CORPUS CHRISTI, Tx — March 6 marks the last day of the infamous Battle of the Alamo.
It has been 188 years since Mexican President Antonio López de Santa Anna and nearly 5,000 soldiers of his Mexican Army overran 187 Texans from the old Spanish mission after a 13-day siege.
Around 5 a.m. on Sunday, March 6, Santa Anna sent his army to the battered walls of the Alamo compound from all directions.
The Texan gunners within the walls fired their artillery into the 1,800 assaulting troops as they advanced into range, ripping through their ranks. As the cannon and rifle fire tore through them the Mexican soldiers halted, reformed and continued to drive forward. Soon enough, they pushed past the defensive perimeters.
Colonel Travis was among the first to fall.
Knowing their doom was at hand, the defenders fell back to the Long Barracks, where most of the bloody hand-to-hand combat took place.
David Bowie, who had fallen ill days earlier, rose from his bed to fight but found no pity from the Mexican soldiers.
Finally, the chapel fell.
The final assault by the Mexican Army lasted a mere 90 minutes.
It's said that 7 defenders survived the battle, but Santa Anna ordered their execution.
By 8 a.m., the defenders of the Alamo were all dead. Women, children, and slaves within were led out through the lines and provided with a blanket and two dollars.
The most famous of these was Mrs. Susanna W. Dickinson. After the battle, she traveled to Gonzales and reported what happened in San Antonio and the Alamo. That news was sent on to General Houston and the rest of the communities of Texas and what after became known as the Runaway Scrape.
On April 21, 1836, in present-day La Porte, Texas the final battle between the Texians and the Mexican Army took place and The Republic of Texas was born.
