"The Alamo"

John Lee Hancock’s version of “The Alamo” is a very good movie. The movie depicts the epic battle fought in 1836 in San Antonio, Texas. This is when less than two hundred Texan and Tejano volunteers led by William Berret Travis took on general Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and thousands of Mexican forces to gain their independence from Mexico.
This movie is pretty historically accurate. There is some extra dialog, because it’s a Hollywood movie and not a documentary. The Anglo settlers are depicted as rough yet good hearted men, who are willing to sacrifice everything to gain their independence. Billy Bob Thornton play Davy Crockett in the movie, he puts an elaborate spunk in the character of Davy. That was the kind of man Davy was known as being and was very well respected and the men would always be around him looking for encouragement as well as entertainment. In one scene he shoots the shoulder pad right off of Santa Anna’s uniform and in another he plays the fiddle in harmony with the battle music of the Mexican forces. William Berret Travis is shown as the fearless, dedicated leader he was. He kept the men together even though no one else was coming to their aid. Also the feeling of despair was felt in the character of Sam Houston as they gathered forces to fight the Mexican army
This movie does a good job of showing the courageous effort and dedication the Tejano fighter contributed. Juan Seguin and his fleet of Tejano fighters he brought to fight in the Alamo were frequently shown throughout the movie. Also there is a great deal of teamwork shown between the Texan and Tejano fighters. Juan Seguin is ordered by Travis to take a letter to Sam Houston and when he gets there Sam Houston orders him to stay with his troops. At the Battle of San Jacinto at the end of the movie Juan Seguin is seen giving cards to the Tejano fighters to put in their hats so there is no confusion during the battle as to whose side they were on.
The Mexican forces are depicted very accurately. They were shown as the well put together, very prepared army they were. Santa Anna is shown as an eloquent man but fearsome dictator. Throughout the movie you see him and his other generals eating cake, sipping coffee, and smoking cigars. This showed all the resources and supplies the Mexican army had. After the Alamo Santa Anna decides to split his troops up and then meets his fait at the battle of San Jacinto. Sam Houston and his troops stormed Santa Anna and his forces and defeated them in only eighteen minutes. During the battle Santa Anna shows what a coward he really is, by removing his general’s uniform and trying to hide amongst his soldiers. In the end it was his own men that recognized him and pointed him out. In exchange for his life Santa Anna overturned the Mexican Authority of Texas. The Texans and Tejanos were finally independent from Mexico.

Mission San Juan Capistrano

Mission San Juan Capistrano was established as San Jose de los Nazonis in East Texas. In 1731 it was moved to its permanent home on the east bank of the San Antonio River. During the first decade of the mission the number of mission Indians was greatly reduced from 218 to 66 due to the epidemic of 1739. But by the end of 1740 the number had gone up to 169. By 1756 the mission had made great progress by building a church of stone, a friary, and a ton granary. By mid century Mission San Juan was a regional supplier of agricultural produce, due to great farm and pasturelands. In the irrigated fields’ corn, beans, squash, sweet potatoes and even sugar were grown. Also gardens of the mission provided peaches, melons, pumpkins, grapes and peppers. In 1762 the mission’s farm produced 1,600 bushels of corn and on the ranch there were 1000 head of cattle and 3,500 sheep. This mission as well as the others was a self-sufficient, and supported area settlements and the nearby presidio. In good times they traded surplus goods to others. The purpose of the mission always remained the same to covert Indians into Spanish European citizens.
The article I chose described the mission itself about the building of the church, the friary and the granary. It ties into what we have learned so far by including the fact that the missions survived by the acequia’s system for irrigation as well as everyday needs like bathing and drinking. The document also provided me with the historical information about the church that was started on the east side of the square but was only half completed due to the lack of Indian workers. The more I learn about the different missions I can see how they led to the beginning of the establishment of San Antonio.

Mission San Francisco de la Espada

Mission San Francisco de la Espada was established along the San Antonio river on March 5, 1731. After being moved from east Texas, where Spain founded Mission San Franciso de los Tejas in 1690. Floods, fevers, fires and limited supplies were causes for relocation of the mission. The missions purpose was to convert the American Indians into Spanish European citizens. For more than sixty years Mission Espada was a place of learning. The Spaniards taught the catholic faith and Spanish language and traditions. The mission Indians learned vital skills needed for growing crops, raising livestock, sheep, goats, and pigs. Also they learned trades such as iron work, producing textiles, brick making, and building with masonry. By the mid 1700's the mission had an essence of a dynamic community everyone in the mission was working and the crops were flourishing. Mission Espada as well as the other missions were built near the banks of the San Antonio river. In order for the mission to be successful they need to plant and harvest crops. South Texas doesn't get much rain so irrigation was desperately needed. To solve the irrigation problem the constructed a gravity flow ditch system known as Acequias. This fifteen mile network irrigated about 3,500 acres of land. It used water levels to disperse different amounts of water to different places. Controlled be floodgates, water could be sent to Fields for irrigation, and for uses such as bathing, washing, and powering a mill wheel. many farms today still use this system.