For those of you who don't know, today is the 178th Anniversary of the Last Siege of the Alamo. As a Texan, I know this date like the back of my hand, but some people, especially those ones who live outside the US, don't know what exactly occurred on this date. It's also my dad's birthday and Michael Finley's birthday.
Texas, a state of Mexico, was fighting for its independence, because they felt that they were far too different from the rest of the country. They weren't being oppressed or anything. However, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, Mexico's dictator, refused to let its largest state just leave. He sent troops into Texas, and the Texas Revolution began. :)
After the Battle of San Antonio, a raid on the largest city in Texas at that time by Ben Milam, a group of a few hundred Texan soldiers camped out in an old mission, called San Antonio de Valero, but later renamed the Alamo. They knew that they had to hold this spot from the invading Mexican forces. Santa Anna invaded Texas with an army of 5,000 trained soldiers and immediately sieged the Alamo. No reinforcements, besides a few dozen, came to the lost fort. However, the Colonel in charge, William Barret Travis, offered his men a chance to leave the fort, and live, or stay, and die. Nobody left amongst the 189 men, that included frontier hero Davy Crockett, and James Bowie, the namesake of the Bowie Knife.
Anyway, in the morning of March 6, 1836, the Mexican soldiers invaded the fort, with the orders to kill everyone, except women and children. Every single one of the fighters died, except for one: Travis' slave whom the Mexican army felt sorry for. However, in losing every single one of their army, the Texans killed over 1100 Mexicans. Thanks to their heroic effort, Sam Houston, the Army General of Texas, felt inspired on April 22 when he led his forces on a surprise attack at San Jacinto and won Texas's independence.
So, make sure to remember what someone else's forefathers did for someone else on this day. Enter the sacrifice.
This public service announcement has been brought to you by KB.
EDIT: Typos galore.
