Exodus from the Alamo: The Anatomy of the Last Stand Myth
ISBN: , SKU: , AUTHOR: Tucker, Phillip Thomas, PUBLISHER: Casemate Publishers and Book Distributors, A startling new analysis of one of America's most glorious battles... Contrary to movie and legend, we now know that ong>theong> defenders of ong>theong> Alamo in ong>theong> war for Texan independence-including Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and William B. Travis-did not die under brilliant sunlight, defending ong>theong>ir positions against hordes of Mexican infantry. Instead ong>theong> Mexicans launched a predawn attack, surmounting ong>theong> walls in darkness, forcing a wild melee inside ong>theong> fort before many of its defenders had even awoken. In this book, Dr. Tucker, after deep research into recently discovered Mexican accounts and ong>theong> forensic evidence, informs us that ong>theong> traditional myth of ong>theong> Alamo is even more off-base: most of ong>theong> Alamo's defenders died in breakouts ong>fromong> ong>theong> fort, cut down by Santa Anna's cavalry that had been pre-positioned to intercept ong>theong> escapees. To be clear, a number of ong>theong> Alamo's defenders hung on inside ong>theong> fort, fighting back every way ong>theong>y could. Captain Dickinson, with cannon atop ong>theong> chapel (in which his wife hid), fired repeatedly into ong>theong> Mexican throng of enemy cavalry until he was finally cut down. ong>Theong> controversy on Crockett still remains, though ong>theong> recently auong>theong>nticated diary of ong>theong> Mexican de la Pena offers evidence that he surrendered. ong>Theong> most startling aspect of this book is that most of ong>theong> Texans, in two gallantly led groups, broke out of ong>theong> fort after ong>theong> enemy had broken in, and ong>theong> primary fights took place on ong>theong> plain outside. Still fighting desperately, ong>theong> Texans' retreat was halted by cavalry, and afterward Mexican lancers plied ong>theong>ir trade with bloodcurdling charges into ong>theong> midst of ong>theong> remaining resisters. Notoriously, Santa Anna burned ong>theong> bodies of ong>theong> Texans who had dared stand against him. As this book proves in thorough detail, ong>theong> funeral pyres were well outside ong>theong> fort-that is, where ong>theong> two separate groups of escapers fell on ong>theong> plain, raong>theong>r than in ong>theong> Alamo itself.