

Also, Bowie loves his Mexican wife and two sons but in reality they did not have any children. While seemingly giving credit to the enemy, Wayne obviously intended to conceal the fact that the rebels were beaten by an army largely made up of untrained conscripts. Crockett’s men comment that the Mexicans may have fancy uniforms but they just spent two years putting down revolts so they are fighting men. Significant parts of the story are changed to make the rebels heroic. Furthermore, Houston did not even believe that the Alamo was in danger, and the young Texan government was more pre-occupied debating whether or not to actually declare independence. Santa Anna stopped at the Alamo because he was ahead of schedule and he was waiting for his heavy artillery to catch up. Actually, Houston had sent Bowie to take away the cannon and blow up the Alamo because he knew that the Mexican army would roll over any fort. Travis only inherited command when Bowie was laid low by something, probably tuberculosis, right after the arrival of Santa Anna’s army. Moreover, Bowie was a heavy drinker who was popular because he was a respected fighter and he led huge parties. The battle to capture the Alamo during the initial rebellion had been bloody but the real Bowie, like Houston, Travis and Stephen Austin, had left the siege considerably before the final assault on the Alamo. The story of how William Barrett Travis, Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett had led 182 men to hold off a Mexican army of five thousand men for thirteen days was familiar to American audiences, so the only background about the Texan Revolution is in the opening narration which admits that the rebels were Mexican citizens but Santa Anna was coming north to crush all who opposed his tyrannical rule. Unfortunately, Santa Anna appears with a powerful army much sooner than expected, and the rebels prepare to fight off the Mexican army while hoping that reinforcements will arrive in time. Colonel Davy Crockett shows up leading a group of jolly Tennesseans, and although they had come to hunt, Crockett convinces the Tennesseans to help defend the Alamo. Plot SummaryĬolonel William Travis has been ordered to hold the Alamo to buy time for Sam Houston to build an army, and he is in charge because the trauma of storming the Alamo had driven Jim Bowie to find peace in the bottom of a bottle.

This may seem to have been an unnecessary debate but revolutions are often not as unanimous as they later appear to be. Believing that the Mexican government would not be able to respond until spring, attention shifted from building an army to debating whether or not to declare independence.
Apocalypto historical accuracy series#
After a series of confrontations, open warfare began in October 1835 and the rebels had gained control of Texas by early December. Americans were used to settling and absorbing an area, regardless of what the original population thought, so conflict was inevitable. More important, this was the Age of Expansion. Preoccupied with its own revolution, the native population was soon outnumbered by the immigrants, many of whom were from the southern states, so they wanted to continue their practice of slavery even though it was illegal in Mexico. Mexico had allowed American immigrants to settle in relatively remote and empty Texas. The background to the Texan Revolution is simple. Producers: James Edward Grant, John Wayne and Michael Wayneĭirector: John Wayne Historical Background Cast: John Wayne, Richard Widmark, Laurence Harvey and Frankie Avalon
