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List of Alamo defenders

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 31, 2026
Entity authorityQ6560871
Source-derived summary

The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a crucial conflict of the Texas Revolution. In 1835, colonists from the United States joined with Tejanos (Mexicans born in Texas) in putting up armed resistance to the centralization of the Mexican government. President Antonio López de Santa Anna and the government in Mexico City believed the United States had instigated the insurrection with a goal of annexing Texas.

In an effort to tamp down on the unrest, martial law was declared and military governor General Martín Perfecto de Cos established headquarters in San Antonio de Béxar, stationing his troops at the Alamo. When the Texian volunteer soldiers gained control of the fortress at the Siege of Béxar, compelling Cos to surrender on December 9, many saw his expulsion to the other side of the Rio Grande as the end of Mexican forces in Texas. Most Texian soldiers in Béxar left to join a planned invasion of Matamoros, Mexico.

Garrison commander James C. Neill went home on family matters February 11, 1836, leaving James Bowie and William B. Travis as co-commanders over the predominantly volunteer force. When the Mexican Army of Operations under the command of Santa Anna arrived in Béxar with 1,500 troops on February 23, the remaining Alamo garrison numbered 150. Over the course of the next several days, new volunteers arrived inside the fortress while others were sent out as couriers, to forage for food, or to buy supplies.

A fierce defense was launched from within the walls, even as Bowie and Travis made unsuccessful attempts to negotiate with the Mexican army.

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Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1836, 1835—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where List, Alamo and defenders can be independently traced.
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This entry incorporates text from List of Alamo defenders” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.