Spirits Alamo

The Spirits of the Alamo

To the People of Texas & all Americans in the world

Fellow Citizens & Compatriots

I am besieged by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna. I have sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man. The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken. I have answered the command with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid with dispatch. The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due his own honor & that of his country. VICTORY or DEATH.

William Barret Travis(1)
Commandancy of the Alamo, Béxar
Feby. 24, 1836

28-272SantaAnna.jpg (42787 bytes)
Santa Anna as reenacted by
David Rodriquez of San Antonio.

Deguello: "No Quarter To The Enemy."

     Find The Spirits

    On March 6, 1836, twelve days after Travis wrote the above letter, he and all the other defenders (182-9) at the Alamo were dead. The fall of the Alamo committed the people of Texas to a war that led to independence from Mexico and the establishment of the Republic of Texas.

        It is rumored that some of the spirits of the defenders who died at the battle of the Alamo still roam the grounds. The first sightings at the Alamo reportedly took place within days after the battle, when Mexican officers allegedly refused to destroy the mission because ghosts defended it. San Antonio newspapers from the last century headlined stories of the strange happenings many times. A defender is said to put his head out the center front window, look about, and withdraw. (2) Today people visiting the shrine tell of strange shadows and unusual sounds encountered there.

        General Antonio López de Santa Anna, commander of the Mexican forces, ordered all the Texian bodies collected after the battle. He ordered Colonel Morales to send out his cavalry to get wood. By dusk all the bodies of the defenders of the Alamo had been burned rather than given an honorable burial.

DO THE SPIRITS OF THE DEFENDERS STILL WANDER THIS PLACE?

1. Letter, Travis to the Public, Feb 14, 1836, in John H. Jenkins, gen. ed., The Papers of the Texas Revolution 1835-1836, vol. 4, (Austin: Brig. Gen. Jay A. Matthews Publisher, 1973, p. 423.)
2. S.A. Ghost Sites," San Antonio Current (October 29-November 4, 1998): p.13.