317freedom/ and that is all we need to know.” Such words made
sense to Wayne’s audience in 1960s America, then embroiled
in a “cold war” against Communism. Santa Anna, a “tyrannical
ruler,” was akin to Soviet Communism, and the defenders of
the Alamo were freedom fighters. But this analogy makes lit-
tle historical sense. Mexico had outlawed slavery while the
Texas rebels drafted a constitution that legalized slavery and
prohibited the immigration of free blacks. From that perspec-
tive, Mexico stood for freedom, Texas for slavery.
The 2004 movie offered an alternative explanation of
the defenders’ self-sacrifice, citing the words of Travis:“We
will show the world what patriots are made of.” This notion of
a death for posthumous honor was most strikingly scripted
in the character of Davy Crockett, played by Billy Bob
Thornton. As the prospects for reinforcement fade,
Thornton’s Crockett muses about escaping:
If it was just simple old me, David, from Tennessee, I might
drop over the wall some night and take my chances. But
this Davy Crockett feller, they are all watching him. He’s
been fightin’ on this wall every day of his life.
This resonates with what we know about the real
Crockett. Similarly, the actual Travis, who had abandoned his
wife and neglected his children, wrote a letter before the final
battle hoping that he would leave his boy “the proud recollec-
tion that he is the son of a man who died for his country.”
Much the same could have been said of the others at the
Alamo. Most had grown up beneath the long shadow of the
Revolutionary generation that had fought and died to found
a great nation. As the men of the Alamo looked upon a hori-
zon darkened by enemy troops, they perhaps realized that
their deaths would assure their own immortality. The Alamo
would not be forgotten, although doubtless none could have
imagined the malleability of memory centuries later.In this famous painting by Robert Onderdonk, Davy Crockett fights to the death after the walls of the Alamo have been
breached. John Wayne’s Crockett, by contrast, grabs a torch, runs to the powder room and blows it (and himself) up. The
2004 movie proposes yet another interpretation ostensibly based on an eyewitness account of a Mexican soldier: Crockett
was among a handful of defenders who survived the Mexican attack and was subsequently executed by Santa Anna.
Scholars debate the authenticity of this account. How Crockett died is not known for sure.
Source: Robert Jenkins Onderdonk, Fall of the Alamo. Friends of the Governor's Mansion, Austin, Texas.Billy Bob Thornton as Crockett.Questions for Discussion
■How was the rebellion of the Texas settlers against
Santa Anna comparable to the Founders’ battle against
the British in 1776? How did it differ?
■Why do some events and people leave a deep imprint
upon subsequent generations?