The Siege of the Alamo Begins
On this day · 23 February 1836
A few hundred defenders dig into a crumbling Texas mission as thousands of Mexican troops surround them for thirteen days.
On February 23, 1836, the army of Mexican general Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna marched into San Antonio de Bexar and surrounded the Alamo, a former Spanish mission held by a small force of Texian and Tejano rebels. The arrival opened a 13-day siege during the Texas Revolution, the fight to break Texas away from Mexico.
Inside the walls, roughly 189 defenders under William B. Travis and James Bowie held out, joined by the frontiersman Davy Crockett. When Santa Anna raised a blood-red flag signalling no quarter and demanded surrender, Travis answered with a cannon shot, and the bombardment began.
Remember the Alamo.
The siege ended at dawn on March 6, 1836, when Mexican troops stormed the compound and killed nearly every defender. The defeat became a rallying cry: weeks later, Texian forces shouting “Remember the Alamo” routed Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto, securing Texas independence.
Sources & references
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