A startling new analysis of one of America's most glorious battles . . .

Contrary to movie and legend, we now know that the defenders of the Alamo in the war for Texan independence-including Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie and William Travis-did not die under brilliant sunlight, defending their stations against hordes of Mexican infantry. Instead the Mexicans launched a pre-dawn attack, surmounting the walls in darkness, forcing a wild melee inside the fort before many of its defenders had even awoken.

In this book, Dr. Tucker, after deep research into Mexican accounts and the forensic evidence, informs us that the traditional myth of the Alamo is even more off-base: most of the Alamo's defenders died in break-outs from the fort, cut down by Santa Anna's cavalry that had been pre-positioned to intercept the escapees.

The most startling aspect of this book is that most of the Texans, in two gallantly led groups, broke out of the fort after the enemy had broken in, and the primary fights took place on the plain outside. Still fighting desperately, the Texans'retreat was halted by cavalry, and afterward Mexican lancers plied their trade with blood-curdling charges into the midst of the remaining resisters.

Notoriously, Santa Anna burned the bodies of the Texans who had dared stand against him. As this book proves in thorough detail, the funeral pyres were well outside the fort-that is, where the two separate groups of escapers fell on the plain, rather than in the Alamo itself.

About the Author

PHILLIP THOMAS TUCKER, winner of the Douglas Southall Freeman Award in 1993, is an historian for the United States Air Force in Washington, D.C., and lives in Maryland.