Alamo News and Events

A brief History of The Alamo

Originally the San Antonio de Vallero mission, The Alamo name came from the grove of trees in which it was built (Alamo is the Spanish word for poplar). It was abandoned until 1821 when Stephen Austin led American settlers to rebuild and farm the land. In 1833, General Antonio de Santa Anna ( considered the Napoleon of the west) took over leadership of the Mexican government. He refused to honor the 1824 Constitution which allowed Texans to live, farm, and own land as Mexican citizens. When Austin heard this, he tried to persuade Santa Anna to give Texas its own state government. Austin s meeting was unsuccessful and he wrote to the people of Texas suggesting they establish a State Government. Hearing this, Santa Anna had Austin thrown in jail. After release from jail, Austin recruited Sam Houston, Jim Bowie and William Travis to drive Santa Anna s troops out of several Texas towns.
Santa Anna became enraged and ordered 5,000 troops to the Alamo. A band of 300 Texan soldiers drove the Mexican troops from the Alamo. On February 8, 1836, Davy Crockett led his band of Tennesseans to join the Texans at the Alamo.
Santa Anna ordered General Ramirez y Sesma to the town of Bexar to crush the defenders. Luckily, a flooding river prevented Sesma from reaching them. Two days later, Santa Anna s army arrived at the Alamo. Colonel Travis sent several daring messages requesting reinforcements and on March 3rd, James Bonham made his historic return to report that Colonel Fanin refused to send troops. Travis assemled his troops, explained the odds and declared that no man who wished to escape would be considered to be cowardly. Legend says that Davy Crockett was the first to stay with Travis, and Bowie who listened from his stretcher also agreed. Rose, a Frenchman who served under Napoleon, was the only person to leave and lived to tell the story.
For several days Santa Annas troops unsucessfully rushed the Alamo. Travis was determined to hold off Santa Anna so that Sam Houston could round up larger forces. On March 6th, at 5am, Santa Anna finally defeated the battle-fatigued defenders of the Alamo.
When news of this courageous battle reached Texas, Sam Houston and his troops became determined to defeat Santa Anna. Leading his troops into the final battle, Houston yelled to his men to Remember the Alamo and with everyone yelling Remember the Alamo they defeated Santa Anna. On December 29, 1845, Texas became the 28th state and the Alamo still stands as a symbol of freedom for all those who sacrificed their lives to free Texas.
We believe that during this period, the first U.S. settlers were welcomed into Texas by the kind hospitable citizens of Mexico. That is when we got our first taste of the traditional Mexican cuisine, which we are proud to serve you today. We hope your experience at The Alamo will be a rewarding one.