Major Changes Underway for the Alamo!
On a visit to the Alamo you may have noticed, apart from the crush of people, that the walls were awash with plaques, some of them descriptive with others serving as memorials to the slain defenders. Over the decades, the growing number of historical displays has had a tendency to create a museum atmosphere that unfortunately has detracted from the original intent: to hold the Alamo Church as a shrine.

Memoir about Davy Crockett raises some experts' eyebrows
Don't wince. Take it like a man, says I. That Mexican officer's damnable memoir about Davy Crockett is legend. The De la Peña Diary, as it is unpopularly known to Crockett fans, is for real. The memoir claims Davy didn't go down swinging Ol' Betsy during the 1836 storming of the Alamo - he gave up. Some smart people still think the thing smells funny. But they'll just have to get over it. Science rules.

Ranger's owner donates Alamo memoir to UT-Austin
Last night, Hicks and partner Charles Tate gave their alma mater, the University of Texas at Austin, the controversial firsthand account of the Kentucky frontiersman's capture and summary execution after the Battle of the Alamo. They paid $350,000 at a November auction — after unwittingly topping UT's own best offer of $300,000.

Houston's Vices Were Pursued by Naysayers.
Sam Houston had his share of vices. ©1999, Dallas Morning News, Kent Biffle's Texana 09/05/99

Davy Crockett Seen Alive in Mexico
What is it they say? "The more things change the more they stay the same". It seems siting reports of dead celebrities is nothing new. Take for example this entry to the Brazoria Courier in Brazoria, Texas, March 31, 1840

Smuggler-Settler Knew the Law from Both Sides
In the Piney Woods of Spanish Texas, Antonio Gil Y'Barbo (1729-1809) was area distributor for laws and smuggled goods. He founded modern Nacogdoches, if modern may be applied in any sense to a place that claims to be Texas' oldest settlement. © 1997, The Dallas Morning News /Kent Biffle's Texana.

Secret Skull in Alamo Wall
Did you know a skull is secretly entombed in a wall of the Alamo chapel and the Daughters of the Republic of Texas have vowed not to reveal anything about it? ©1993, San Antonio Express. February 14, 1993.

Seguin's Mansion Now Only Rubble
For more than a century Casa Blanca, the ranch home of the Legendary Don Erasmo Seguin was a landmark on the coast. Over the years literally thousands, ranging from grimy teamsters to Stephen F. Austin, enjoyed the hospitality of Don Erasmo at the sturdy stone structure located about 33 miles south of San Antonio. Today all that is left of Casa Blanca is a pile of stones hidden in the brush atop a hill along the old ruts where the road once ran. © 1969, The San Antonio EXPRESS/NEWS, Sunday, March 16,1969.

First Republic Ended Up in Quite a State
If so-called leaders of the so-called Republic of Texas keep acting up, Texans will soon be asking: "Where's Santa Anna when you really need him?" © 1997, The Dallas Morning News. Kent Biffle's Texana 05/11/97

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'The Sweetest Little Rosebud' We Never Knew
The mystery of Yellow Rose of Texas is still unsolved. © 1997, The Dallas Morning News / Kent Biffle's Texana. 04/13/97.

Historian disputes claim Santa Anna had battlefield tryst
Even if Sam Houston says it's so, the story that a beautiful mulatto girl distracted Santa Anna and helped make the Mexicans lose the pivotal Battle of San Jacinto still doesn't ring true. © 1997 Houston Chronicle, 10/03/97

José Francisco Ruiz's account of the Fall of the Alamo
First-hand account of the Alcalde of San Antonio, an eyewitness to the events of 1836. San Antonio Light, 03/06/1886.

The Story of Enrique Esparza - 11/22/1902
The son of Alamo hero, Gregorio Esparza, relates his personal experience as a survivor of the siege.

Battle of the Alamo from Survivor's Lips
As told to The San Antonio Daily Express, Sunday Morning, Aug. 28, 1904 by Charles Bledsoe.

"Tunnel From Old Grenet Home to Alamo Intrigues Many"
An intriguing Alamo mystery! 08/11/1929

Historian Points Out Alamo Heroes' Flaws
No one's perfect. Historian William C. Davis shows that cultural icons were only human.03/09/97

"Mythologizing The Alamo"
Richard G. Santos discusses the mythos surrounding the Texas legend.

"Alamo Myths",
Don't believe everything you hear! Dallas Times Herald - 04/18/88

"The Forgotten Sacrifices of Tejanos in Texas' Fight"
David McLemore reminds us that there were other heroes during the Revolution.

"Who was there? Historians Revisit Alamo With New Numbers"
David McLemore examines the latest findings on the Alamo roll.

Group Targets Remains of Alamo Heroes
Defender's relatives want church sarcophagus opened to study disputed bones.

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"Group wants to determine if bones belong to Alamo martyrs"
Current theory sheds doubt that Alamo martyrs were buried at San Fernando Cathedral.

New Battle of the Alamo Rages
Groups open debate over future of Shrine of Texas Liberty

Battle Over Alamo Roles of Ethnic Groups Continues
The battle over how to portray the roles various ethnic groups in the Siege of the Alamo continues.

Texas Negotiations for Alamo flag
House panel backs bill despite opposition from Houston's descendant

Governor Bush OKs Alamo banner retrieval
New law will allow state officials to negotiate with Mexico in swap

Researchers to Discuss History of Alamo
Announcement of October 1995 History Forum.

Alamo Lessons, Plaza Traffic, Flag Protocol
Engineer would like to rebuild the Alamo's walls.

Historical Society to Censure the City
Opening of street in front of Alamo denounced.

Expert Not Ready to Buy Tale of Alamo Treasure
The possibility that a legendary gold treasure could be buried by the Alamo is remote.

Federal Archives Are Treasure Trove
The stuff of which history is made: paper, and lots of it!

Glass Arrowhead Leads List of Finds at Alamo Dig
an archaeological dig on the Alamo grounds includes a glass arrowhead made from a Spanish Colonial wine bottle and the possible existence in the 1740s of another long barracks.

Alamo Diggers Ponder Find of 3 Earthen Floors
Archaeologists digging at the Alamo grounds are puzzling over the discovery of three separate earthen floors that may have been the site for an old granary at the historic mission.

Old Landmark Gone
San Antonio Express, Sunday, February.23, 1902. When during the week workmen with pick and shovel began the demolition of the old building at Presa and Commerce street, which is to give place to the modern, fireproof Alamo National Bank building, one of the land marks of San Antonio began to disappear.

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Gun Given to Alamo Is Only Firearm Left from Famous Battle
San Antonio Light, Sunday, April 27, 1924. A gun believed to be the one used by Moses Rose, French martyr of the Alamo, who died fighting for liberty on March 2, 1836, in the old church that sheltered Bowie, Crockett and Travis, was presented to the Alamo collection on Saturday by F. W. Earnest of Jordan, Texas. The gun was dug up during an excavation of the Alamo's dirt floor, in 1874, and its handsomely engraved and mounted trappings, proclaiming the type of gun used by Napoleon's army, from whence Rose came, place its ownership with the hero who came from a strange country to die that Texas might be free?

Alamo Block Purchase Bill Up
San Antonio Express, Friday, March 7, 1930. Two more readings of a bill calling for the purchase of the entire block surrounding the Alamo at a price not to exceed $820,000 will bring the matter before the house for action, it was said Friday, following receipt Thursday afternoon of a favorable report on the bill from the house state affairs committee.

Alamo Plaza Ad Sign Stirs City Criticism
San Antonio Light, Sunday, September 30, 1934. No complaint against the San Antonia, Inc. booster billboard on Alamo plaza had been lodged with Mayor C. K. Quin or the city commission Saturday, the mayor announced.

Anniversary of Alamo Recalls Heroes' Death
San Antonio Express, Sunday, March l, 1925. This week is the anniversary of the historic days in San Antonio history when the city became a battle ground leading to the fall of the Alamo, characterized by Sidney Lanier, Southern poet, as the "bloodiest, smokiest, grimest[sic] of the century."

The Alamo, Shrine of Texas Liberty
San Antonio Light, Sunday, April 18, 1926. The early days of the Alamo, when it was a Spanish mission in the then wilderness of Texas, are more or less shrouded in mystery. The records concerning its foundation and early uses are merger and dim with age. In the first book of the records kept in old San Fernando church are found a few lines telling of the missions and concerning the Alamo was the simple notation of its founding: San Antonio de Valero, 1718." Originally, the Alamo was called by the Spaniards, San Antonio de Valero.

Ceremonial Staged for Pioneers.
San Antonio Light, Wednesday, March 2, 1927. With heads bowed reverently in respect for the heroic deeds of their forefathers, sons and daughters of Texas Wednesday gathered in San Antonio to celebrate Texas independence day at the municipal auditorium, a $l,000,000 structure, contrasting sharply with the crude frame building in the little town of Washington where ninety-one years ago today a handful of pioneers declared the independence of Texas from Mexico.

Committee to Recommend Purchase of Entire Block for Park Surrounding Alamo
San Antonio Light, Wednesday, March 2, 1927. Purchase of the entire block surrounding the Alamo by the State as a memorial park will be recommended by the committee appointed by Governor Moody to investigate values. Announcement to this effect was made this Tuesday by Mrs. Clara Driscoll Sevier, who with Samuel P. Cochran of Dallas and Judge T. S. Henderson of Cameron, has interviewed property owners and secured from them their services of the surrounding property.

Old San Antonio Tree Saw Battle of Alamo
San Antonio Light, Friday, April 13, 1928. Like a lone sentinel keeping watch over its post, remembering that the first law of an old soldier is duty, the last cottonwood tree of the original Alamo group is standing, 75 feet tall, in the heart of San Antonio.

New Floor Laid in Alamo
San Antonio Express, Sunday, December 6, 1936. Workmen will begin laying the concrete base for a new floor in the Alamo Chapel Monday and the entire floor will be completed during the week, representatives of the contractors told Mrs. Lieta Small, custodian, Saturday. A flagstone top will be laid on the new base.

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Tells of Bucket Brigade at Alamo Fire
San Antonio Express, Sunday, Feb. 26, 1939. Ernest Holekamp of Junction, Tex., who is spending the winter in San Antonio, shaking hands with old-time friends, drew a mental picture of his first visit to San Antonio in 1867 when as a barefoot boy eight years old with his older brother, George, he drove along Commerce Street in a wagon drawn by five yoke of oxen and loaded with handmade cypress shingles to be delivered to the Steves lumber yard, which was then at the corner of Alamo Plaza and Blum Street, on the present side of the Joske Store.

Too Much Rain Cracks West Wall of Alamo Fort.
San Antonio Express, Thursday, Oct. 9, 1913. State officials and the legal representative of the Daughters of the Republic agreed that the upper part of the west wall of the Alamo fort was a menace, so workmen yesterday tore away much of the ancient masonry.

The Survivor of the Alamo
San Antonio Express, Thursday, Oct. 9, 1913. The Express representative yesterday enjoyed a most pleasant visit to the Alamo. It was not his first visit there by any means. The grey walls of the old structure have been familiar to him for many years, but the visit yesterday was rendered the more enjoyable from the fact that the party with whom the reporter made this visit was quite a noted one. It consisted of Mrs. Susan J. Hannig, of Austin, the only survivor of the massacre at the fall of the Alamo; Mrs. Rebecca Black, the grand-niece of Deaf Smith, the famous Texas spy; Col. H. B. Andrews, vice-president of the G.H. & S.A. railway, and lady; Bishop Quintard, of Tennessee; Dean Richardson, of St. Mark's cathedral, and two little nieces of Mrs. Hannig.

Tell Day to Hunt Alamo Key
San Antonio Express, Thursday, April 22, 1909. Officers of the General Society Daughters of the Republic of Texas were elected this morning at the Business Men's club. The session was consumed with the reports of the various chapters and of the San Jacinto battlefield commission. What threatened to be a very spirited incident occurred when a motion was made to ask W. R. Day, superintendent of public buildings and grounds to go in search of the key of the Alamo.

Bexar County's Forgotten Battle of Alazan Creek
San Antonio Express, Saturday, June 18, 1966. Of the six major battles which occurred within present Bexar County during the colonial period, the one fought near the Alazan Creek on June 20, 1813, remains the only unmarked, unevaluated and unexploited one.

Think of These Men Who Gave Texas Freedom
San Antonio Express, March 2, 1930, Sunday. The document proclaiming Texas Independent of Mexico exercised greater influence over the destinies of the people of the United States than any instrument recorded in the annals of American history, except the Declaration of Independence proclaimed by American colonies at Philadelphia in 1776. This Declaration of Texas Independence changed the map of North American and plunged two nations into war, and because of Texas the United States has almost doubled her territory.

Archives Reveal Details About Dictator Who Once Ruled Texas.
With the democracies of the world threatened by totalitarism leaders whose every whim is law in the country they dominate, it has been brought to light that Texas was at one time part of an empire ruled by a leader just as dominating as any dictator of modern times.

Tell Day to Hunt Alamo Key.
Officers of the General Society Daughters of the Republic of Texas were elected this morning at the Business Men's club. The session was consumed with the reports of the various chapters and of the San Jacinto battlefield commission. What threatened to be a very spirited incident occurred when a motion was made to ask W. R. Day, superintendent of public buildings and grounds to go in search of the key of the Alamo.

Wasn't The Mission After All Recently Restored at Goliad.
A mile south of the historic little city of Goliad a group of workmen are digging. Day after day, the digging goes on like an endless chain as warm, moist earth is turned skyward. Men with picks and shovels. and men with maps and blueprints. Everyone works slowly, one observes, and one wonders why this is so.

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Old Timers Recall La Villita Back 75 Years.
While much is being said and written about La Villita, the former village on Villita Street which is being remodeled with the aid of Uncle Sam digging out of a depression, little or nothing is being said about the substantial citizens who had made their homes on this short narrow thoroughfare at one time or another during the past 75 years, some of whom are still here to recall scenes and incidents of those days that they remember.

Santa Anna's Retreating Army Reached Lipantitlan Fort
The last retreating remnant of Santa Anna's defeated army swam the bank-full Nueces river and toiled up the muddy slope to the adobe walls of Fort Lipantitlan 100 years ago, May 3l, 1836. Here they rested, secure from the "revengeful Texan," for Fort Lipantitlan guarded the lower Nueces border between Texas and Tamualipas.

News That 1,300 Mexican Soldiers Marching On San Antonio Failed to Stop Ball Honoring Davy Crockett.
It was 10'clock the morning of Feb. 11, 1836, and the chivalry and beauty of San Antonio danced in honor of Mr. David Crockett who had come a month before.

Menger Family Archives Record Army's History.
Appropriations for national defense were harder to get in days when San Antonio Express was young than nowadays when Congress votes billions with little debate. Records kept in the archives of the William A. Menger family here disclose that in the 1870's the Army was unable even to pay regularly the $200 a month rent it had contracted for a building which the late W. A. Menger had erected in 1867 at the corner of Alamo Plaza, Crockett and Losoya Streets in order to keep the Army from moving away from San Antonio altogether.

Remember The Alamo!
The world has many mounments to victory, to the glory of conquest and national pride. Kings, potentates and people have builded sky-searching memorials commemorating their hours of greatness. Greater, more heart stirring than all these is the Alamo.

Feed Store In Shadow of City Hall Now Occupies Texas Declaration Signer's Home.
On the south side of the Military Plaza in the very shadow of the city hall stands one of the most historic and oldest remaining structures in San Antonio, the former home of Francisco Ruiz.

San Jacinto Battle Flag, Becomes Property of State In Joint Session of Legislature On 97th Anniversary.
recalled by the Texas legislature today on the anniversary of General Sam Houston's victory over Santa Anna.

S.A. Tramples Mystic City Beneath Its Feet.
A city without a sky! How many San Antonians, basking in the sunshine, know that at their feet there is a metropolis of perpetual darkness?A place of winding tunnels of dark caves and caverns; where the black waters of hidden lakes beat against the crystal walls of grottoes!

The Men of The Alamo.
The remains of those who died for Texas rest in the Cathedral.With all the facts and circumstances that have been secured and collated, either by reminiscences or documentary proofs, contemporary, history is strangely silent on one important point and the present generation are ignorant as to the place in which the remains of the men who laid down their lives in the Alamo were deposited.

Almost Forgotten Mission Waterways Which Determined San Jose Location Bared By Geologist During Surveys.
The water which, according to ancient records, irrigated 2,400 acres of rich black soil and was used for domestic purposes at San Jose Mission was taken from the San Antonio River two miles above the present Mission, one-half mile above Mission road bridge and about one-fourth mile north of the south city limits of San Antonio.

Silent Witness to Progress of Nearly Two Centuries.
San Fernando, hallowed by history, a mingling of modernity with the handicraft of the fervent friar and industry-taught Indian, the old cathedral on Main Plaza has been silent witness to the progress of nearly two centuries.

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Memories of San Jacinto.
The preparations for next week's celebration of the anniversary of the battle of San Jacinto are more elaborate than during any other year for the day is to be made memorable by the formal transfer to the Daughters of the Republic of the old structure in which the first Congress of the Republic of Texas met.

The Survivor of The Alamo.
The Express representative yesterday enjoyed a most pleasant visit to the Alamo. It was not his first visit there by any means. The grey walls of the old structure have been familiar to him for many years, but the visit yesterday was rendered the more enjoyable from the fact that the party with whom the reporter made this visit was quite a noted one. It consisted of Mrs. Susan J. Hannig, of Austin, the only survivor of the massacre at the fall of the Alamo

Lone Star On Texas Flag, Was Made By Georgia Girl.
On a recent visit to Georgia Mrs. Ida Schwepps of San Antonio found a brief though interesting article describing the origin of the Lone Star or Texas flag.

U.S. Fund to Give Alamo New Roof.
Neither Mrs. Small nor Mrs. Henry Wofford, president of Alamo chapter, Daughters of the Republic, were able to say in detail how the $75,000 will be spent. It was asked for repairs to the Alamo and beautifications of the grounds. The only repair definitely needed now is to the roof.

Who-Milam Or Travis?
Who is this man? Did this handsome warrior die as the commander of the brave garrison of the Alamo on that fateful day in 1836? Or was he shot down by a Mexican sniper after he had led the Texans into San Antonio to attack the Mexicans under General de Cos in the early winter of 1835?

San Antonians Get Back Guns 5 Years After 1813 Revolution.
Arms taken from the residents of San Fernando de Bexar (San Antonio)following the revolution of 1813 were restored to them five years later, the translation of the minutes of the city council to 1818 reveals.

Program to Mark 94th Anniversary.
In memory of the 58 pioneers who formed the nucleus of the largest state in the union just 94 years ago, when they gathered in a small log cabin at Washington on the Brazos, the state's first capital. San Antonians Sunday will hold programs throughout the day.

Son of San Jacinto Hero Yet Lives Here.
In this day and time when historical research is being given impetus by the proposed Texas Centennial Exposition in 1936 there is disclosed the interesting fact that the body of one of San Jacinto's heroes lies on the east bank of the Salado Creek near the Dittmar road.

Margil 60 Years Old When He Founded Missions Here.
Among the heroes that form the glorious galaxy of dreamers and empire builders who at sundry times, allured by the beauty of our climate, have passed through the portals of our city, the father of the Missions, the Venerable Padre Antonio Margil, the illustrious founder and builder of the missions in and about San Antonio, ranks highest and foremost.

Translations of Bexar Archives, Scarcely Begun.
Some idea of the enormity of the task of classifying, cataloguing and translating the Bexar Archives, delivered to the University of Texas 34 years ago for the purpose by Bexar County Commissioner's Court, is gleaned from a letter received Tuesday by County Judge Frost Woodhull from Beauford H. Jester, president of the board of regents.

Great Historical Find.
Miss [Adina]de Zavala, of the city, daughter and president of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas and one of the leading spirits in the movement for the preservation of historical spots and articles having a connection with the early days of the state, has just made a discovery of great value in the field of art.

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Austin Saw New Empire.
Stephen F. Austin was the son of Moses and Mary Brown Austin and was born in Austinville, Wythe County, Virginia, November 3, 1793.

Baron De Bastrop Ruled Out As San Antonio Alcalde
Some new light on the life of Baron de Bastrop, known in early Texas history, has been brought to light by the WPA workers, under the direction of Ben Baines, attorney who is indexing San Antonio's ordinances for 125 years and translating the first volumes of minutes recorded in Spanish.

Old Records Show San Antonio Was A Lively Place Back In 1804.
Texas, whose history has long been the pride of her people, to at last to be supplied with those many and positively accurate details so long absent from her historical accounts.

Mauricio Garcia, Mexican patriarch, who knew Santa Anna, dies.
Mauricio Garcia, Mexican patriarch who knew Santa Anna and fought against Maximilian, died at his home, 220 Ruiz street at 5:30 Monday evening. He was a picturesque character, of interest from a historical and physical standpoint. He was identified with prominent men in Mexican history from the time of Santa Anna, and he was physically strong and mentally young until the day he died.

The Garcia's Set Pace Among City Pioneers
Some weeks ago Vinton L. James, pioneer San Antonian, wrote an article for San Antonio Express descriptive of Commerce Street, picturing the day when that thoroughfare was the "main stem" of the city. Many of the old-timers whose names his memory floated to the surface have closed their earthly careers and gone hence.

Goliad, Scene of Texas' Darkest Easter 96 Years Ago.
Easter Sunday 96 years ago was the darkest of all the dark days in the long and bloody struggle of the Texas Volunteer army for freedom and independence from the tyrannical military rule and despotism of the Mexican government.

Goliad Reveals Five Texas Eras.
At least five different civilizations, each in its own layer of soil, were revealed to the writer on the fifth Sunday drive he has taken for the San Antonio Express in co-operation with the members of the San Antonio Automotive Trade Association.

Hero of Three Wars Is 102 Years Old.
In a neat little cabin near where the clear waters of the Guadalupe roll onward to the Mexican Gulf, and not more than a quarter of an hour's ride out of New Braunfels, lives Andres Gonzales, a typical descendant of the Motezumas and a veteran of many wars, who never tires of recounting to the stranger who stops to chat with him, the stories of the days of the long ago, when Texas was still a province of Mexico, when Santa Anna, the Napoleon of the West raised the black flag over the Alamo and the funeral pyre of brave Crockett and Travis, and when Houston forever checked the tyrant's invasion on the marshy banks of the San Jacinto.

"Come and Take It" Flag to Be Unfurled at Gonzales today.
Initial observance of Texas Centennial begins in Gonzales Tuesday when San Antonians will figure in a parade which will start at the boom of a cannon remindful of the famous Gonzales cannon which figured in the first hostilities in the struggle for independence and gave rise to the first Long Start flag.

Texas History Made Art Subject
The drama of events as they are lived, so often dies with its actors and is "interred with their bones," but perhaps, if certain San Antonio women can achieve their dream, these quick flashes of vital fire in the big pan of eternity, so easily blown out, may be reflected for the illumination of all generations.

De la Peña Renounced?
Historical illustrator Joseph Musso of Santa Monica, Calif., highlighted mistakes about Jim Bowie in the New Handbook of Texas, published by the Texas State Historical Association. Now he's doubting out loud the authenticity of the memoir of one of Santa Anna's gold-braided officers, Jose Enrique de la Pe­a. The journal will be auctioned on Wednesday in California. © 1998 The Dallas Morning News

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