Texas Heroes Act seeks to limit role of slavery in battle for independence at the Alamo
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State Rep. Kyle Biedermann, R-Fredericksburg, is the primary author of a bill that seeks to emphasize the grievances listed in the Texas Declaration of Independence at the Alamo, when explaining the causes of the 1835-1836 war for independence from Mexico.Marvin Pfeiffer /Staff photographer
Slavery was an underlying cause of the state’s battle for independence, according to scholars, but a bill before the Texas House seeks to downplay its role in Alamo history.
Legislation from State Rep. Kyle Biedermann, R-Fredericksburg, would focus the causes of the Texas Revolution solely on those listed in the state’s declaration of independence.
True West Magazine
The 1832 battle set the stage for the Texas Revolution.
The names are spoken with reverence in Texas: The Alamo. Goliad. San Jacinto. The great battles of the Texas Revolution, a conflict that lasted just under seven months. But the seeds of the war were planted years before that; the first real bloodshed came in June 1832.
Mexico was in the middle of one of its myriad civil wars. That made military officials in the northern provinces, specifically Texas, very nervous. They feared the Texians would take advantage of the disorder to seek independence for the region. To head things off, the officials arrested a number of potential revolutionaries, including William Barret Travis, who would later command The Alamo.
Photo by Forrest Byas, descendant of Alamo defender Andrew Kent.
According to woke Texas State Historical Association chief historian Walter Buenger, the Alamo is a symbol of “white supremacy.” Some might like for it to be that, but they are a fringe on the left and right extremes, and the facts keep getting in their way. It’s today’s woke history that’s oversimplified and racist. History is as complex as life itself.
Buenger is not a Texas Revolution historian and may not have heard of the Tejanos who died at the Alamo fighting against dictator Santa Anna, his betrayal of the Federalists, his abrogation of the 1824 Constitution, his 1835 proclamation branding those Federalists “pirates” if they lifted a finger to oppose him as he sought to disarm them, or the several other Mexican states besides Texas that rebelled against the hated dictator during the same timeframe. Those facts’ existence violates the revisionist narrative that wokes seek to create regarding
Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat
Greetings, everyone. As I write this, it is Saturday morning, March 6th, and I am in San Antonio staying at the Hotel Gibbs. I arrived in San Antonio at 1 AM after speaking at a Veterans Memorial event in Murphy, Texas. My room is on the 6th floor, in the corner, overlooking The Alamo battlefield. I was truly tired upon getting into my room, but I opened up the curtains and looked down upon the Alamo in the city lights, and the aforementioned Latin quote came to mind, “Fortune Favors the Bold.”
There have been many different attributions of this quote, including Alexander the Great. However, when one considers those words, and this day, it embodies the defenders of The Alamo, led by a 26-year-old, Lt. Col. William Barret Travis.
Texans fought to the death for liberty over tyranny.
Thirteen days of glory all started 185 years ago on February 23, 1836, when the Mexican dictator, Generalisimo Santa Anna, showed up in a town called San Antonio de Bexar and began the siege against a small outpost called The Alamo. There, inside this small fortified old Spanish mission, were less than 200 men who were determined to make a stand for what would soon be the Republic of Texas. They were led by a young 26-year-old from South Carolina, Lt. Col. William Barret Travis. The small garrison included men whose names will forever be remembered in American folklore: Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett.