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Both movies show the tension between the hard-drinking
Bowie and the prim young Travis; each seeks overall command
of the garrison. Travis proposed that the soldiers vote on the
matter. When Bowie won, Travis reneged: He would retain com-
mand of the “regular”Texas troops. This dispute, confirmed in
the historical records and useful for dramatic purposes, made
little difference in the end. Soon Bowie was out of action,
stricken by dysentery or consumption and confined to bed.
Dysentery, in fact, incapacitated about a fifth of the garrison.
Both movies ended with the battle that began on March
6, the thirteenth day of the siege. Within an hour, resistance
had been silenced. All of the defenders were dead; some
500–600 Mexicans were killed, many caught in their own
crossfire as they converged upon the Alamo.
Both movies mostlyadhere to these facts. The 1960 movie
added many fanciful plot elements: John Wayne’s Crockett
spends his nights stealing Mexican cattle, destroying their can-
non, and romancing their prettiest senorita. There is no evi-
dence for any of this. Both movies also show Santa Anna
pounding the Alamo with artillery fusillades. In fact, Santa Anna
had no big cannon. Some of his generals urged him to post-
pone the attack until heavier cannon had arrived; they would
reduce the Alamo to rubble, sparing the heavy losses of a
frontal assault.(Santa Anna, eager for victory in battle, refused
to wait.) The 1960 movie also contends, wrongly, that Bowie
wanted to abandon the Alamo while Travis insisted on staying.
In fact, both men thought it essential to hold the Alamo. Sam
Houston, by contrast, thought it was unwise for the comman-
ders to have allowed their men to be “forted up” and destroyed.
All in all, the 2004 movie sticks closer to the historical
record. The most obvious example is that it shows Santa
Anna’s army surprising the Texans by attacking in predawn
darkness. Wayne did not have the option of filming a battle
scene at night: Few cinematographers of the era knew how
to film a battle in the darkness.
The main question—for historians and movie makers—
concerns the motivations of the defenders. Why did they persist
against impossible odds? Santa Anna had signaled his intention
to take no prisoners—certainly reason enough to fight on—but
there was an alternative. Until the final forty-eight hours or so,
escape was possible. Messengers and even small groups of men
slipped through Santa Anna’s lines at night. Some historians
contend that the defenders remained at their posts because
they expected to be rescued, but the defenders of the Alamo
were not fools. The impossibility of their situation was clear. Why,
then, did most choose to remain and die?
John Wayne’s movie provided a simple answer. Wayne’s
Crockett is fighting for freedom:“Republic. I like the sound of
that word. Means people can live free, talk free. Go or come,
buy or sell. Republic is one of the words that makes you tight
in the throat, same tightness he gets when his baby takes his
first step.” If viewers missed the point, the song played dur-
ing the credits pounded it home:“They fought to give usA
lamo, Pearl Harbor, 9/11: Each of these syllables has been
seared into the national consciousness. Each galvanized
Americans to go to war; and each has persisted in memory.
Two movies entitled The Alamohave influenced how
Americans remember the event: John Wayne directed the
1960 movie by that name, and also starred in it as Davy
Crockett. The second was a 2004 release by director John Lee
Hancock. Both movies briskly establish the historical context:
Mexico secures independence from Spain in 1821, with Texas
as a state within the Mexican federation. Antonio Lopez de
Santa Anna, a Mexican general who regarded himself as the
“Napoleon of the West,” becomes dictator of Mexico. The
American settlers in Texas seize several of Santa Anna’s gar-
risons, including the Alamo, a fortified Spanish mission near
San Antonio.
Neither movie explains that, up to this time, Santa Anna
had been razing Zacatecas, a Mexican state that had also
opposed his rule. Early in 1836, though, he marched an army
of several thousand soldiers north to crush the Texas rebels.
Late in February, his advance units entered San Antonio and
took up positions outside the Alamo. Both movies show the
Texans sending riders to get reinforcements from the fledg-
ling Texas government at Washington-on-the-Brazos, far to
the east. There Sam Houston tried but failed to find a way to
relieve the beleaguered garrison.
At the Alamo, the defenders, probably fewer than
200, were divided into three sets of volunteers and a
fourth group, consisting of the “regular” soldiers of the
Texas government, commanded by William B. Travis, a
twenty-six-year-old cavalryman. One of the volunteer
groups was led by Jim Bowie, an Indian fighter known for
his long-bladed knife. David Crockett, the bear-hunter-
turned-Congressman-turned-celebrity led the second
group of volunteer fighters. (See Chapter 9, American
Lives, “Davy Crockett.”) The third group of volunteers con-
sisted of Mexicans seeking to restore the Mexican republic
(a point neither movie explains).
RE-VIEWING THE PAST
The Alamo
John Wayne as Crockett.