On the feast day of St. Antonio in the 1690’s, Spanish explorers and missionaries came across a group of springs in a river valley with various Native American settlements. They named the area San Antonio. A few decades later, the Spanish set up shop. Up went a mission, along with a fort and the beginnings of a town (“San Antonio de Bexar”). Missions were an interesting feature of Spanish colonialism at the time. Centred on a church, these complexes would serve to convert Native Americans and at the same time firmly establish Spanish control of the region. The Spanish set up a bunch of missions along its northern borders of New Spain and Florida.
The mission at San Antonio lost its importance over time and was eventually abandoned in the late 1700s. By the 1800s, it had became known as the Alamo. At different points in time it was the base of a company’s operations (the Alamo Company), a prison, a hospital, and a fort.
Meanwhile, the town of San Antonio grew quickly to became the largest settlement in the huge province called Tejas (or “Spanish Texas”). Mexico won independence from Spain in 1821, and “Mexican Texas” became a fairly self-governing state within Mexico. All the while, immigrants from the US and Europe (many illegal) were flowing steadily into the eastern part of the state. Perhaps Mexico should have considered building a wall…
Having tried and largely failed to produce a working federal system (as the US had done), Mexico turned itself into a unitary republic with power centralised around the national government. Their leader was Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Not everyone in the republic was pleased. The region of Texas, accustomed to running its own show and increasingly influenced by US immigrants, was one such region. In 1836, the Texas Revolution begun and the Texans quickly defeated the few government soldiers in the region and declared the birth of the Republic of Texas.
To quell this rebellion, the Mexican government sent in a large army and cleaned up – one force swept along the coast and another headed straight for San Antonio. This second force of about 5,000 soldiers took the town but met a small band of 189 Texans fortified in the Alamo. After a 12-day siege and a valiant fight in the face of near-certain death, the Texans were overwhelmed and killed. However, they did not die in vain. They quickly became martyrs in the fight for an independent Texas and were glorified as heroic symbols of Texan liberty. Names like William Travis, James Bowie and Davy Crockett are still revered to this day. The rallying cry became: “Remember the Alamo”.
The Alamo is fairly small. Of the original complex, two structures remain – the church and a building called the Long Barracks. For Texans and many Americans, visiting the Alamo is a pilgrimage. The church building is now referred to as “the Shrine”, and to these pilgrims it is the holiest of places. The “Rules of Reverence” include no hats, use of phones, touching walls, pets, of photographs. The Long Barracks houses a museum.
Many see the Battle of the Alamo as a turning point in the independence movement, or at least, a place that hardened Texan resolve for independence. In the year following the Alamo standoff, under the leadership of Sam Houston, Texan troops attacked and defeated the Mexican forces at San Jacinto. They captured Santa Anna, and exchanged his life for a full Mexican retreat. In doing so, Texas won its independence.
As its own country, Texas lasted for less than a decade. It was annexed by the United States as the 28th state in 1845. The Mexican-American War followed shortly thereafter.
Visiting the Alamo was a great experience – you get to walk on hallowed ground. It’s history is significant and a story of a last stand in the face of certain defeat is always enthralling.
Having had our fill of history, we sought out a Texas staple called “Whataburger” that happens to be based in San Antonio. It ended up quite high on my US fast food rankings, although Ella wasn’t a fan of the mustard intensity.
San Antonio is a big city (pop: 2.4 million). Given that it was established by the Spanish, it has a large church at its centre – San Fernando Cathedral. It felt like a small slice of Europe in an otherwise very American place. In 1836, when Santa Anna took the town, he had a large red flag flown above the cathedral indicating to those fortified in the Alamo that he would be showing no quarter.
We also found a very nice central market nearby.
But the most beautiful parts of the city are found below street level – on paths and footbridges running next to canals that loop through downtown San Antonio. The whole system is called the River Walk, and it is brilliant. You can wander past wonderful gardens, along shaded paths, and stop off at cafes and restaurants along the way. Under the hot summer sun, it was paradise.
The Buckhorn Saloon:
We happened to be visiting San Antonio on the day of a big college American Football match at the revered Alamodome. It was the University of Texas San Antonio versus Texas State University, a rivalry dubbed the “I-35 Showdown”. College football is huuuge in the US, especially in the southern states, and we simply couldn’t pass on the opportunity. Ella somehow managed to negotiate us student-priced tickets, and we joined the raucous UTSA fans supporting the Roadrunners against the Bobcats – go Birds!
So this is how the game starts…
A huge marching band, teams of cheerleaders, fireworks, a stadium of screaming fans… And this is a university team! Amazingly, each team had about 120 players suited up and ready to play! The scale was just incredible and the atmosphere electric.
The whole thing was a giant entertainment show involving thousands of people – an incredible production and a good game of football. In the end, the UTSA Roadrunners won by 25-21. Here’s the ESPN recap:
All-in-all, San Antonio was an impressive place and our visit turned into a few days of jam-packed fun activities, good food, and cool experiences. And, we had just scratched the surface of this intriguing place called Texas. Next up, the state capital of Austin.