|
|
Santa Anna's Doomsday in Texas
Here's a quick history lesson: On this day 176 years ago, Mexican General Santa Anna and his forces began the two-week-long siege of the Alamo that ended in a bloody massacre of more than 200 Texans after Mexicans scaled the walls and attacked on March 6. The siege sparked perhaps the most important two months in Texas’ history. Four days before the final Mexican surge, Texan delegates drafted and adopted the Texas Declaration of Independence, and less than a week later, when Texans and Americans to the north and east heard of Santa Anna’s cruel, “take no prisoners” strategy at the Alamo, they chose to take up arms against him. By April 22, Texans had avenged the Alamo after routing the Mexicans in the Battle of San Jacinto and capturing Santa Anna a day later. Suddenly, Texas had secured its independence. Thank God that back in 1836 Santa Anna chose to raise a blood-red flag from his camp outside of present-day San Antonio to signify no quarter (No mercy for all those at the Alamo mission, including women and children). Santa Anna’s decision only confirmed the Texans’ general opinion of him as a relentless, unforgiving tyrant, a “Napoleon of the West.” Had he not raised that flag, those at the Alamo would have had less time to summon support and attention from Texans and Americans elsewhere, and Santa Anna’s spiteful siege may have transpired without proper exposure. A lack of exposure could have meant a tragic fate for the land we now call home. Santa Anna, who had risen to dictator status in Mexico as his regime centralized power, was poised on expanding his global reach at the time of the Texas Revolution. A true lunatic, Santa Anna’s directives were often arbitrary and atrocious in nature: in 1838, he demanded that his leg receive full military honors and the most honorable of burials after cannon fire required its amputation from the knee down. Sporting a cork leg and creepy handlebar mustache, a 50-year-old Santa Anna took a 15-year-old girl as his wife just one month after the death of his first wife—with whom he had had four children. Had Santa Anna quelled the rebellion in Texas, early Texan delegates would never have established Austin as their capital, and instead of fostering relations with America from there, Texas would have been left in the hands of the delusional tyrant. Thankfully, what emerged victorious in the end was the irrefutable Texan spirit. Instead, it was the “Come and Take It” mentality that claimed eventual victory as Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and the Texan forces repelled the first two waves of the Alamo attack, killing three Mexicans for every Texan lost and inspiring outrage and vengeful motives among thousands of Texans and Americans in the process. Zach is a sophomore studying economics. You may contact him at ZachWolfe24@gmail.com.
|
