The Alamo

There are a handful of moments of human bravery that ring down through the millennia: Leonidas and the Spartans at Thermopylae, the Royal Engineers at Rorke’s Drift, the Americans at Bastogne, the RAF in the Battle of Britain and last, but not least, the brave defenders of the Alamo. In all these cases, men chose to stand against overwhelming odds, knowing that they were buying freedom with their own blood. Today, 175 years to the day it fell to the army of Santa Anna, the spirit of the Alamo continues in the minds and hearts of a free and blessed people as a shining moment in human history.

As with the rest of the New World, Texas began as a battleground between the competing monarchies of Europe. As to the New World, Spaniards had funded Columbus in 1492 and then begun missions in 1493 to control the vast tracts of the new world. The English were here in 1497 and later ashore in 1607 in Jamestown and the French in 1424 and trying settlements in 1534 and beyond. The Dutch, a great naval power at one time (a non-monarchy), began in 1609 and settled New Amsterdam (New York).

Spanish settlements, or missions, began in Texas around the 1680’s. The need for more Spanish Texas missions was seen in 1689 when the remains of La Salle'sFort Saint Louis were discovered near Matagorda Bay. In the next century, the long, dry desert passage from Mexico and the small amount of settlement in the missions and presidios meant that the Spanish and Mexican governments were unable to protect the Spanish ranches and inhabitants from the new horse-centered raiding Comanches. The Comanches had once been a mountain tribe from the northern Rockies, but they took to the new horses with a daring and ability that soon made them the paramount warriors of the staked plains of Texas. They lived and thrived hunting bison and raiding, looting and burning the ranches and missions as far south as Guatemala. The Spanish and Mexican infantry assigned to the defense of the missions were hopelessly outclassed and outmaneuvered and all too often killed.

By the early 1800’s, Mexico had become an independent republic with a federal constitution in 1824. In order to provide a buffer between the Mexican settlers and the Comanche raiders, the Mexican government decided to allow Anglo settlers from the United States under Stephen Austin and other promoters to live in a large swath of territory from the Sabine River over to about Austin. Until about 1830, this policy was thought to be working, but the Anglos took a dim view of the murder and torture committed by the Comanches and fought back. The Indians soon learned that the well armed, pugnacious Anglos were too tough an opponent. The Anglos took their vengeance out on the Comanches (and any other tribe that happened to be nearby) with a brutal determination that matched that of the Indians. The Comanches wisely opted to avoid the Anglos and ride around them to get to the Mexicans.

At this point, the Mexican Government (hijacked by Santa Anna – famous for his opportunistic support of whoever offered him the best deal) elected Santa Anna as President in 1833. He called himself “Napoleon of the West” in a flagrant effort at self-promotion. The Mexican Constitution of 1824 – the republican form of government – was replaced in 1836 by the new dictatorship of Santa Anna. The Mexican government had already been upset by the increase of Anglos in east Texas, by now far outnumbering the remaining Mexicans. In addition, the Anglos had a long tradition – fostered by the Second Amendment of the US Constitution – of insisting in being armed. With several states rebelling against the new Santa Anna dictatorship already, the last thing Santa Anna needed was 30,000 angry armed Anglos with a tradition contrary to dictators.

Stephen Austin, a long-time supporter of Mexico, had been imprisoned for two years when he went to Mexico City to ask for continued immigration. On his return to Texas, his ardor for Mexican rule had cooled somewhat.

At this point, Santa Anna made the same mistake the British had made in Lexington and Concord. He sent troops to disarm the Anglos in Goliad and San Antonio. In Goliad, General Urrea offered surrender terms to the garrison, provided they gave up their cannon. Foreign officers, mostly French, assured that the terms would be met and the Texans allowed to leave safely. Urrea, knowing Santa Anna’s orders were to execute them, wrote to Santa Anna requesting clemency, and then rode off to avoid the ungentlemanly “nastiness”. A Colonel Portilla was the one to get the execution order from Santa Anna and carry it out. He marched the 324 Texans out along three roads and at his command, had them massacred on March 27, 1836. Any survivors were clubbed or knifed to death. Colonel Fannin was forced to watch his men slaughtered and then shot and burned. Only twenty-eight Texans survived.

In the meantime, The Alamo had been defended by a small force (originally listed as 189 men) for 13 days. They faced Santa Anna and 2,400 of some of the best troops that Mexico possessed along with siege guns. And they knew they were going to die. Santa Anna had ordered the el deguello to be played and a large red banner hoisted, to show that no quarter would be given. Every Texan would die whether he surrendered or not.

The force at the Alamo had been ordered to retreat, but they knew that Houston was in no condition to fight the Mexican army. Time had to be bought for “the runaway scrape” so that Houston could amass a large enough force. So they stayed. And fought. And died. But they bought enough time for Houston to be ready at San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. And they roused the blood of the Texan army to a pitch that made them invincible. Cries of “Remember Goliad” and “Remember the Alamo” were heard as the Texans swept over the Mexican force. There were few prisoners taken, notably Santa Anna, who was spared by Sam Houston to sign the surrender and the ceding of all lands north of the Rio Grande River to Texas.

…

A Texan may be black, white, brown, red or yellow. He may be liberal or, more often, conservative. He may be born within the geographic boundaries that are Texas’s state border. Or he may not. A Texan is proud of Texas whether he is born in a city or on the plains, whether he is born rich or poor, whether he roped cattle or drilled a well. The Texan in a man is what is in his heart and mind, a heart and mind that is never apologizing nor ashamed of what he is and where he is from. A Texan is proud to be American, true, but his first love is best stated by the closing lines of Travis’s March 3, 1836 message from the Alamo to the President of the Convention of Texas – “God and Texas! – Victory or Death!!”.

With great thanks to the memory of all those who died at the Alamo for our Texas freedoms, our eternal gratitude:

"Remember the Alamo!" These are the men (and their birthplaces) who died bravely protecting the Alamo. They weren't all Texans.

And the other unknown defenders.

http://www.listafterlist.com/tabid/57/listid/5517/Education++History/The+Men+Who+Died+Protecting+the+Alamo.aspx

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Thus wrote Dylan Thomas, the great Welsh poet. He wrote these words while in agony over his father's growing weakness, a once powerful, vibrant human being reduced by advancing age into weakness and blindness.

We, too, face the same agony, not just for our own parents, but for whole generations that are in peril. The peril is not from the ravages of time but from the insidious inhumanity of bureaucracy.

The generation that struggled through the Great Depression and the Second World War, the greatest battle for freedom in history, is facing the death of a thousand cuts; cuts in medical treatment, cuts in new drug development, cuts in health care and cuts in access to doctors and cuts to the greatness of America. Cuts by those who proclaim that they are our saviors and our "Messiah".

President Obama continues to push "his plan". What is "his plan"? One must assume that it is HR3200, the fabulously flawed and invidious plan that would give bureaucrats free reign over our fortunes, our lives and our sacred honor. Other plans in the House and Senate are no less repulsive to the American people.

Let us consider what is at risk. The greatest danger in the bill is that it gives to a faceless unaccountable bureaucracy the power to set all standards, to determine whether you get coverage and whether or not you will get medical treatment. They will determine what you will pay and will bill you an unknown amount directly from your bank account using the IRS to track your money. Some sections of the bill actually state that the bureaucratic decisions cannot be reviewed by courts. This is the same unreviewable and unacceptable power over the people that forced our fight for freedom from George III.

In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence declared that all men “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” The government was instituted to ensure these rights. This very government now is set to remove these rights – even the right to life. That is what the Democrat House and Senate bills seek to do. As I and others read more and more of the bills, it becomes increasingly clear that the government is set to ration care and limit medical treatment to the elderly and access to doctors. I have been here before.

I grew up in Canada, under their government paid system. According to Canadian media, 5 million Canadians have no access to even a family doctor - out of only 30 million people. That is equivalent to 50 million Americans with no access to doctors. Towns, as shown by John Stossel on US network TV, are holding lotteries to determine who can have a doctor’s appointment.

My mother died there at the age of 78, when it was determined by the hospital that when her kidneys were failing she “was not a good candidate for dialysis.” She lasted a few weeks. My father died in Toronto while recovering from surgery when a storm blew open the window of his hospital room in freezing temperatures. No one checked on him for nearly twelve hours. He caught pneumonia and died a few days later. He was 55.

A Canadian friend had kidney stones and was in excruciating pain. He was given an appointment for a lithotriptor to break up the stones. He would have to wait four months because tight budgets limited access in Toronto. He told me he would have committed suicide before that. He drove to Buffalo, New York and paid to have it done the next day. He needs knee replacements but has been told that he is not eligible until he turns 70, ten years from now. They say it is because the knee device is only good for ten years.

That is the system that Congress wants to install. And rather than reducing health care costs, it will add trillions to a sky-rocketing deficit. I had hoped that the Republicans and the Blue Dog Democrats would demand that Americans control their own right to determine their futures and their very lives. The Blue Dog Democrats say they have compromised with the other Democrats to save 100 billion dollars on the health care plan. They didn’t do it for 100 billion. They did it for thirty pieces of silver.