Exodus From the Alamo: The Anatomy of the Last Stand Myth (35 page)

Tejano Enrique Esparza who was the son of Alamo defender Gregorio Esparza. Enrique left vivid personal accounts of the battle for the Alamo, but these have been too often ignored.
Texas State Library and Archives Commission

Santa Anna’s flag of no quarter was raised from the bell tower of San Fernando Church, proclaiming that the Alamo garrison would be killed to the last man.
Photo by Jim Landers, courtesy of the City Centre Foundation, San Fernando Cathedral, and Executive Director Amelia Nieto-Duval

Oil painting based on an image from the movie set of John Wayne’s 1960 Alamo movie.
Author’s collection

A view of the Alamo from the rear, by the artist James Gilchrist Benton. The palisade had previously stood where the man in the sombrero is standing, connecting the church with the fort’s south wall. Note the makeshift log footbridge spanning the irrigation canal in the foreground.
Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth Texas

Battle flag of the Permanente Matamoros Battalion which was part of Romero’s assault column on March 6. This fine silk banner was captured at San Jacinto, where fortune no longer smiled upon Santa Anna.
Texas State Library and Archives Commission, Austin, Texas

William Barret Travis’s ring. Toward the end of the 13-day siege, Travis removed this ring from his finger, placed it on a string, and hung it around the neck of Angelina Dickinson, the 15-month-old daughter of Captain Dickinson and his wife Susanna. Angelina became famous as the “Babe of the Alamo.” The ring was donated to the Alamo Museum in 1955.

A depiction of the fighting outside the Alamo when fugitives from the fort encountered Santa Anna’s cavalry, by the artist Gary Zaboly.
Author’s collection

An early 20th—century view of the rear of the Alamo church.
Author’s collection

An 1849 sketch of the crumbling, forgotten Alamo church by Edward Everett, before it was transformed into a shrine.

The initial goal of so many escapees, the western end of the Alameda, shown here in Herman Lungkwitz’s 1857 painting, near where a large percentage of the Alamo garrison was killed.
San Antonio Public Library

A depiction of the death of Lieutenant José María Torres, who was killed while attempting to take down the Alamo garrison’s flag atop the Long Barracks.
Illustration by Ted Spring, courtesy Tim J. and Terry Todish

A modern depiction of the first large flight of escapees from the Alamo, by the artist Gary Zaboly. These men have slipped through the sally port on the left of the stockade and crossed the irrigation ditch, only to meet Santa Anna’s cavalry which had been positioned to intercept fugitives. Note the covering fire provided by Captain Dickinson’s artillerymen atop the church. Author’s collection