Over the years the defenders of the Alamo have been touted as fighters for freedom and liberty for Texans. This unchallenged history is finally being debated and discussed by those who had accepted the standard version of Alamo history. The Alamo defenders are portrayed as “freedom fighters,” when in fact their history tells another story. The real Alamo is an interesting story of slavery that some historians have purposely misrepresented. A historical review of the Texas settlers should shed some light. Historians often use superficial analysis to review historical events, but below the surface analysis reveals a deeper picture. One should keep in mind the political balance between slave states and free states in the United States Congress at the time, and the lure that a frontier country like northern Mexico (now called Texas), without anti-slavery laws at the time, would have on those wanting to establish a slave state.
David Crockett, a one-time battalion commander in the Tennessee Militia in 1813, participated in the massacre of Creek Indians at Tallusahatchee, Alabama. It was during this period that Crockett fought the Creek Nation and their Black allies in an effort to drive Native Americans from their ancestral homes, and to return slaves to plantation owners. Crockett was of course under the command of Andrew Jackson, one of the most brutal and racist killers of Native Americans in history. After 1814 Crockett went on to help Jackson in his campaign to destroy the Black and Red Seminoles in Pensacola, Florida. Ironically, these same Black Seminoles would survive Jackson’s racist war to settle in Brackettville, Texas, and a few would later migrate to San Antonio. Typical of some paternal minded slavers, Crockett sought to “help” slaves as a Tennessee legislator, while owning slaves at the same time. In 1826, Crockett would become involved in hauling slaves on ships in Louisiana. Crockett’s history is one of slavery.
It is certain that the issue of slavery was important to the Alamo defenders and Texas settlers. Jim Bowie’s father was considered the biggest slave owner in Louisiana in 1809. Following in his father’s infamous footsteps, Jim Bowie became a slave owner as well, and participated in slave cargos in Louisiana, purchasing slaves from pirates like Jean Lafitte. In fact, Bowie ran a slave selling business at Galveston Island. Bowie was a promoter and defender of slavery. How then have they become heroes? One might ask themselves this question, as formulated by SNCC-Panther Carlos Richardson, “Can you hold a banner of freedom, democracy, and liberty in one hand, and the banner of slavery, genocide, theft, and oppression in the other hand, and call yourself righteous? Is this not the essence of hypocrisy?” Furthermore, Bowie would become a land speculator, helping to steal Mexican lands to create his own personal wealth.
William Barret Travis was a lawyer before his death at the Alamo. One of his legal escapades included the defense of a slave owner trying to reclaim run-a-way slaves from Mexican hands. Travis too was engaged in the slave business and wound up being the commander at the Alamo. He had a slave named “Joe.” Joe, who had no recorded last name, fought at the Alamo, but would be tragically returned to slavery after defending Texas independence. Most Texans know little of their deep past, and the attempts to get rich by stealing Mexican lands and bringing in slaves to Texas against Mexican law. Little is known about the Afro-Mexican president Vincente Guerrero who abolished slavery in 1829, which temporarily put to rest the idea of a slave empire in Texas. Thus, slavery was one of the major causes of the Texas War with Mexico.
Many Texas settlers were slavers, murderers of Indians, and land thieves, who wished to continue the racist wars of conquest and expansion. The Texas settlers would become increasingly frustrated with Mexican restrictions against slavery and Anglo illegal immigration. One month after the fall of the Alamo in 1836, the Texan elite would write a Texas constitution that made slavery legal, which leaves little doubt about their true intentions. With this action Mexico would become a sanctuary for run-away slaves, and Texas would be admitted to the United States as a slave state in 1845. This untold story should be part of the history of the Alamo.
