What were they thinking??? Place didn’t even have a basement!
And what the heck was Ozzy thinking???
An enormous challenge that Houston faced throughout the Texas War for Independence was that he had very limited control over those nominally under his command. Pretty much the army did what it wanted to do, and Houston could only use his powers of persuasion to try to get his officers and men to go along with his plans. But he had no real way to enforce his authority if they didn’t, leading to disasters like the Matamoros expedition. Even the Battle of San Jacinto came about because his men refused to continue to retreat and Houston made the best of the situation.
In regard to the Alamo, he was well aware that the mission was doomed if besieged. He sent Jim Bowie to destroy the fort and retrieve the cannons, but Bowie decided that the fort could be held and stayed put. And Houston refused to send reinforcements and lose even more men in a hopeless effort.
Commanche, the horse – oh, wait. I’m mixing up my legends here.
Ages ago I read a short story where a time-traveling historian went to the Alamo then let slip what was about to befall them. Travis said, “Screw that!” and the lot of them slipped out the night before Santa Ana’s army arrived to join up with Houston’s army. The historian was still there when the Mexicans arrived. They were astonished to find the place deserted and hustled him before Santa Ana himself.
He told the general that he had a tough campaign before him but when things got sticky, “Remember the Alamo!”
Keep in mind, the whole thing was only from early October 1835 through April 21, 1836, so a hair less than six months total. There wasn’t time to really get an army organized, trained and get any sort of a legal framework in place for Houston to have the ability to enforce his authority. On top of that, you had governmental confusion, with the governmental council going around the chairman and Sam Houston and ordering various people to do things, like the Matamoros Expedition
Instead, the Texas army was basically a motley collection of local militias that were commanded by local commanders who nominally reported to Houston, but who took fairly wide latitude with interpreting his orders, and who weren’t all trained soldiers or even terribly competent.
You are being unfair to Sam Houston, he never ordered the defense of the Alamo and in fact had sent Jim Bowie to recover the cannon and destroy the fortifications a month before Santa Anna arrived. Bowie got there and after meeting with Colonel James Neill, who had seized the place, decided that the Alamo was of strategic importance and should be defended. He wrote Houston and others, including Henry Smith (Governor of Texas as a Mexican territory, then provisional governor after independence declared) asking for reinforcements. It was Smith who ordered a reluctant William Travis to San Antonio and promised to reinforce the garrison, reinforcements which Smith never organized.
Houston may deserve blame for not being more forceful in ordering the withdrawal, but Neill and Bowie were both determined to stay and were charismatic enough to hold the rest of the garrison as well.
Letter from James Bowie to Gov Henry Smith, February 2, 1836
“Relief at this post, in men, money, & provisions is of vital importance & is wanted instantly. Sir, this is the object of my letter. The salvation of Texas depends in great measure in keeping Bejar out of the hands of the enemy.”
“The Citizens of Bejar have behaved well. Col. Neill & Myself have come to the solemn resolution that we would rather die in these ditches than give it up to the enemy.”
Yes. That is how we teach it, and not inaccurate–but the word “slavery” is studiously avoided.
ETA: Not by you, specifically, just in the story we tell in Texas.
Slavery was a major cause for sure, and it doesn’t get its due in schools as a cause of the revolution. In large part the reason the Texan settlers were torqued about Santa Anna’s government was that it removed a whole lot of self-government and was likely to entirely abolish slavery in Texas.
But it wasn’t the only cause, unlike the US Civil War. One thing that doesn’t get a lot of mention is that the Texas Revolution was just one of several other revolts/uprisings against Santa Anna’s centralized (i.e. non Federal) government and the abolishment of the Constitution of 1824.
Yeah, and you also occasionally hear how “Santa Ana’s troops were actually the good guys” which is utterly bizarre considering his Army murdered, raped and pillaged the rebel Mexican towns on the way to Texas since he considered it enemy territory.