Alijo Perez Jr.

When the Battle of the Alamo ended at approximately 6:30 a.m. on March 6, 1836, fewer than fifty of the almost 250 Texians who had occupied the Alamo Mission in San Antonio, Texas, were alive. The conflict, a part of the Texas Revolution, was the first step in Mexican President Antonio López de Santa Anna's attempt to retake the province of Texas after an insurgent army of Texian settlers and adventurers from the United States had driven out all Mexican troops the previous year. As part of his preparations for marching on Texas, in late December 1835 Santa Anna had convinced the Mexican Congress to pass a resolution that all "foreigners landing on the coast of the Republic or invading its territory by land, armed, and with the intent of attacking our country, will be deemed pirates" and subject to immediate execution.

Santa Anna led an army to San Antonio de Bexar, arriving on February 23, 1836, and immediately initiating a siege of the Alamo, which housed Texian Army troops. As the Mexican Army had approached San Antonio, several of the Alamo defenders brought their families into the Alamo to keep them safe. During the twelve days of the siege, Alamo co-commander William Barret Travis sent multiple couriers to the acting Texas government, the remaining Texas army under James Fannin, and various Texas communities, asking for reinforcements, provisions, and ammunition.

The siege culminated in an early-morning assault by Mexican troops which left almost all of the defenders dead. Some reports claimed that several Texians surrendered but were quickly executed on Santa Anna's orders. Of the Texians who fought during the battle, only two survived: Travis's slave, Joe, was assumed by the Mexican soldiers to be a noncombatant, and Brigido Guerrero, who had deserted from the Mexican Army several months before, convinced the Mexican soldiers that he had been taken prisoner by the Texians. Alamo co-commander James Bowie's freedman, Sam, was also spared, although it is not known if he participated in the fighting.

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Wikipedia