Annotated Bibliography

Kailyn J. Hull
HIS-466 Southwest Borderlands
November 9, 2023
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Primary Sources
Travis, William B. 1836. Commandancy of the The Alamo. Gilder Lehrman Collections
This letter was written in 1836 by William B. Travis was a callout to the people of Texas

as well as to all American Citizens alike. It is a short letter that gets to the point of what is going

on. Travis gives a short write up on what was going on with Santa Anna. He describes what is

happening and the stance that has been taken by the Texas soldiers. Travis describes his stance in

the fort and their determination to hold their ground at that location. The men are determined not

to give up their position there whatever the cost may be. This letter reflects the desire for the men

to stand firm in this fight and see it out till the end. After stating his determination to stay Travis

asks for aid in their cause to stand up against the Mexicans. He is appealing to not only Texicans

but to the American people as well. At the end of the letter, he writes that if reinforcements

aren’t brought, they will have to try and last as long as they can and will put up a good fight.

This letter is a cry of help to get assistance for the cause that they believed was something worth

dying for.

Secondary Sources
Barker, Eugene C. “Stephen F. Austin and the Independence of Texas.” The Quarterly of the

Texas State Historical Association 13, no. 4 (1910): 257–84.

For Texas to gain its independence a lot went into it. The people that were living in Texas

did not want to submit to the new government that was coming in from Mexico and therefore

wanted to become their own independent republic. The Texas Revolution started in October of

1835 and ended in April of 1836. Stephen Austin was a colonist to Texas and because he led

people there, he quickly because a leader. Austin originally thought that the best choice for the

people in Texas was to join and make alliances with Mexico. While the colonies there were in
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the making the Mexican government did not interfere much and this deemed well for the people

of Texas. Eventually the government did seem to get too involved and it seemed in the best

interest of Texas to split into its own separate state. Santa Anna and the controlling Mexican

government do not want to lose Texas. As Santa Anna begins to destroy the government in

Mexico he wants to control all of the territory he can so this includes Texas. The road for the

independence and later statehood of Texas is a long and dreary one, but it symbolizes a people

that are not afraid to stand up for what they believe in.

Burrough, Bryan, Tomlinson, Chris, and Stanford, Jason. 2022. Forget the Alamo: The Rise and

Fall of an American Myth. New York: Penguin Random House LLC.

These three men have set out to look at the Alamo through a different lens. They all are

very patriotic men that are all very proud of Texas but have taken it upon themselves to look at

the history of the Alamo through less traditional eyes. Their point is not to squash completely the

legends that so many Americans have grown to love but rather reinform and bring to light in a

better way the new ideas. For many years almost since the Alamo happened people have had

differing opinions about what happened because the stories differ, and the survivors are limited.

For many years now only one side of the Alamo has been told, but there is a whole other side

because there is a whole other people involved. There were many Latino family’s that lived in

Texas and did not like what Santa Anna was doing nor did they completely agree with the

Americans either. The land of Texas was their home though. It is to idolized that those of Latino

heritage were the ones that killed those that were in fighting at the Alamo. It was Santa Anna’s

army that killed them, it shouldn’t matter if they were Mexican. It was the army not the people.

For too long people have been stuck in one thought process, it is time for a change.
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Flores, Richard R. “Memory-Place, Meaning, and the Alamo.” American Literary History 10,

no. 3 (1998): 428–45.

This article by Richard Flores is a great read about the history of the Alamo from an

outside perspective. The author tells us about the experience he had as a child visiting the alamo

and what the history that they tell you at the park and the history that so many American kids

have been taught in their history classes, compared to what actually took place at the Alamo.

Flores brings about a point that the history of the Alamo is one that has been shaped to be what

America has wanted it to be, leaving out some pieces that people did not want remembered.

Unfortunately, in the case of the Alamo the story that the Daughters of the Republic of Texas

that do the film in the Museum hits important key parts but doesn’t hit others. This is an

important part about how we remember history. The way that things are portrayed influence the

memory that we have of them. This source is very helpful for research when it comes to looking

into what we have been told rather than what actually happened at the Alamo. The author points

out that something as simple as the way something is worded, makes it seem like it is fact when

in reality it may be closer to legend, or a hypothesis of what may have happened. This article is a

good source for the beginning of my paper. It gives good starting points for a discussion about

how our memory and the way that we remember things plays into how history is passed along.

Potentially I could not use this source because it doesn’t give a lot of history on the Alamo and

more about what memory is. I may find a more scientific source that supports the thoughts and

opinions on memory and how it has impacted our view of the Alamo. This article brought a great

start to my research of the Alamo and the memory that it has to American’s and helps the

direction that I want to go with my research about what really happened at the Alamo and how

that should be remembered.

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Grider, Sylvia A. “How Texans Remember the Alamo.” In Usable Pasts: Traditions and Group

Expressions in North America, edited by Tad Tuleja, University Press of Colorado.

(1997): 274–90.

Sylvia Grider writes a very good perspective of how the citizens of Texas view the

Alamo compared to others. This article brings up a very good point that I want to make a point of

in my paper, is how the history is remembered and perceived differently because of where it may

be located. The people of Texas as the article points out get a different narrative and experience

of the Alamo than other American’s and Mexican’s alike. The movie industry has a big play into

this as well as oral history like myths and legends. The movies have painted a picture of the

Alamo in one way while the myths and legends paint it in another. Americans tend to focus on

how history looks through their eyes and not the rest of the world. This is an unintentional bias

that many people have for all sorts of things, and in this case it is effecting how history is seen.

By reading this article it opened up another perspective into how the history and memory of

something can be so changed by location. The Alamo is a major event in American history that

lives strongly in the lives of so many people differently. Another thing that this article makes a

good point about is that it talks about how people don’t care if what they remember is actually

the facts, they just like the story of it. The most helpful parts of this source are the points it

makes about how people view the Alamo and how some really could not care if they every hear

the correct version of the events, they just like how the story is now. The narrative of the Alamo

now gives people emotions, and if it changes it may take that away. There is a possibility that I

may not use this source in my paper because of a reference it sights. I have that sources as a

better more accurate source and can get more out of it. I may not need to use this one if I use the
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other one. This source paints a great picture of why the people remember the Alamo the way that

they do and why many may just want to keep it that way.

McArdle, H.A. 1875. Dawn at the Alamo. Library of Congress, Senate Chamber of Texas,

Austin Texas.

This painting of the Battle of the Alamo is a depiction of the battle seen through the eyes

of Henry McArdle. It is a visualization of what the battle looked like through the eyes of the

artist. This painting depicts a gloomy sky as the sun is starting to peak through and rise on the

horizon. There are people fighting hand to hand all over the fort with smoke rising from the

rubble of the building. The figure that is assumed to be Santa Anna stand on top of a fallen

Texican showing his full strength. Men of the Mexican soldiers are depicted in stronger numbers

that men of Texas that are making their stand. There are many men lying dead all presuming to

be those trying to hold off Santa Anna and his troops. The Mexican army is depicted in clean put

together uniforms with superior looking weapons while the Texicans are dressed in just common

clothes grabbing what they can to defend themselves. This picture goes along with the stories

that you hear of what happened at the Alamo. The painting itself is roughly drawn but in great

detail. It is an in color, so it is easy to tell the difference of the men that are fighting. The picture

is multi-layer with so much detail but so strangely portrayed. Looking at it initially you see much

of it, but after focusing on the painting lurking in the shadows are even greater details. This

painting creates a precedent for what happened at the Alamo through the eyes of an artist.

Pennybacker, Anna J. Hardwicke. A new history of Texas for schools, also for general reading

and for teachers preparing themselves for examination. Tyler, TX. Pub. for the author.

(1888).
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Mrs. Penneybacker does a very good job of bringing together a compilation of Texas

history. The perspective that it is written from is very interesting perspective. It goes into a very

rich and deep detailed history of the state. The thing that I like the most about this article is the

view that it gives about the Alamo and the events that happened there. There is a long excerpt

that depicts the events that happened at the Alamo and then asks the question if they say that

there were no survivors of the Alamo then how can the telling of that those events be true or

even believable. This is a very good question that is one for many to ponder. I was surprised by

this source that it so blatantly talks about the misgivings of what happened at the Alamo as it is

an old book of history on Texas. This source fits in very good with my others because it brings

awareness to the fact that some of what happened at the Alamo may be more legend and story

than actual fact. The part that will be most useful for me will be pages 73-78 where it talks about

the Alamo, questions the events as well as gives a description of it. Surprisingly enough in the

footnotes there is an account of the events by a lady that was a survivor of the Alamo along with

her daughter and a slave. This brings new light onto many of the stories that you hear about the

Alamo. This will be a good piece of information to talk about in my paper when it comes to

discussing what took place and possibly later on in the paper, the difference in accounts about

the Alamo. The only reason I may not use this source is if my other source by Sylvia Grider

mentions more about this topic and I don’t need this as a source. I like this one better for a source

because it was published closer to the date of the Alamo, but by looking at the publication I see

that it was published in Texas so there could be some bias from the author. Overall, this source

brings a great view to what took place at the Alamo while pointing out that not everything that is

known about the attack is accurate information.

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Ramage, B. J. “Sam Houston and Texan Independence.” The Sewanee Review 2, no. 3 (1894):

309–21.

This source dives into the life of Sam Houston, a very prominent man in the Texas

Revolution. The life of Sam Houston is one that depicts a true American hero, growing up in

Virginia moving out to Tennessee with his widowed mother and 8 other siblings. In Tennessee,

he began his life as history portrays the buckskin clad man. He went to like with the Cherokees.

He later became a schoolteacher, a war hero, president of the republic and a senator. The man

lived a very unique life and did what was needed for his country, stood up for things he believed

in and did what needed to be done. I looked into this source because I wanted to learn more

about Sam Houston. He is talked about a lot in correlation to the history of Texas and is one of

those people similar to Davy Crocket, George Washington, and General Custer, that are names

we throughout when talking but many times don’t know much about them. I wanted to gain a

better understanding of who the man was. The parts that I might use in my paper would be the

discussion of the start of the war on page 319. It talks about how Santa Anna did not adhere to

the Constitution like he said he would. In the end I am not sure if I will use this source. It was

more for me to get a better picture of everything that is going on and played into the battle at the

Alamo and to get a better idea about the people that were involved. Ramage provides a good

overview of Sam Houston’s life and what took place and how that made him the man that he

was.

Tomlinson, Chris, Stanford, Jason and Burrough, Bryan. “The next Battle of the Alamo!” Texas

Monthly. (June, 2021).

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The Texas Monthly issued this article back in 2021 and I thought it brought some very

interesting insight into a modern look at the Alamo and how it is being preserved in Texas. The

Article brings to light some of the modern struggles of finding and identifying historic artifacts.

It also talks about the importance to the Alamo as a historical place. The most interesting thing to

me after reading the article was the struggle and tension about finding artifacts from the Battle of

the Alamo. Many items are contested and can’t be proven that they are from the battle. The one

that is pointed out the most is the Bowie knife. There were many of these knives that were made,

and as the story seems to go, they were made because of Jim Bowie and his brother. There are

many of these knives out there from the similar time period. There has been a knife found with

the initials J.B. carved into it, but as the authors point out one of the blacksmiths known for

making the knives also has the initials J.B. This may mean that it is one of his knives. This event

and continual search for artifacts just goes to show how important the history of the Alamo is

still to this day. For this article I think some pieces of it would be good to back up my opening or

my concluding thoughts on the Alamo. I want to talk about how the Alamo still is important

today and this article is a great example of that. I may not use this article if I find something

better. I also saw some of the comments to this article and I was curious about some of the things

people had to say. As this is an online subscription-based journal, people can comment on it. My

first reading of the article I skimmed over it, so I need to go back take a closer look and look for

some of the things other readers commented about it being biased. I know all works have some

sort of bias to them, but I need to see if the bias that other readers have picked out muddies some

of the good things they talk about.

Wayne, John, director. 1960. The Alamo. United Artists, 3 hr., 10 min.
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The movie The Alamo is the Hollywood depiction of the legend everyone so famously

has heard about the Alamo. It tells a story of the leaders, Sam Houston played by Richard Boone,

John Wayne as Davy Crocket, Richard Widmark as Jim Bowie, and Lawrence Harvey as

Colonel Travis. The historical accuracy of this movie is greatly up for debate as it follows a bit

more of the legend that is well known. The one thing that I like that the movie does is it makes a

point of where the men are from. These weren’t just men of Texas in the fight they were from all

over both Texas and America. The movie fabricates on many things as it throws in romantic

aspects and must build on the characters of each man. The interactions between the main

characters creates for good film but there is no way of knowing if they are the truth. The legend

usually leaves out the influence that the Mexicans. In a scene Jim Bowie discusses the people of

Mexico and talks about them quite favorably. This scene really had heart as he goes into detail

about his love for the people of Mexico and their heart. Much of the time they are left out. The

film is well done but Hollywood is added. This is what lives in the hearts of many Americans

today though.