Rob's Historic Sites

The “Alamo of the East” or “Confederate Alamo” occurred this day in history on April 2, 1865. As explained on the historical marker, it was here that 5,000 Yankee Federals swept forward to attack just 300 southern Americans/Confederates who were trapped and surrounded with the homes and city they were defending to their backs. Just the day before, Grant’s 63,000 Union soldiers had attacked and overwhelmed the 18,500 southern defenders of Petersburg, causing the fall of that historic city that had been under siege for nearly 10 months. As the marker explains, the 300 southerners managed to repulse three successive attacks before they were finally overwhelmed by the sheer numbers; “the attackers reached the fort’s parapet. For twenty minutes a vicious hand-to-hand battle raged.” Veterans of the entire war called it “the most savage fighting I have ever experienced.” The book “Confederate Alamo” states, the Confederates “Homeric (heroic) defense is an apt description of that da...

This week in history: Though vastly outnumbered, the Alamo’s 200 Texan defenders held back thousands of Mexican troops for 13 days before all were finally overpowered and killed. On the evening of March 6, 1836, nearly all the bodies of Alamo’s defenders killed during the prolonged battle were burned by order of General Antonio López de Santa Anna. Santa Anna considered the men “pirates” not worthy of military courtesies or a Christian burial. Thus, the bodies were stripped, hauled to an area on today’s Commerce Street in San Antonio, and burned in three giant funeral pyres (as depicted in Gary Zaboly’s attached art work). The fires burned all night and the next day. The site is discussed in the articles below. Thanks to Allan Koester for his post. After Texas won its independence, it remained a sovereign nation for 10 years before being annexed by the United States. Texas sought Independence a 2nd time just 15 years later when it became one of the first states to secede from the US ...