Emergency Backup Overnight Thread – Remember the Alamo Edition – March 6, 2025

Before we start tonight’s ONT, here is a quick note from Weird Dave with a couple important updates…

[Hello Morons! This is Weird Dave, I want to thank Buck and Roger for covering the ONT these next 2 nights, as I have to be in Baltimore for my sister's memorial service. I did need to write this intro, however, because I have an update from our dear friend Jim Sunk New Dawn:

I didn't change a word. It's hard to edit through tears. We love you Jim. – Weird Dave]

I’ve also had the good fortune of corresponding with Jim Sunk New Dawn, as Galveston is a place that is dear to my heart, where I spent a lot of time in my younger days chasing speckled trout and other coastal delights. I’ve said a prayer for Jim, his loved ones, and those who are caring for him, and I encourage you to do so too. He’s family to all of us.

On to the Overnight Thread…

Today is the 189th anniversary of the fall of the Alamo in 1836. For us boys growing up in Texas, the Alamo loomed large in our cultural identity. In the words of Pappy O’Daniels’ “Beautiful Texas”…

Beautiful, beautiful Texas
Where the beautiful bluebonnets grow
We’re proud of our forefathers
Who fought at the Alamo

The Alamo obviously loomed large in the entire American psyche too, as evidenced by the ongoing fascination with David Crockett, the many movies made about the Alamo, and the lingering power of William Travis’ letter from the Alamo. Eleven days before the Alamo fell, Col. Travis sent his famous letter which read:

Commandancy of the The Alamo

Bejar, Feby. 24th. 1836

To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World-

Fellow Citizens & compatriots-

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. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch - The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country - Victory or Death.

Ron Howard’s 2004 movie “The Alamo” was excellent, but it did not get good reviews. The reason for the bad reviews, of course, was that the left-wing media simply hates the story of the Alamo, and how the heroes of the Alamo are valorized in American culture.

Billy Bob Thornton’s performance as David Crockett was exceptional, and if you’ve never seen it, here is a little snippet, with Crockett (Thornton) taking a potshot at Santa Anna.

The Alamo, which is just a few steps away from San Antonio’s Riverwalk, remains the most visited tourist site in the state of Texas. And since 1985, visitors have been asking about the basement of the Alamo.

While there are several great songs about the Battle of the Alamo, including Marty Robbins’ classic Ballad of the Alamo, my favorite is “Stout and High” by Monte Warden & The Wagoneers. The Texas rockabilly legends capture the bravado of the Texians as they stand firm, and then the horror as the Mexican army breaches the walls of the Alamo compound.

Come on, Santa Anna
Give us your best try;
Come on, Santa Anna
These walls are stout and high

The fighting at the northern wall
Seems to have stopped;
Did you see Travis fall?
God save Texas and my kids,
Have mercy on my soul;
Great God they′re in the wall!

This 1849 daguerreotype is the earliest photograph taken of the Alamo chapel. In fact, it’s the only known photograph taken in Texas before 1850. It was taken just 13 years after the battle.

The famous arched gable façade was not part of the structure that Travis, Bowie, and Crockett knew - it was added around 1850 by the US Army Quartermasters Corp, at which time the Alamo chapel was being used as an Army storage depot.

This is an amazing account of the Battle of the Alamo from the last known survivor. Enrique Esparza was the 8-year old son of a Tejano named Gregorio Esparza, who was one of the Alamo defenders. (Although all adult male defenders were put to the sword by Santa Anna’s troops, women and children were mostly spared.) This is Enrique’s recollection published in 1902, which was 66 years after the battle.

There is much more at Traces of Texas’ Twitter-X link, but here is part of his account:

On the first night a company of which my father was one went out and captured some prisoners. One of them was a Mexican soldier, and all through the siege, he interpreted the bugle calls on the Mexican side, and in this way the Americans know about the movements of the enemy. After the first day there was fighting. The Mexicans had a cannon somewhere near where Dwyer avenue now is, and every fifteen minutes they dropped a shot into the fort. The roof of the Alamo had been taken off and the south side filled up with dirt almost to the roof on that side so that there was a slanting embankment up which the Americans could run and take positions. During the fight I saw numbers who were shot in the head as soon as they exposed themselves from the roof. There were holes made in the walls of the fort and the Americans continually shot from these also. We also had two cannon, one at the main entrance and one at the northwest corner of the fort near the post office. The cannon were seldom fired. "I remember Crockett. He was a tall, slim man, with black whiskers. He was always at the head. The Mexicans called him Don Benito. The Americans said he was Crockett. He would often come to the fire and warm his hands and say a few words to us in the Spanish language. I also remember hearing the names of Travis and Bowie mentioned, but I never saw either of them that I know of.

There are so many legacies of the Alamo, but America’s manifest destiny might not have played out as it did were it not for those brave men who sacrificed their lives and interrupted Santa Anna’s march through Texas. For two weeks the Mexican Army was stalled in San Antonio, and great losses were inflicted on it by the Alamo defenders, before Santa Anna could resume his pursuit of Sam Houston’s main Texian army.

Without the Alamo, Santa Anna might well have routed Sam Houston’s army and prevented Texas from becoming, well, Texas. But instead, Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna’s troops at San Jacinto seven weeks later. Much of western North America was thus liberated from Mexico’s control.

Throckmorton’s First Law of Live Music: “If There’s an Upright Bass in the Band, It’s Probably Going to Be Good”

Enough history. It’s time swing on out of here, and what better way than some fiddlin’ around with the Quebe Sisters on “Across the Alley from the Alamo”

Remember the Alamo!

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 10:00 PM

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