Should the Texians have defended the Alamo, or chosen instead to harass Santa Anna's army and its lines of communication?

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 07 Oct 2018 21:10:10 -0400

Response by LTC Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 7 at 2018 9:23 PM

LTC Private RallyPoint Member — Sun, 07 Oct 2018 21:23:21 -0400

It's Texian.

Response by MSG Stan Hutchison made Oct 7 at 2018 9:47 PM

MSG Stan Hutchison — Sun, 07 Oct 2018 21:47:13 -0400

Interesting question which could possibly be applied to other military disaster.

Response by CW4 Guy Butler made Oct 7 at 2018 10:19 PM

CW4 Guy Butler — Sun, 07 Oct 2018 22:19:07 -0400

For one thing, Santa Anna had cavalry and the Texians didn’t; the Alamo did take out the cavalry advantage. “Lines of communication” is probably a misnomer - Santa Anna’s army split into columns that foraged their way across Texas. Also, there were ready-made harassing forces in place - the Comanches (who didn’t discriminate between Texians and Mexicans).

Response by SSG Brian G. made Oct 8 at 2018 4:19 AM

SSG Brian G. — Mon, 08 Oct 2018 04:19:51 -0400

They did the best they could for the times. They could have abandoned the Alamo but you have to look at the land. They would have been able to limit a very sparse guerilla harassment campaign as they lacked horses for mobility. They also lacked numbers. Santa Anna had both numbers and horses and the last thing you want to be is surrounded on all sides and cut off from anything resembling help.

And historically it would have not have had the same morale/rallying effect if they had simply skirmished and harassed. They would have gone down as a brief one liner footnote in history rather than what they are today, part of the pathway to the United States that is.

Response by SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth made Oct 8 at 2018 5:43 AM

SGT David A. 'Cowboy' Groth — Mon, 08 Oct 2018 05:43:17 -0400

Definitely what they did at the Alamo.

Response by Cpl Mark A. Morris made Oct 8 at 2018 8:24 AM

Cpl Mark A. Morris — Mon, 08 Oct 2018 08:24:13 -0400

SGT,
You can not defend a fortified position without support. Plus, if memory serves, they disobeyed a lawful order to not do so.
Cool question SGT.

Response by PO1 John Johnson made Oct 8 at 2018 12:56 PM

PO1 John Johnson — Mon, 08 Oct 2018 12:56:29 -0400

Why are we armchair quarterbacking The Alamo 182 years after the fact? I'll lay money that Houston, Bowie and Travis thought it was the best thing to do at the time!

Response by SGT Philip Roncari made Oct 8 at 2018 1:57 PM

SGT Philip Roncari — Mon, 08 Oct 2018 13:57:26 -0400

The Alamo while I think a tragic and tactical loss led to a greater overall strategic win with Sam Houston’s defeat of Santa Ana,seem to remember quite a few of the defenders had dependents with them can’t be a effective disruptive force and protective also.