Exodus from the Alamo
The Anatomy of the Last Stand Myth
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
The award-winning historian provides a provocative new analysis of the Battle of the Alamo—including new information on the fate of Davy Crockett.
Contrary to legend, we now know that the defenders of the Alamo during the Texan Revolution died in a merciless predawn attack by Mexican soldiers. With extensive research into recently discovered Mexican accounts, as well as forensic evidence, historian Phillip Tucker sheds new light on the famous battle, contending that the traditional myth is even more off-base than we thought.
In a startling revelation, Tucker uncovers that the primary fights took place on the plain outside the fort. While a number of the Alamo’s defenders hung on inside, most died while attempting to escape. Capt. Dickinson, with cannon atop the chapel, fired repeatedly into the throng of enemy cavalry until he was finally cut down. The controversy surrounding Davy Crockett still remains, though the recently authenticated diary of the Mexican Col. José Enrique de la Peña offers evidence that he surrendered.
Notoriously, Mexican Pres. Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna burned the bodies of the Texans who had dared stand against him. As this book proves in thorough detail, the funeral pyres were well outside the fort—that is, where the two separate groups of escapees fell on the plain, rather than in the Alamo itself.
Customer Reviews
In need of an editor
Probably more accurate than the generally accepted version of the battle, I found the text extremely repetitive with an annoying number of typos. A frequent typo is using “abode” instead of adobe
Repetitive and inane
I have no reason to doubt the authors research, but good grief. This book should have run around 200 pages, not 540. I don’t think I could have counted the number of times he referred to “the doomed garrison”, or mentioned how Travis and Bowie were inexperienced, or described Mexican soldados. It took longer to get to the actual assault on paper than the Mexicans took to March from the Tio Grand.