ALAMO, THE, an historic building in San Antonio, Texas, noted as the scene of an heroic defence in the war between Texas and Mexico. This building is the chapel of the Mission San Antonio de Valero, founded in 1718 by Franciscans, and com monly called the "Alamo Mission" from the grove of cottonwood (alarno) in which it stood. It originally consisted of the chapel, a convent yard about I oof t. square, a convent and hospital building, and a plaza about 21ac. in extent, the whole being sur rounded by a strong wall. Upon the disappearance of the Indians from the vicinity the mission was abandoned, and after 1793 it was sometimes used as a fort. In the war for Texan independence Cols. William B. Travis, James Bowie and Davy Crockett, with 18o men, were attacked here by 4,000 Mexicans commanded by Santa Anna. After a siege lasting 13 days, Feb. 23–March 6, 1836, during which some 500 of the attacking force were killed, a breach was made in the walls. In a final assault the Mexicans overpowered and slaughtered the garrison in a hand-to-hand struggle in the chapel, the five survivors being subsequently killed in cold blood by order of Santa Anna. "Remember the Alamo" became the war-cry of the Texans, who, under Sam Houston, at San Jacinto, on April 2I, 1836, defeated and captured Santa Anna. In 1883 the Alamo building was bought by the State and preserved as a public monument, and in 1913 the city of San Antonio began its restoration.
See A. M. Williams, Sam Houston and the War of Independence in Texas (Boston, 1893) ; Zavola, Story of the Siege and Fall of the Alamo (San Antonio, 1911) .