battle of the alamo The Alamo or Mission de Valero was originally built on the San Antonio River by the Spanish in 1718 as a place to convert Native Americans to the Catholic religion. The Alamo served its original purpose for over 200 years before its most famous battle.

When Mexico won its independence from Spain they took , and the Alamo, with them. In December of 1825 a group of Texans captured the Alamo from the Mexicans and set up camp in the mission.

A group of Texas army members led by William B. Travis and volunteers led by Davy Crockett prepared to hold the mission against the much larger Mexican army led by Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.

The Mexican army arrived at the Alamo on February 23rd and he demanded the Texans surrender, but they refused by firing a cannonball at the Mexican army. The siege of the Alamo had begun and the Mexican army began to try and tear down the walls. The Texans, led by Travis, said that they were fighting for, “Liberty or Death.”

On March 5th Santa Anna announced that he would attack the following day. The battle was one of the bloodiest in American history as the Texans fought the Mexicans hand to hand. The battle lasted less than 90 minutes and left no Texan men alive. The Mexican army did allow women and children to leave the Alamo in order to tell other Texans about the battle.

After the 13 day battle many Texans took place in the in which they left Texas. The defeat at the Battle of the Alamo led to the war cry, “Remember the

Alamo.” ©2016TeachingintheFastLaneLLC4 texas declaration of independence

The Texas Declaration of Independence was written in a hurry, because as it was being written the Alamo, in San Antonio, was being attacked by Santa Anna and the Mexican Army.

Five members of the Convention of 1836 were nominated to write the document. These members were , Edward Conrad, James Gaines, , and Collin McKinney. These men wrote the Texas Declaration of Independence overnight, and it was approved by the rest of the convention the next day.

The Texas Declaration of Independence was signed and officially adopted on March 2nd, 1836 at Washington on the Brazos.

The Texas Declaration of Independence was modeled after the United States Declaration of Independence and included many of the same ideas. In the document the delegates included information about the structure of the government, a list of complaints against Mexico, and a statement proclaiming Texas as its own republic, or country.

©2016TeachingintheFastLaneLLC4 the runaway scrape In February 1836, at the beginning of the , Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was on a mission to intimidate Texans. As part of this mission he led the Mexican army in a march across Texas.

Texans feared the Mexican army would harm them and their homes, so they packed up everything that they could and ran away towards the United States in the east. This mass exit by the Texans is known as the Runaway Scrape.

The Runaway Scrape started in mid-January when Texans noticed that the Mexican army was gathering at the , the southern border of Texas. Colonists in southern Texas in settlements such as Refugio and San Antonio were the first to leave.

After the Battle of the Alamo in which the Texans were defeated by the Mexicans, the number of colonists who decided to leave increased dramatically. Sam , the leader of the Texas army, ordered a retreat of the army as well as any colonists to the Colorado River.

As the Texas Revolution went on people began to leave all of their belongings behind in order to get to safety more quickly. Even the capital of Texas, Washington on the Brazos, was completely evacuated. Most settlers moved east to Louisiana or in order to seek protection.

Settlers who were trying to get themselves out of danger were stuck in bad weather, had very little to eat, and suffered from illness. Many people died during the Runaway Scrape. Texans continued to flee until news of the Mexican army’s surrender at the . ©2016TeachingintheFastLaneLLC4 battle of san jacinto The Battle of San Jacinto was the final battle of the Texas Revolution. After the Battle of the Alamo the Texan army retreated east. They later heard of the Goliad Massacre which further increased the number of settlers who left in the Runaway Scrape.

During this time , the leader of the Texan army, continued to recruit more soldiers from colonists as well as the United States.

The retreat of the army was ordered to stop by President Burnet, so Sam Houston led the army to Harrisburg where they found a position to stop the Mexican Army at White Oak Bayou.

Houston rallied his soldiers with the battle cry, “Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!” The next morning the Texan army was able to stop and capture a boat with supplies meant for the Mexican army at Lynch’s Ferry.

A group of Texans were sent to find the Mexican army, but were wounded in their search. When Sam Houston heard that the Mexican army was crossing a bridge towards them he had Erastmus Deaf Smith destroy the bridge to prevent more Mexicans from coming.

The Texan army advanced on the Mexican army. They were very surprised to find them taking an afternoon siesta, or nap. They were able to easily capture the camp of the Mexican army. Over 600 Mexicans were killed and 730 were captured, while only nine Texans were killed.

During the battle Santa Anna was able to escape, but was later found disguised as a regular soldier. He signed the Treaty of Velasco along with Sam Houston, ending the Texas Revolution. ©2016TeachingintheFastLaneLLC4