One last post about our Texas trip.It's impossible to visit San Antonio without visiting the Alamo.
The sad thing is that I don't know history very well at all. It's not that I don't find it interesting, I just don't retain that sort of information. Not only am I horrible with history, but Greg is too.
As we were walking through the Alamo, Greg leaned over and asked me, "Who were we fighting here?"
"Mexicans," I replied.
"No way! Why would we fight them?"
Then, I really started questioning myself. How sad is that?
But, to sum up the importance of the Alamo for others like myself here's the low-down:
- Davy Crockett moved here after losing his run for the presidency of the United States. Of course, he was wonderful with his gun and was valuable in bringing other "volunteers" from Tennessee at the time.
- Texas was still a part of Mexico, but the settlers from the US wanted to gain their independence.
- Santa Ana's army (yes, a Mexican army) sent about 5000 soldiers to take San Antonio. The battleground was the Alamo, the fort there.
- Even though there were only a few fighters in comparison to Santa Ana's army, the men decided it was better to fight for the cause than to surrender.
- The battle was a short one, and ended in the death of Davy Crockett and the other men, but not without a valiant fight.
- Later in the battle of San Jacinto led by Sam Houston fighting Santa Ana and his massive army, the battle cry, "Remember the Alamo!" helped the soldiers to win the battle and eventually the war in gaining independence from Mexico.
One more thing, Greg got to see the Bowie knife exhibit and learn all about this famous Kentuckian. I don't know a thing about that, but it was interesting to him.
Well, I have a confession to make myself regarding history- it wasn't until I visited the Alamo (I was about 26 at the time) that I found out Davy Crockett was a real person. I always thought he was like Paul Bunyan- I had no idea he was a real person until I saw his picture at the Alamo. I gasped when I saw it and said (way too loudly, I am sure)- "Holy cow, I didn't know Davy Crockett was real!" People all around looked at me like I was a huge ignoramus and I was so embarrassed!
ReplyDeleteHere in Texas (at least when I was in school) Texas History was a required subject! There is tons of history in our state, in fact, did you know Texas is the only state that was its own country? Hope your visit was fun! I have been enjoying your posts!
ReplyDeleteI was totally lost visiting the Alamo. I never did really understand why it was such a big deal. I felt like only people from TX really appreciated it.
ReplyDeleteHa! This is cute! I'm a Texas grown girl, so as you know we all took TEXAS history in school. We even took Texas Government and probably every other subject with the word "Texas" tacked on. I'm living here in Kentucky by way of Uncle Sam now though. It's a great place to be, but as they say, "Remember the Alamo!" I miss home!
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