Slavery | TSLAC - Texas State Library And Archives Commission "15 Facts About the Battle of the Alamo." The following year, the family acquired 200 acres (80 ha) along the Red River. Because Joe could speak Spanish, he was able to be interrogated afterward. Accounts of his departure from the Alamo differ, but he later joined Susanna W. Dickinson and her escort, Ben, Santa Anna's Black cook, on their way to Gen. Sam Houston's camp at Gonzales. On April 21, 1837, one year after the battle, Joe escaped from John Rice Jones - the man who obtained ownership of Joe from Travis' estate. They also established the nearby military garrison of San Antonio de Bxar, which soon became the center of a settlement known as San Fernando de Bxar (later renamed San Antonio). I mean, the idea that Mexican soldiers would show up and kill them all just seems like a notion that he never really accepted, that somehow something would happen to spirit them all the way to safety. As more slaves came into the Republic of Texas, more escaped to Mexico. Houston sent Jim Bowie to San Antonio: his orders were to destroy the Alamo and return with all of the men and artillery stationed there. When I grew up I learned that the heroes of the Alamo were a bunch of drunks and crooks and slaveholding imperialists who conquered land that didnt belong to them. The Alamo has been commemorated on everything from postage stamps to the 1960 film The Alamo starring John Wayne as Davy Crockett. And while the entire defending force was annihilated in the final assault and its aftermath, Joe survived, and his accounts of the siege and final battle form the basis of much of what we know about the Alamo from inside the fort. How much did 1776 have to do with race and . Because of Joe, a slave, we can remember as much as we do about the Alamo. Joe, The UNESCO decision, which would also apply to four other 18th century Spanish missions in San Antonio, is expected to be released on Sunday from the World Heritage Committee in Bonn, Germany. Nolan Thompson, In early 1836, a small group of Texas volunteers at the Alamo held off the Mexican army for 13 days before being defeated (and executed). Some Texians and Tejanos wanted the federalist constitution back, some wanted centralist control to be based in Mexico: That was the main basis for the turmoil in Texas, not independence. Santa Anna sent them to Houstons camp in Gonzalez with a warning that a similar fate awaited the rest of the Texans if they continued their revolt. Joe did so and was struck by a pistol shot and bayonet thrust before a Mexican captain intervened. "The stunning discovery that Joethe slave of Alamo commander William Barret Traviswas the brother of the abolitionist William Wells Brown has opened an entirely new chapter in the history of Texas. Forget the Alamo: Race Courses as a Struggle over History and Collective Memory. Courtesy Texas Historical Commission Joseph, an enslaved person, was one of a handful of survivors at the Battle of the Alamo in 1836. The Mexican government was opposed to slavery, but even so, there were 5000 slaves in Texas by the time of the Texas Revolution in 1836. Dan Patrick (R), who has closely aligned himself with former president Donald Trump. Because it stood in a grove of cottonwood trees, the soldiers called their new fort El Alamo after the Spanish word for cottonwood and in honor of Alamo de Parras, their hometown in Mexico.