This day in Texas history

[luckytxn 2,265]

Many good Texans died this day. Figured it would make a few happy that they did so. No matter what the reasons were for these men to do this or even if they had sense or whatever most should know that they did have balls.

One man did leave the Alamo just before the encirclement was complete. Travis gave a stirring speech and asked any that wanted to leave to do so. All stayed but one man. He for the rest of his life was vilified and called a coward and he even said he was himself a coward and knew it. He was asked why he chose to leave and he said simply that he wanted to live.

At the point when the men chose their fate they knew that they were going to die there. No reinforcements were coming and if they did they would be inadequate. The forces surrounding them was ten times their number and that force were seasoned soldiers for the most part. They were a pissed force too and had suffered many hardships on the march northward.

When we grew up we as kids talked to each other and asked could we do the same? Of course we said yes and with bravado would recount how we would kill as many as possible before they got us. Sometimes though we would think and wonder could we do so?

Well I digress. It is just our own state history after all. It is just a blip in time and much greater history has happened then this 13 day siege and battle. The one thing I thought of though was that this last battle happened on a Sunday on a day like today. The song Deguello (No Quarter) had been played already. The men on both sides knew this was the final act. The men on both sides prayed and many for the last time.

Also on this day us in Texas say a prayer for all Texans that have died in war. Please say a prayer for our soldiers with me today.

ALAMO, BATTLE OF THE

ALAMO, BATTLE OF THE. The siege and the final assault on the Alamo in 1836 constitute the most celebrated military engagement in Texas history. The battle was conspicuous for the large number of illustrious personalities among its combatants. These included Tennessee congressman David Crockett, entrepreneur-adventurer James Bowie, and Mexican president Antonio López de Santa Anna. Although not nationally famous at the time, William Barret Travis achieved lasting distinction as commander at the Alamo. For many Americans and most Texans, the battle has become a symbol of patriotic sacrifice. Traditional popular depictions, including novels, stage plays, and motion pictures, emphasize legendary aspects that often obscure the historical event.

To understand the real battle, one must appreciate its strategic context in the Texas Revolution. In December 1835 a Federalist army of Texan (or Texian, as they were called) immigrants, American volunteers, and their Tejano allies had captured the town from a Centralist force during the siege of Bexar. With that victory, a majority of the Texan volunteers of the "Army of the People" left service and returned to their families. Nevertheless, many officials of the provisional government feared the Centralists would mount a spring offensive. Two main roads led into Texas from the Mexican interior. The first was theAtascosito Road, which stretched from Matamoros on the Rio Grande northward through San Patricio, Goliad, Victoria, and finally into the heart of Austin's colony. The second was the Old San Antonio Road, acamino real that crossed the Rio Grande at Paso de Francia (the San Antonio Crossing) and wound northeastward through San Antonio de Béxar, Bastrop, Nacogdoches, San Augustine, and across the Sabine River into Louisiana. Two forts blocked these approaches into Texas: Presidio La Bahía (Nuestra Señora de Loreto Presidio) at Goliad and the Alamo at San Antonio. Each installation functioned as a frontier picket guard, ready to alert the Texas settlements of an enemy advance. James Clinton Neillreceived command of the Bexar garrison. Some ninety miles to the southeast, James Walker Fannin, Jr., subsequently took command at Goliad. Most Texan settlers had returned to the comforts of home and hearth. Consequently, newly arrived American volunteers-some of whom counted their time in Texas by the week-constituted a majority of the troops at Goliad and Bexar. Both Neill and Fannin determined to stall the Centralists on the frontier. Still, they labored under no delusions. Without speedy reinforcements, neither the Alamo nor Presidio La Bahía could long withstand a siege.

At Bexar were some twenty-one artillery pieces of various caliber. Because of his artillery experience and his regular army commission, Neill was a logical choice to command. Throughout January he did his best to fortify the mission fort on the outskirts of town. Maj. Green B. Jameson, chief engineer at the Alamo, installed most of the cannons on the walls. Jameson boasted to Gen. Sam Houston that if the Centralists stormed the Alamo, the defenders could "whip 10 to 1 with our artillery." Such predictions proved excessively optimistic. Far from the bulk of Texas settlements, the Bexar garrison suffered from a lack of even basic provender. On January 14 Neill wrote Houston that his people were in a "torpid, defenseless condition." That day he dispatched a grim message to the provisional government: "Unless we are reinforced and victualled, we must become an easy prey to the enemy, in case of an attack."

By January 17, Houston had begun to question the wisdom of maintaining Neill' s garrison at Bexar. On that date he informed Governor Henry Smith^qv that Col. James Bowie and a company of volunteers had left for San Antonio. Many have cited this letter as proof that Houston ordered the Alamo abandoned. Yet, Houston's words reveal the truth of the matter:

"I have ordered the fortifications in the town of Bexar to be demolished, and, if you should think well of it, I will remove all the cannon and other munitions of war to Gonzales and Copano, blow up the Alamo and abandon the place, as it will be impossible to keep up the Station with volunteers, the sooner I can be authorized the better it will be for the country [italics added]."

Houston may have wanted to raze the Alamo, but he was clearly requesting Smith's consent. Ultimately, Smith did not "think well of it" and refused to authorize Houston' s proposal.

On January 19, Bowie rode into the Alamo compound, and what he saw impressed him. As a result of much hard work, the mission had begun to look like a fort. Neill, who well knew the consequences of leaving the camino real unguarded, convinced Bowie that the Alamo was the only post between the enemy and Anglo settlements. Neill's arguments and his leadership electrified Bowie. "I cannot eulogize the conduct & character of Col. Neill too highly," he wrote Smith; "no other man in the army could have kept men at this post, under the neglect they have experienced." On February 2 Bowie wrote Smith that he and Neill had resolved to "die in these ditches" before they would surrender the post. The letter confirmed Smith's understanding of controlling factors. He had concluded that Bexar must not go undefended. Rejecting Houston's advice, Smith prepared to funnel additional troops and provisions to San Antonio. In brief, Houston had asked for permission to abandon the post. Smith considered his request. The answer was no.

Colonel Neill had complained that "for want of horses," he could not even "send out a small spy company." If the Alamo were to function as an early-warning station, Neill had to have outriders. Now fully committed to bolstering the Bexar garrison, Smith directed Lt. Col. William B. Travis to take his "Legion of Cavalry" and report to Neill. Only thirty horsemen responded to the summons. Travis pleaded with Governor Smith to reconsider: "I am unwilling to risk my reputation (which is ever dear to a soldier) by going off into the enemy' s country with such little means, and with them so badly equipped." Travis threatened to resign his commission, but Smith ignored these histrionics. At length, Travis obeyed orders and dutifully made his way toward Bexar with his thirty troopers. Reinforcements began to trickle into Bexar. On February 3, Travis and his cavalry contingent reached the Alamo. The twenty-six-year-old cavalry officer had traveled to his new duty station under duress. Yet, like Bowie, he soon became committed to Neill and the fort, which he began to describe as the "key to Texas." About February 8, David Crockett arrived with a group of American volunteers.

On February 14 Neill departed on furlough. He learned that illness had struck his family and that they desperately needed him back in Bastrop. While on leave, Neill labored to raise funds for his Bexar garrison. He promised that he would resume command when circumstances permitted, certainly within twenty days, and left Travis in charge as acting post commander. Neill had not intended to slight the older and more experienced Bowie, but Travis, like Neill, held a regular army commission. For all of his notoriety, Bowie was still just a volunteer colonel. The Alamo's volunteers, accustomed to electing their officers, resented having this regular officer foisted upon them. Neill had been in command since January; his maturity, judgment, and proven ability had won the respect of both regulars and volunteers. Travis, however, was unknown. The volunteers insisted on an election, and their acting commander complied with their wishes. The garrison cast its votes along party lines: the regulars voted for Travis, the volunteers for Bowie. In a letter to Smith, Travis claimed that the election and Bowie's subsequent conduct had placed him in an "awkward situation." The night following the balloting, Bowie dismayed Bexar residents with his besotted carousal. He tore through the town, confiscating private property and releasing convicted felons from jail. Appalled by this disorderly exhibition, Travis assured the governor that he refused to assume responsibility "for the drunken irregularities of any man"-not even the redoubtable Jim Bowie. Fortunately, this affront to Travis's sense of propriety did not produce a lasting breach between the two commanders. They struck a compromise: Bowie would command the volunteers, Travis the regulars. Both would co-sign all orders and correspondence until Neill's return. There was no more time for personality differences. They had learned that Santa Anna's Centralist army had reached the Rio Grande. Though Travis did not believe that Santa Anna could reach Bexar until March 15, his arrival on February 23 convinced him otherwise. As Texans gathered in the Alamo, Travis dispatched a hastily scribbled missive to Gonzales: "The enemy in large force is in sight. We want men and provisions. Send them to us. We have 150 men and are determined to defend the garrison to the last." Travis and Bowie understood that the Alamo could not hold without additional forces. Their fate now rested with the General Council in San Felipe, Fannin at Goliad, and other Texan volunteers who might rush to assist the beleaguered Bexar garrison.

Santa Anna sent a courier to demand that the Alamo surrender. Travis replied with a cannonball. There could be no mistaking such a concise response. Centralist artillerymen set about knocking down the walls. Once the heavy pounding reduced the walls, the garrison would have to surrender in the face of overwhelming odds. Bottled up inside the fort, the Texans had only one hope-that reinforcements would break the siege.

On February 24 Travis assumed full command when Bowie fell victim to a mysterious malady variously described as "hasty consumption" or "typhoid pneumonia." As commander, Travis wrote his letter addressed to the "people of Texas & all Americans in the world," in which he recounted that the fort had "sustained a continual Bombardment and cannonade for 24 hours." He pledged that he would "never surrender or retreat" and swore "Victory or Death." The predominant message, however, was an entreaty for help: "I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch." On March 1, thirty-two troops attached to Lt. George C. Kimbell's Gonzales ranging company made their way through the enemy cordon and into the Alamo. Travis was grateful for any reinforcements, but knew he needed more. On March 3 he reported to the convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos that he had lost faith in Colonel Fannin. "I look to the colonies alone for aid; unless it arrives soon, I shall have to fight the enemy on his own terms." He grew increasingly bitter that his fellow Texans seemed deaf to his appeals. In a letter to a friend, Travis revealed his frustration: "If my countrymen do not rally to my relief, I am determined to perish in the defense of this place, and my bones shall reproach my country for her neglect."

On March 5, day twelve of the siege, Santa Anna announced an assault for the following day. This sudden declaration stunned his officers. The enemy's walls were crumbling. No Texan relief column had appeared. When the provisions ran out, surrender would remain the rebels' only option. There was simply no valid military justification for the costly attack on a stronghold bristling with cannons. But ignoring these reasonable objections, Santa Anna stubbornly insisted on storming the Alamo. Around 5:00 A.M. on Sunday, March 6, he hurled his columns at the battered walls from four directions. Texan gunners stood by their artillery. As about 1,800 assault troops advanced into range, canister ripped through their ranks. Staggered by the concentrated cannon and rifle fire, the Mexican soldiers halted, reformed, and drove forward. Soon they were past the defensive perimeter. Travis, among the first to die, fell on the north bastion. Abandoning the walls, defenders withdrew to the dim rooms of the Long Barracks. There some of the bloodiest hand-to-hand fighting occurred. Bowie, too ravaged by illness to rise from his bed, found no pity. The chapel fell last. By dawn the Centralists had carried the works. The assault had lasted no more than ninety minutes. As many as seven defenders survived the battle, but Santa Anna ordered their summary execution. Many historians count Crockett as a member of that hapless contingent, an assertion that still provokes debate in some circles. By eight o'clock every Alamo fighting man lay dead. Currently, 189 defenders appear on the official list, but ongoing research may increase the final tally to as many as 257.

Though Santa Anna had his victory, the common soldiers paid the price as his officers had anticipated. Accounts vary, but best estimates place the number of Mexicans killed and wounded at about 600. Mexican officers led several noncombatant women, children, and slaves from the smoldering compound (see ALAMO NONCOMBATANTS). Santa Anna treated enemy women and children with admirable gallantry. He pledged safe passage through his lines and provided each with a blanket and two dollars. The most famous of these survivors were Susanna W. Dickinson, widow of Capt. Almaron Dickinson, and their infant daughter, Angelina Dickinson.^qqv After the battle, Mrs. Dickinson traveled to Gonzales. There, she reported the fall of the post to General Houston. The sad intelligence precipitated a wild exodus of Texan settlers called the Runaway Scrape.

What of real military value did the defenders' heroic stand accomplish? Some movies and other works of fiction pretend that Houston used the time to raise an army. During most of the siege, however, he was at the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos and not with the army. The delay did, on the other hand, allow promulgation of independence, formation of a revolutionary government, and the drafting of a constitution. If Santa Anna had struck the Texan settlements immediately, he might have disrupted the proceedings and driven all insurgents across the Sabine River. The men of the Alamo were valiant soldiers, but no evidence supports the notion-advanced in the more perfervid versions-that they "joined together in an immortal pact to give their lives that the spark of freedom might blaze into a roaring flame." Governor Smith and the General Council ordered Neill, Bowie, and Travis to hold the fort until support arrived. Despite all the "victory or death" hyperbole, they were not suicidal. Throughout the thirteen-day siege, Travis never stopped calling on the government for the promised support. The defenders of the Alamo willingly placed themselves in harm's way to protect their country. Death was a risk they accepted, but it was never their aim. Torn by internal discord, the provisional government could not deliver on its promise to provide relief, and Travis and his command paid the cost of that dereliction. As Travis predicted, his bones did reproach the factious politicos and the parade ground patriots for their neglect. Even stripped of chauvinistic exaggeration, however, the battle of the Alamo remains an inspiring moment in Texas history. The sacrifice of Travis and his command animated the rest of Texas and kindled a righteous wrath that swept the Mexicans off the field at San Jacinto. Since 1836, Americans on battlefields over the globe have responded to the exhortation, "Remember the Alamo!" See also REVOLUTIONARY ARMY.

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qea02

[Ban Hammer 13,530]

and some can't understand why i don't think highly of ozzy osbourne

[luckytxn 2,265]

and some can't understand why i don't think highly of ozzy osbourne

Ozzy was a douche.

[Dan and Judy 614]

Why did the Anglos, who had pledged allegiance to Mexico as a condition of immigrating into Mexico decide to revolt against Mexico?

Edited March 6, 2011 by Dan and Judy

[luckytxn 2,265]

Why did the Anglos, who had pledged allegiance to Mexico as a condition of immigrating into Mexico decide to revolt against Mexico?

Your first mistake is in thinking it was just Anglos. Many were Mexican. The next mistake is to assume it was just Texas that went into revolt. This was Army who was at the core at the least was very experienced at fighting all the insurrections over years that would crop up. Actually most of the settlers were quite happy to be left alone. Even the most zealous for war would have settled for a return of a constitution that had been withdrawn by Santa Ana and the freedoms it gave.

[luckytxn 2,265]

This is probably Texas most famous letter. Travis was the co leader and then the sole leader at the Alamo. After this was sent out every paper printed it and even most papers in the United States printed it after the war was over of course. For some reason even it became printed all over Europe.

Not surprisingly Houston refused and even the fledgling government refused or could not help. This letter made his name secure in Texas history though.

To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World:

Fellow citizens & compatriots—I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna—I have sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man. The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken—I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch—The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country—Victory or Death.

William Barret Travis

Lt. Col. comdt

P.S. The Lord is on our side—When the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn—We have since found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels & got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves.

Travis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_the_People_of_Texas_%26_All_Americans_in_the_World

[luckytxn 2,265]

To top off this sad day in Texas history. The worse was yet to come.

[Dan and Judy 614]

Your first mistake is in thinking it was just Anglos. Many were Mexican. The next mistake is to assume it was just Texas that went into revolt. This was Army who was at the core at the least was very experienced at fighting all the insurrections over years that would crop up. Actually most of the settlers were quite happy to be left alone. Even the most zealous for war would have settled for a return of a constitution that had been withdrawn by Santa Ana and the freedoms it gave.

I don't think there was anything in my question that said it was "only" Anglos or "only" Texas that went into revolt. The agitation started

well before Santa Ana took over.

[Dan and Judy 614]

This is probably Texas most famous letter. Travis was the co leader and then the sole leader at the Alamo. After this was sent out every paper printed it and even most papers in the United States printed it after the war was over of course. For some reason even it became printed all over Europe.

Not surprisingly Houston refused and even the fledgling government refused or could not help. This letter made his name secure in Texas history though.

To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World:

Fellow citizens & compatriotsI am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa AnnaI have sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man. The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is takenI have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatchThe enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his countryVictory or Death.

William Barret Travis

Lt. Col. comdt

P.S. The Lord is on our sideWhen the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of cornWe have since found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels & got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves.

Travis

http://en.wikipedia....ns_in_the_World

This sounds to me like an American with balls calling on other Americans (Anglos) to come help him fight the Mexicans.

Or pull his balls out of the fire so to speak.

It seems to me he was something of an adventurer, No denying, he had balls.

Ambitious rabal rousing trouble maker or Patriot?

When he was 22 he left "his" country (United States) and abandoned his wife, son and unborn daughter all at the same time

He would have become a Mexican at that time but the law of April 6th 1830 made his immigration illegal.

That means Travis was an "Illegal Alien"

In Travis' last letter out of the Alamo, March 3 to David Ayres:

"Take care of my little boy. If the country should be saved, I may make him a splendid fortune; but if the country should be lost, and I should perish, he will have nothing but the proud recollection that he is the son of a man who died for his country

I think he was planning on getting rich off of the revolution.

"The Lord is on our side" because he found 90 bushels of corn after being surrounded by 3000 Mexicans??

That's a spin doctor of the 1st degree. He would have made a fortune if he had survived

Edited March 7, 2011 by Dan and Judy

[luckytxn 2,265]

I don't think there was anything in my question that said it was "only" Anglos or "only" Texas that went into revolt. The agitation started

well before Santa Ana took over.

Actually your question did state that and no the revolts that this came from did come about because Santa Ana suspended the constitution that had given the people a Federalism form of government. Yes before there was a filibuster try once. The upheaval that came before Santa Ana was due to Mexico becoming independent themselves. During this time was when several governments came and went. It was a time of civil war. Santa Ana came into his own by all the chaos by pretty much being very smart and backing and then taking back his support in timely manners. He would stay aloof and out of the way until he was called to lead. Of course he seemed like the one to lead Mexico but as he gained power he started to become despotic and eventually suspended the constitution.

Many states went into revolt and it took pretty much many years to suppress the country after much warfare. There was other things of course that came along. The anglo settlers of course were used to much more freedoms but they were little messed with as they were so far away. Suppression ramped up after the main part of Mexico was subdued so that Santa Ana sent his brother in law General Cos northward to start applying the new laws. After time Texas went into revolt and the battle of San Antonio happened. It was a defeat for Cos and he left. Santa Ana decided to punish the settlers once and for all.

Many Mexicans were also in revolt. The Anglos were not the only ones that wanted the constitution brought back. One of the most famous soldiers in Texas was a Colonel Juan Seguin. He was in the Alamo in fact and had left to try to get help. He arrived and asked Houston and of course was refused. He went on his own and found men to go with him and arrived on the day after the final battle. He played a huge part in the following events and in fact was maybe one of the key reasons that we defeated Santa Ana. He was an amazing man and a pity he was treated so bad after time so much so that he left Texas and returned to Mexico. Luckily his remains were brought back to be buried with full honors.

Would Texas have become a state eventually? Yes of course. Manifest destiny was the driving force of America at that time but by no means was America ready to wrestle with Mexico yet. Did Anglos push the envelope to get the desired result? Yes of course. Nothing happens in a vacuum though.

[Dan and Judy 614]

Why did the Anglos, who had pledged allegiance to Mexico as a condition of immigrating into Mexico decide to revolt against Mexico?

this was the question,

I googled synonyms for only. I didn't use any of them in the question so it dosnt say just Anglos or Just Texas

Words and phrases that can mean the same thing as only: (15 results)

alone, but, entirely, exclusive, exclusively, just, lone, lonesome, merely, only if, only when, simply, sole, solely, solitary

[Dan and Judy 614]

Travis arrived in Texas early in 1831, after the Law of April 6, 1830, made his immigration illegal. He arrived at San Felipe de Austin, and on May 21 obtained land from Stephen F. Austin. He listed his marital status as single, although he was still married. He established a legal practice in Anahuac, a significant port of entry located on the eastern end of Galveston Bay. The purpose of the move there was to establish himself in an area where there were few attorneys while he learned the official language, Spanish. He traveled the country doing legal work and became associated with a group of militants who opposed the Law of April 6, 1830. Eventually this group became known as the war party as tension increased between the Mexican government and American settlers in Texas. Travis had many occasions to oppose the commander of the Mexican garrison at Anahuac, Col. John Davis Bradburn, a Kentuckian in the service of Mexico. Bradburn enforced the anti-immigration law, refused to allow state officials to alienate land to American settlers arriving after the passage of the law, and allegedly used materials and slaves belonging to the settlers to build his camp.

The principal dispute at Anahuac occurred in 1832 when William M. Logan of Louisiana engaged Travis to secure the return of runaway slaves being harbored by Bradburn. Logan returned to Louisiana for proof of ownership and threatened Bradburn that he also would return with help. Travis alarmed Bradburn with a note passed to a sentry that Logan had returned with a large force. Bradburn turned out his entire garrison to search for Logan, who, of course, was nowhere near the area. Suspecting Travis as the perpetrator of the prank, Bradburn sent soldiers to his law office to arrest Travis and his partner, Patrick C. Jack. They were held in a guardhouse and later in two brick kilns. Word of their arrest spread, and men assembled to demand their release. The group drafted the Turtle Bayou Resolutions, which pledged their loyalty to the states' rights Constitution of 1824, but not to the current Centralist regime, and demanded the release of the prisoners. John Austin traveled to Velasco to obtain a cannon to force Bradburn to comply. Col. JosÈ de las Piedras, commander at Nacogdoches, hurried to Anahuac. Although in sympathy with Bradburn, he realized that the Mexican forces were outnumbered. He ordered Travis and Jack released to civil authorities, who soon released them altogether. This incident began the Anahuac Disturbances of 1832, which resulted in armed clashes at Velasco and Nacogdoches later that summer and produced the conventions of 1832 and 1833 with their petitions for repeal of the Law of April 6, 1830, and separate statehood

http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/ccbn/dewitt/adp/history/bios/travis/travis.html

then

President Pedraza convened Congress. It elected Santa Anna as President on April 1, 1833. President Santa Anna appointed Valentín Gómez Farías as Vice-President and largely left the governing of the nation to him. Farias began to implement liberal reforms, mostly aimed against the army and the Roman Catholic Church, a state religion in Mexico. Such reforms as abolishing tithing as a legal obligation, and the seizure of church property and finances, prompted Mexican Conservatives to turn to Santa Anna to take power again.

At their behest, Santa Anna denounced the administration of Vice-President Farias, and forced him and his main supporters to flee to the United States. He formed a new Catholic, centralist, conservative government which replaced the 1824 constitution with the new constitutional document, entitled "The Seven Laws" (Constitution of 1836). Santa Anna dissolved the Congress and began the centralization of power. The regime became a centralized dictatorship backed by the military.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_L%C3%B3pez_de_Santa_Anna

[luckytxn 2,265]

Travis arrived in Texas early in 1831, after the Law of April 6, 1830, made his immigration illegal. He arrived at San Felipe de Austin, and on May 21 obtained land from Stephen F. Austin. He listed his marital status as single, although he was still married. He established a legal practice in Anahuac, a significant port of entry located on the eastern end of Galveston Bay. The purpose of the move there was to establish himself in an area where there were few attorneys while he learned the official language, Spanish. He traveled the country doing legal work and became associated with a group of militants who opposed the Law of April 6, 1830. Eventually this group became known as the war party as tension increased between the Mexican government and American settlers in Texas. Travis had many occasions to oppose the commander of the Mexican garrison at Anahuac, Col. John Davis Bradburn, a Kentuckian in the service of Mexico. Bradburn enforced the anti-immigration law, refused to allow state officials to alienate land to American settlers arriving after the passage of the law, and allegedly used materials and slaves belonging to the settlers to build his camp.

The principal dispute at Anahuac occurred in 1832 when William M. Logan of Louisiana engaged Travis to secure the return of runaway slaves being harbored by Bradburn. Logan returned to Louisiana for proof of ownership and threatened Bradburn that he also would return with help. Travis alarmed Bradburn with a note passed to a sentry that Logan had returned with a large force. Bradburn turned out his entire garrison to search for Logan, who, of course, was nowhere near the area. Suspecting Travis as the perpetrator of the prank, Bradburn sent soldiers to his law office to arrest Travis and his partner, Patrick C. Jack. They were held in a guardhouse and later in two brick kilns. Word of their arrest spread, and men assembled to demand their release. The group drafted the Turtle Bayou Resolutions, which pledged their loyalty to the states' rights Constitution of 1824, but not to the current Centralist regime, and demanded the release of the prisoners. John Austin traveled to Velasco to obtain a cannon to force Bradburn to comply. Col. JosÈ de las Piedras, commander at Nacogdoches, hurried to Anahuac. Although in sympathy with Bradburn, he realized that the Mexican forces were outnumbered. He ordered Travis and Jack released to civil authorities, who soon released them altogether. This incident began the Anahuac Disturbances of 1832, which resulted in armed clashes at Velasco and Nacogdoches later that summer and produced the conventions of 1832 and 1833 with their petitions for repeal of the Law of April 6, 1830, and separate statehood

http://www.tamu.edu/...vis/travis.html

then

President Pedraza convened Congress. It elected Santa Anna as President on April 1, 1833. President Santa Anna appointed Valentín Gómez Farías as Vice-President and largely left the governing of the nation to him. Farias began to implement liberal reforms, mostly aimed against the army and the Roman Catholic Church, a state religion in Mexico. Such reforms as abolishing tithing as a legal obligation, and the seizure of church property and finances, prompted Mexican Conservatives to turn to Santa Anna to take power again.

At their behest, Santa Anna denounced the administration of Vice-President Farias, and forced him and his main supporters to flee to the United States. He formed a new Catholic, centralist, conservative government which replaced the 1824 constitution with the new constitutional document, entitled "The Seven Laws" (Constitution of 1836). Santa Anna dissolved the Congress and began the centralization of power. The regime became a centralized dictatorship backed by the military.

http://en.wikipedia....z_de_Santa_Anna

And all this is meaning what on this day in history?

Alamo fell. Men died. Some people are happy Texans died. Many more Texans will die. The darkest days are to come.