión San Antonio de Valero, is a historic Spanish mission and fortress compound founded in the 18th century by Roman Catholic missionaries in what is now San Antonio, Texas"  Yes, it is in downtown San Antonio, it has so many trees now it's an odd green oasis in the city.  Of course, it was not green at all but dry rocky ground back in the 1800's.

We started off our tour with a half hour history talk.  It was a rapid fire history of what lead up to the battle at the Alamo.  He also covered some of the people involved.

"William Barret Travis (1809-1836) Lawyer, Soldier and Alamo Defender

William Barret Travis accomplished much before his death at the Alamo in 1836. A native of South Carolina, Travis was raised in Alabama where he taught school, edited a newspaper, and passed the bar all before turning 21. He moved to Texas in 1831 to escape debt and a failing marriage. 

Travis quickly became involved in opposition to what many saw as tyrannical laws passed by Mexican administrations fearful of unruly American colonists in Texas. In 1832, his behavior sparked a small revolt in the town of Anahuac. Despite his distrust of the Mexican government, Travis became a close associate of Stephen F. Austin and other significant colonists.

Travis welcomed the split with Mexico when it came in 1835. During the Siege of Béxar, Captain Travis captured a Mexican supply train at the Grass Fight. Travis and a small company of mercenaries arrived in Bexar in February 1836 to reinforce the Alamo. Travis' definitive cry, "Victory or Death" ensured that Texans remembered the Alamo."  He is also the author of the letter I saw at the Bryan Museum in Galveston requesting support at the Alamo.

"Susannah Dickinson (1814-1883) Alamo Survivor and Business Woman

A native of Tennessee, Susannah Dickinson and her husband, Almeron, settled in Gonzales, Texas in 1831. The couple had one daughter, Angelina, prior to the Texas Revolution. Living in San Antonio de Béxar in February 1836, the family took shelter in the Alamo upon the arrival of the Mexican Army.

The Dickinson and the Esparza families shared quarters in the sacristy of the Alamo's church throughout the thirteen-day-long siege. Mrs. Dickinson later recalled her husband rushing into the room on the morning of March 6 and exclaiming, "Great God Sue, the Mexicans are inside our walls! All is lost! If they spare you, save my child.” After the battle, she along with her daughter and several others were freed and told to spread the word about what had happened.  Although the Texas government eventually compensated the widows of the Alamo, life was hard. Susannah endured several bad marriages before marrying Joseph William Hannig. The couple settled in Austin where Susannah ran a boarding house until her death in 1883."

"James Bowie (1796-1836) Frontiersman, Entrepreneur, Soldier and Alamo Defender

James Bowie represented the fluid nature of the frontier, born in Kentucky but living in Missouri and Louisiana before finally settling in Texas. Along the way, he gained a reputation as a deadly duelist with a knife.  Bowie traveled to Texas in 1830 after experiencing several business setbacks. He quickly established a connection to Martín de Veramendi, a powerful San Antonio de Béxar merchant-politician, by marrying his daughter Ursula. This alliance would be cut short when Martín and Ursula died of cholera in 1833. A natural leader, Bowie played an important role in the Texas Revolution. Concerned over the defense of Béxar, General Sam Houston sent Bowie and a small band of volunteers to investigate the situation. Once there, the town's commander, James C. Neill, and Bowie declared that they would "rather die in these ditches than give up this post to the enemy?' Bowie and William B. Travis served as co-commanders of the Alamo until Bowie became so ill that he was confined to his sickbed, where he was killed on March 6, 1836."  Not sure about this guy in summary he was good with a knife, bad in business and died at the Alamo.  And this was the best things they could say about him?

"Juan Nepomuceno Seguín (1806-1890) Statesman, Scout, Courier and Mayor of San Antonio

Born to a prominent San Antonio family, Juan Nepomuceno Seguín led a life of service to his community. He was both a solider and politician, becoming Mayor of San Antonio in 1841.

During the Texas Revolution, Seguín supported independence. He served as an Alamo courier, and valiantly led his fellow Tejanos as a Captain at the Battle of San Jacinto. After accepting the formal surrender of Mexican forces at San Antonio, Seguín oversaw the burial ceremonies for the Alamo defenders' ashes.  Seguín remained an important figure in the new Republic of Texas. He served in the Senate and was instrumental in having all laws printed in both English and Spanish. Following a number of political setbacks, Seguín left Texas for Mexico where in 1842 he aided the Mexican Army's effort to recapture San Antonio.  Seguín eventually settled in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico where he died in 1890. His remains were returned to the land that he loved and re-interred on July 4, 1976 in present-day Seguin, Texas."  Okay he was successful, at least until he switched sides.

Davy Crockett, 

"While in Congress, Crockett made a name for himself as a gifted storyteller and the “gentleman from the cane,” a snobbish reference to his rural upbringing. He also became the subject of a play and a series of books and almanacs which included tall tales about his exploits as a bear-hunting frontiersman.

Hoping to set the record straight about the reality of his life and change his folk hero reputation, Crockett wrote an autobiography and went on tour promoting it. When he returned and lost his seat in Congress, he famously said, “I told the people of my district that I would serve them faithfully as I had done; but if not, they might go to hell, and I will go to Texas.” And he did. Yes, today shirts are sold that say You can go to hell and I will go to Texas. 

And this was the attitude of the defenders of the Alamo, victory or death.  They volunteered to defend Texas and felt it deep in their souls.  They fought the Mexican army made up of men forced into service, hundreds of miles from home, fighting over land that they had no concern over.  The Alamo held on over 12 days of attacks until the last attack where they were greatly outnumbered.

Artist rendition of dawn on March 6, 1836

It took 20 seconds to reload a musket, it was impossible for 200 to defend against 1,800

It's beautiful here today with trees and plantings everywhere.  

Not at all what it looked like in 1836

Here is the back of the Alamo.  At the time of the battle there was no roof and a cannon

was set up to shoot over this wall.

The side wall of the Alamo shows the depth of the building.

Unfortunately no photos were allowed while inside.

While in San Antonio we took a stroll on the Riverwalk.

It felt a little like going down to the subway to get to the Riverwalk.

Once there it seemed more like a manmade canal.  It is lined with upscale restaurants.

And here is a great statue in front of the Museum of Western Art.

The Alamo is the first of five Missions that still remain in San Antonio-

let's go see the other four.

"Misión de La Concepción

More than a church, Mission Concepcion was also a village, fort, school, farm, and ranch.

At the missions the Franciscans gathered the native peoples together, converted them to Catholicism, taught them Spanish culture. and sought to establish Spanish control of the Texas frontier."

The church was painted with vivid colors

An original fresco on the ceiling still remains today

Another over a doorway has survived it was painted over 200 years ago.

"Mission San José

The population of San José fluctuated greatly, depending on external threats and epidemics, Some years it approached 300. The goal of the missionaries, to teach local Indians to live and worship as Spaniards and ultimately, to exist independently of the mission"

Front gate

"Mission San José and its surrounding fields, called labores, sustained a thriving community of Indians and Spaniards. Within the walls Indians lived, worshipped, and attended classes. They learned to blacksmith, to weave on European looms, to cut stone, and to make shoes and cotton clothes. Outside the walls, the mission Indians tended fields, orchards, and livestock."

Side gate. 

"the remains of the convento, which provided housing for missionaries and lay assistants. In 1785, the convento had nine rooms downstairs and five upstairs, covered by a flat roof. The ruins standing today reflect a major reconstruction begun by Benedictine monks in 1861-work that was never completed."

front doors of the church

 (e. 1782) 

THE MILL

"By means of acequias or ditches, this mill, the oldest in Texas, was run by water from the San Antonio River.  The lower part of the mill is original. The upper room is restored After powering the mill, the water was conducted through the lower ditch to irrigate the fields.

Mission San Juan Capistrano was founded in 1731 by Spanish Catholics of the Franciscan Order, on the eastern banks of the San Antonio River in present-day San Antonio, Texas. The new settlement was named for a 15th-century theologian and warrior priest who resided in the Abruzzo region of Italy.

An unfinished church, no one is certain why 10 years of effort was stopped

Inside the church

Us at Mission San Juan under the bell tower

"Imagine a vast country without highways, walls, or buildings. This was Texas before the arrival of the Franciscans a great open landscape crisscrossed by nomadic hunters searching for food. Yet, in the span of a single lifetime, Coahuiltecan Indians found themselves farming at Mission Espada, and learning the complexities of laying brick and stone.  The enclosed community they built-stout, orderly, and focused on the church-echoed the traditions of Europe in the Middle Ages. Thus the structure of the Indians' world was forever changed."

"While the friars were Europeans the master craftsmen for the Texas missions were mestizos -part Indian, part European. These maestros from Mexico combined the building traditions of Mesoamerica with those of the Mediterranean Vocational training was a cornerstone of Spanish mission work."  The archway is made from "  Thinner and wider than bricks of today, 18th-century ladrillos that closely resemble the size and shape of Roman bricks, brought into Spain over two millennia ago."

For more than sixty years, this mission plaza was a busy place of learning-of faith and works, language and traditions. Along with practicing hymns, prayers, and doctrines, mission Indians learned the skills needed to grow crops, to raise cattle, sheep, goats and pigs, to work iron, to produce textiles, to make bricks, and to build with masonry.  Fortified by powerful zeal, Franciscan brothers strove to teach the Coahuiltecans how to work and worship as Europeans did-a requirement, in the Spanish mind, for the Indians to become productive servants of God and loyal subjects of the King of Spain.

"Originally built to be just a sacristy, a small room where priests prepare for Mass, this has been Espada's sanctuary for over 200 years.  In the 19th century, the church fell into disrepair. A French parish priest, Reverend Francis Bouchu, reconstructed it, adding the transepts you see today. The façade with its curious door is original 1740-1773

church at Mission Espinoda

 The bells are what makes this mission church for me.

San Antonio, the Alamo, the Mission Trail

Another good day.