Remember the Alamo Webquest

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• Remember the Alamo Webquest

Stephen Austin Comes to Texas• Spanish authorities opened Texas to Anglo-American settlement in 1820

because they were unable to persuade their own citizens to move to remote and sparsely populated Texas. The settlers were to be Catholic, hard working, and willing to become Spanish citizens in return for generous land grants.

• Moses Austin was given permission to bring 300 families to Texas but he died before he was able to establish his colony. His son, Stephen Austin, settled the colony with about 300 families in 1821. By this time Mexico had won it’s independence from Spain.

http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/resources/video_library.htmlClick on the above link

go to Mexico Opens Texas to Americans who come to claim it as their own Watch the video

Question: Why did the Spanish government authorize land grants for Anglo-Americans?

Conflict With Mexican Authorities• There were twenty-five other empresarios, people given land grants in

exchange for recruiting settlers, who established colonies in Texas. By 1830, there were about 20,000 Americans in Texas.

• All settlers had agreed to become Mexican citizens, worship in the Roman Catholic Church, and speak Spanish. However, most settlers were English speaking Protestants who felt little loyalty to Mexico. Some settlers even brought slaves from Louisiana.

Question: Why were did Mexican authorities decide to bar any more Americans from settling Texas?

General Santa Anna Mexican authorities began to enforce the laws requiring Texans to worship

in the Catholic Church, as well as, the law banning slavery. Settlers grew angry when troops were to enforce the law.In 1833, General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna took control of the Mexican government. He quickly threw out the Mexican constitution and made himself dictator. This change frightened Americans in Texas.

Question: Why did the idea of a dictator concern American settlers in Texas?

Gonzales• Green DeWitt, an American, established at colony east of present-day San

Antonio called Gonzales. The Mexican government sent a cannon to protect the settlers from Indian attacks in 1831. President Santa Anna sent 100 soldiers from San Antonio to retrieve the cannon in 1835. The settlers refused to let the Mexican soldiers have the cannon.

• Sarah DeWitt and her daughter sewed a flag with a cannon and the words “Come and Take it,” which was flown when the first shots of Texan independence were fired. They forced the troops to withdraw.

Question: Why is Gonzales called the “Lexington of Texas?”

Texas Declares Independence• As General Santa Anna and his troops marched toward Texas, a group of

Texans met at the town of Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 1, 1836. The delegates declared independence from Mexico.

• Sam Houston was put in command of the army of the new Republic of Texas. Thousands of men volunteered to fight for independence.

Question: Why did so many people want to fight for Texan independence?

Mision San Antonio de Valero• The Alamo was originally named Misión San Antonio de Valero. It was one of

five missions built by the Spanish in the San Antonio area. The Alamo served as a home to missionaries and their Indian converts for nearly seventy years. In 1793, Spanish officials turned San Antonio's five missions over to the Native Americans and they distributed the land to the remaining Indian residents.

• In early 1800 the Spanish sent a cavalry unit to the former mission. The soldiers renamed the old mission in honor of their hometown Alamo de Parras, Coahuila.

Question: What was the original purpose of theAlamo complex?

Texas Voluteers Take the Alamo• In December 1835, Ben Milam led Texian and Tejano volunteers against

Mexican troops quartered in the city. After five days of house-to-house fighting, they forced General Cós and his soldiers to surrender. The victorious volunteers then occupied the Alamo and strengthened its defenses under the command of Colonel James Neil.

• On January 19, 1836, Colonel James Bowie arrived at the Alamo with a group of reinforcements. Thirty cavalrymen under the command of William B. Travis arrived at the former mission on Feb 3. Davy Crockett and his men arrived the next week.

• Family illness caused Col James Neil to leave for home.

Question: How did the Texas volunteers capture the Alamo?

Siege of the Alamo• Santa Anna’s arrival with 1500 troops at the end of February led to a

desperate call for reinforcements and supplies. Santa Anna sent a courier to Col Travis demanding surrender. He further advised the he would give no quarter (kill all who were captured.) Travis responded with cannon fire.

• A small group of men from DeWitt Colony made their way through the enemy lines to the fort. They were the last reinforcements to arrive.

• After a 12 siege, Santa Anna ordered an assault for the next day.

Question: How did Travis respond to Santa Anna’s demandfor surrender?

Remember the Alamo!• At 5:00 a.m. on March 6, Mexican troops began the attack the Alamo.

Cannon and small arms fire from inside the walls beat back the first several attempts. Finally, the Mexicans scaled the walls and rushed the compound. The quickly captured a cannon and blasted the barricaded doors open. The struggled continued until the defenders were overwhelmed. The seven defenders who survived the battle were executed shortly after they surrendered. The entire battle lasted only ninety minutes.

Question: Why did the fall of the Alamo inspire Texans?

Goliad• Colonel James Fannin was in command of 300 troops at Goliad about 90

miles from San Antonio. General Sam Houston ordered Fannin to retreat to Victoria, Texas after the fall of the Alamo.

• Fannin and his men were surrounded by Mexican cavalry on the open prairie. The Texans were forced to surrender when they ran out of water and ammunition. The prisoners were executed a week after their surrender.

• Word of the Goliad Massacre spread quickly throughout Texas. Rebels used Goliad as a rallying cry and recruitment increased rapidly.

Question: Why were Texans so angry about the events at Goliad?

Battle of San Jacinto• General Houston received information that Santa Anna and his army were

camped near the San Jacinto River. Over 630 Mexicans were killed and 700 wounded during the surprise attack on April 21.

• Santa Anna had disappeared during the battle, and next day General Houston ordered a thorough search of the surrounding territory for him. In the afternoon Sergeant J.A. Sylvester spotted a Mexican slipping through the woods toward Vince's Bayou. Sylvester and his comrades caught the fugitive trying to hide in the high grass. He wore a common soldier's apparel round jacket, blue cotton pantaloons, skin cap and soldier's shoes. They took the captive to camp, and on the way, Mexican prisoners recognized him and cried, "El Presidente!"

http://www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/resources/video_library.htmlTo watch the video click on the above link Go to Sam Houston’s Texans Avenge the Alamo and defeat Santa Anna at SanJacinto

Question: Who was the soldier captured on April 22?

The Lone Star Republic• After surrendering Santa Anna signed a treaty granting Texas independence. • Texan delegates wrote a constitution using the United States Constitution as

a model.• Sam Houston was elected president of the Republic of Texas.• Texans nicknamed their new country “The Lone Star Republic” because

their soldiers carried a flag with a single white star when they won independence.

Question: What was the official name of the independent Texas republic?

Problems for the New Republic• Mexico refused to accept the treaty that Santa Anna signed granting Texan

independence.• Texas was almost bankrupt• Native Americans groups were attacking settlements• Many Texans wanted to be part of the United States but the American

people were divided over whether or not to annex (add) Texas. Southerners supported the idea but northerners did not want another slave state admitted to the union.

• Andrew Jackson feared that annexing Texas would lead to war with Mexico.

Question: Why did Congress refuse to annex Texas?