On March 6, 1836, 180 years ago, 189 Texans and Tejanos died, defending the Alamo against Mexican General Santa Ana’s Army of 2,400 soldiers.
Texas history remembers Lt. Col. William Barret Travis, commander of the Alamo, Col. Jim Bowie, the famous knife fighter, and the living legend Davy Crockett, frontiersman and politician, but who remembers Capt. Juan Seguin and his Tejanos (Texas born citizens of Mexico and Spanish ancestry).
On the third day of the siege, Seguin was sent out to get reinforcements and supplies as well as several other Tejanos, but at least eight stayed behind to defend the Alamo, such as Gregorio Esparza that help fire the cannon and pray those cannon balls would not kill his own brother, Francisco, who was in General Santa Ana’s army.
The final assault came before daybreak from all sides of the Alamo, and the Tejanos and the Texans paid the ultimate sacrifice when they were overwhelmed by superior numbers.
By sunrise, the Battle of the Alamo has ended. All the defenders’ bodies of the Alamo would be laid and burned in three funeral pyres with the exception of Gregorio Esparza, because Francisco would ask Santa Ana for permission to give his brother a Christian burial.
Texas history has forgotten the contributions of Capt. Seguin’s company of Tejanos, but on Saturday, March 12, at the San Benito Fairgrounds, the Valley is invited to celebrate Texas Independence Day, Juan Seguin’s favorite holiday and see the Texans and Seguin’s Tejanos defend the Alamo, as well as Capt. Seguin leading his Tejanos at the Battle of San Jacinto with General Sam Houston.
Viva Tejas y Vivan Los Tejanos
Jack Ayoub Harlingen
