Interestingly, while we were in the gardens of the Alamo looking at huge placards of the history of Texas under each of its six flags, I overheard my daughter explaining some of the Spanish history of Texas to some men.  Then my son jumped in and answered a few of their questions.  I was exceedingly pleased at the amount of information they had retained from their reading. The group was amazed as well and said they really should read the placards themselves, since they were English teachers from New York.  lol They complimented the kids on their terrific education and they said they were homeschooled. The men looked at me in amazement and chuckled and said that they now have a more favorable impression of homeschoolers. Then they started asking me several questions about the Alamo.  I'm not sure if they were part of a large group, or if others overheard and started gathering around, but there I was giving a tour of the Alamo history in the gardens!  It was a lot of fun!

     While we were inside the Alamo,  I told the kids to look for the list of names of the defenders of the Alamo and find out where they came from.  They might be surprised!  Did you know that the defenders came not only from Texas, but also several states in America and several different countries in Europe?  We were surprised by some of the names of the defenders as well, which probably revealed a lot about the loyalties of their parents.

George Washington Cottle of Missouri

Andrew Jackson Harrison of Tennessee

Patrick Henry Herndon of Virginia

William J. Lightfoot of Virginia

George Washington Main of Virginia

Napoleon B. (Bonaparte?) Mitchell

     Then there was Benjamin Rush Milam. (he was likely named after the Benjamin Rush who  signed the Declaration of Independence) Milam died in an early skirmish in San Antonio.  He is famous for saying a famous phrase while trying to enlist men to journey with him to fight for Independence, "Who will go with old Ben to San Antonio?" 

Then there was the early Texas settler, Washington Lafayette Denman.

     Naturally, after Texas Independence, many babies were named after William Travis, Davy Crockett and Sam Houston.  We've all probably known someone personally with at least one of these names.

     Tonight we watched the Davy Crockett movie with Fess Parker.  Since my son and I had read Davy Crockett's journal a few weeks ago, we were able to more accurately separate myth from reality in the movie.  Throughout the movie, my son kept saying, "He really did that.  No, that's a bit different." 

     Davy Crockett did fight in the Creek Wars with Andy Jackson.  When Davy insisted on leaving the Creek Wars for a while to provide for his family, he did face cannons. However it was the General and not the Major who threatened to fire at him if he left. Andrew Jackson did make his classic comment, although in more colorful language, when Davy Crockett called his bluff.  Davy did live by the motto, "Be always sure you are right, then go ahead."  Davy did represent Congress in his state legislature in Nashville.  Davy did represent Tennessee in the US House of Representatives in Washington DC under the Jackson administration.  Davy did open his first session of Congress with his famous descriptive yarn.  Davy did get in a heated argument with President Jackson over the Indian Removal Act and left Congress. Davy did travel to Texas to see about becoming a land agent. Davy did accurately shoot the Mexicans from the Alamo. Whenever they saw him over the walls of the Alamo with his gun, they fled!  Partly due to him, Santa Anna lost 10 men for every man killed in the Alamo.  Santa Anna suffered huge losses during that seige. Although he considered it a victory, his officers knew another victory like that would do them in.

     Davy did not enter Texas in the desert fighting Indians! Despite the movie set for the Alamo being in West Texas, the real Alamo is near a river in a city that had buildings (even in 1836) in South Central Texas where the hill country meets the blackland prairie. Within this region is an aquifer from which bubbles numerous rivers such as the San Antonio River.   After a long, hot, dry journey through the desert from Mexico City, the Spaniards found this area to be an oasis. As a result, the Spanish established San Antonio de Bexar as the seat of government and built the Spanish Governor's Palace, presidio and five missions, such as the Alamo, there.  Davy actually entered Texas from the Northeast and into the Piney Woods.  Yes, there are Piney Woods in Texas.  In fact, East Texas is home to Davy Crockett National Forest as well as Sam Houston National Forest.  Texas is far more diverse than movies typically show.    

     The New Yorkers' questions allowed me to see the missing pieces of the Texas puzzle for them.  I tried to help them put the pieces in place. 

     Moses Austin, an entrepreneur from America, negotiated an arrangement with Spain to bring settlers from America to Texas.  Spain had tried unsuccessfully for years to bring their own colonists.  Some Canary Islanders had settled in San Antonio but that was about all that came.  Then the French claimed Texas for a while which angered the Spanish.  Additionally the Comanches kept invading from the north and west.  Therefore Spain realized that American settlers on the untamed Texan frontier could make this a win-win situation for all.  Unfortunately Moses Austin died about the time that Mexico gained its independence from Spain.  His son, Stephen Austin, renegogiated with Mexico and successfully brought the first settlers into East Texas, called The Old Three Hundred.  Men who brought settlers into Texas under these terms were land agents who were called empresarios.  Another empresario was the Baron de Bastrop who was a delightful gentleman with a secret past from Holland who helped the early settlements of Texas in numerous ways. Although he left Holland in disgrace, Texas loved and honored him.  Today an East Texas town is named after him.

     Seeking land on which to settle and begin new lives, many Americans chose Texas due to better land prices than they could get in America.  As the settlers immigrated into the Mexican territory of Texas, they willingly made agreements with the Mexican government to become Mexican citizens and convert to the Roman Catholic religion. 

     In time, Santa Anna  declared himself not only dictator of Mexico, but also the Napoleon of the West.  (My kids thought we were done with Napoleon!  I keep telling them that Napoleon is classic.  He will not quietly go away.  In fact, he's like the Energizer bunny.  His influence will continue to pop up in history again and again and again...)  Santa Anna destroyed the Constitution and took away the rights of the Texas settlers.  As a result, they had taxation without representation.  Hmmmmm, is this sounding a little familiar????  When Stephen Austin went to Mexico City to negotiate, he was thrown into prison for over a year.  Hmmmm, isn't this called tyranny? As a result the Texians (American settlers) and Tejanos (Mexican citizens living in Texas) banded together to seek a return to the original consitution.  Hmmmm, doesn't this sound like the Colonists' first efforts with England in the 1770s?  Unable to come to terms, the Texans finally declared Independence.  

     In my reading last week, I found it fascinating to read how the massacre of every gallant defender of the beseiged Alamo, under the valiant leadership of William Barret Travis, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett, has been added to the pages of history with heroic figures of yore like King Leonidas and Roland.  King Leonidas led the Spartans who were annihilated by the Persians in the Battle of Thermopylae.  Only one man escaped to warn Athens of the loss, which inspired the victorious Greek success over the Persians at the Battle of Salamis. 

      Roland, part of Charlemagne's army, led his men against Spain.  When the Basques killed Roland and every one of his men, their heroism spread through the land.  The Song of Roland is a classic piece of literature that commemorates his heroism.  Likewise, the massacres at the Alamo and Goliad led to the infamous battle cries during the final battle at San Jacinto.  "Remember Goliad!" "Remember the Alamo!"  On April 21, 1836, Sam Houston captured Santa Anna and Texas became a Republic.  Texas is the only state in the nation to have been a Republic. (Edited July 10, 2009-I have recently learned of another American state that was a republic before entering the Union. Can you guess?)  Every April 21, San Antonio celebrates Texas Independence with Fiesta with parades by the Alamo and on the San Antonio River.

     Because of the uniqueness of Texas history, I am having the kids write a research paper on the similarities of American Independence and Texas Independence.  It has been a fascinating study for me to outline the direction this paper will take.  Using the IEW methods of doing a research paper, the kids will do one paragraph a week over the next several weeks.  They add to their "Works Cited" page weekly. Then at the end they will put all the paragraphs in order, write the transitional sentences between paragraphs and write the introductions and conclusions.  Done!  To guide them, each week I present the kids with the topic of their paragraph. Then they have to pull the resources from the shelves and learn to use the index or table of contents to find the pages with appropriate information. Although this is not really difficult, my kids prefer to "write from the brain" instead of taking the time to back up their facts from sources.  So I guide them in their thinking, by asking questions and giving them tips if needed.   

     Although we have studied Texas history before, my kids have enjoyed studying some of their own state's history within the TOG curriculum.  It will be interesting to see which aspects of this, if any, will makes its way to our next unit celebration. Stay tuned!