The Tully Mars synopsis: The Comanches realized the threat that the buffalo hunters represented and decided to do something about it. Unfortunately, they had misfortune of selecting a group of hunters with a full load of long-range rifles and plenty of ammo. In my opinion, it was a pivot moment. Had the Comanches faired better, Quanah Parker may had gained some political currency and may have been able to postpone their demise.
Wolf 359 was not “a rallying point for outnumbered soldiers who ultimately at very least survived the battle,” as specified in the OP. It was where the fleet confronted the Borg. Calling it a rallying point is like calling Fredericksburg a rallying point.
If those are anti-Alamos, can we talk about contra-Alamos, as well? I think Little Bighorn qualifies: here, they thought they would be victorious, but were wiped out to a man. I mean, eventually they were surely thinking of it as a last stand, but it wasn’t like the Alamo, where they realize pretty early on that they were in a bad spot.
Poetic license. Yeah, 40 Fed ships v 1 Borg cube, but the Feds were seriously overmatched and they knew it. It was a desperate stand in the face of overwhelming odds.
Fredricksburg was a rallying point and a glorious victory for the Confederacy.
I am taking the term “rallying point” as described by the OP to mean a place where overwhelmed forces fall back to from an original point of battle in order to re-group. I was not aware that there was a battle prior to Fredericksburg that the Confederacy was re-grouping from. Wikipedia led me to believe they were entrenched there from the beginning. If I erred, I apologize.
According to some accounts, between five to seven defenders of the Alamo surrendered. The reason that there was a zero percentage survival rate at the Alamo was because the Mexicans summarily executed any survivors, including those who surrendered and any wounded. The Mexican government had issued a resolution banning taking prisoners of war, and the Mexican troops attacking the Alamo displayed a flag indicating “no quarter.”
I wasn’t talking about how many surrendered. I was talking about how many fighters survived. The only one for certain was a deserter from the Mexican army that convinced them he had been a prisoner. Otherwise it was all women, children, and 1 slave.
That depends on what you mean by “survived.” Do you mean how many were alive at the conclusion of each battle, or how many survived for more than a short time after the Mexicans had prevailed?
My point is that we don’t know how many Alamo defenders survived the battle itself, either through surrender or because they were wounded, only to be executed immediately after by the Mexicans. Any wounded who showed signs of life were bayoneted by the Mexicans. We know that all the combatants, except for the deserter you mention, were dead soon after the battle.
At Camerone the two surviving legionnaires were almost executed by the Mexican troops but were spared due to intervention by a Mexican colonel. If the Mexicans had followed the practice at the Alamo they and all of the surviving wounded would have been summarily executed, so that Camerone would also have had a zero survival percentage. The difference in survival immediately after the two battles was due to the fact that at the Alamo the Mexicans took no prisoners, while at Camerone they did. The survival rates can’t really be compared.
Interesting. I knew about the second battle because it was part of the Time Tunnel novel, but if I ever knew about the first battle I’d totally forgotten it.
The battle for Hill 262 held by a small group of Polish soldiers for several days against superior German forces during the last stages of the Normandy Campaign comes to mind.
But as far as a “name” battle, Rorke’s Drift is my choice as well. “Hill 262” sounds like it could be from Vietnam or Korean wars. (BTW: Would Khe Sanh count?)
