In an interview with writer Morphis (1874), Susanna Dickinson the only white woman to survive, claimed to hear David Crockett inside the Alamo say, “I think we had better march out and die in the open air. I don’t like being hemmed up.” This quote lends itself to the reports that approximately 100 Alamo defenders or more ran from the Alamo, principally heading East toward Gonzalez. In Dr. Tucker’s classic work, Exodus from the Alamo, the Anatomy of the Last Stand Myth (2010), an outrageous racial myth was finally been revealed. This bombshell book is well worth a read. Exodus provides historical accuracy to manufactured fiction that has been “fake news” inundating us for decades.
In my research, I have found the Crockett quote to be quite revealing in its rendered enticements that could have provoked and swayed over 100 Alamo defenders to flee the scene when it became apparent that the battle was lost. The the words of Crockett may well have been the spur that kicked in before daylight on March 6, 1836. Mrs. Dickinson reportedly said that Crockett repeated the comment “several times,” and it may well have been a statement of action. To be in an enclosed area, difficult to defend, with limited supplies, surrounded on all sides by an overwhelming force, does not speak well of the thinking of William Travis from any strategic point of view. Unless a large flanking force was coming it made little sense to defend a poorly constructed defensive position with so few troops. Perhaps Crockett was remembering his days of fighting genocidal wars against the Creek and Cherokee Nations out in the open where one would have a better chance of survival. Bowie must have been feeling the same stress as he offered to “parley” with Mexican forces to no avail, to seek an arrangement for surrender. Nine white men most likely did go over the wall and informed Santa Anna where Travis and others hid 50 guns on the third day of the attack. Tucker pointed out this left only two options, “fight or flight.” Only these two options would have been speculated as hope faded for significant reinforcements with each passing day.
In the fighting that took place outside of the Alamo, it is interesting to note that Mexican cavalrymen who chased down Alamo defenders (over 100 total) were made up of Afro-Mexicans. Several historical documents reveal that three flights took place before they were killed out on the open field to the East of the Alamo (now in the vicinity of St. Paul Square and further east toward the present-day city cemetery on E. Commerce Street). Perhaps Crockett kept true to his own feelings and lost his life outside of the Alamo along with whatever companions joined him.
Fake news is not a 21st Century invention, but has been around for centuries. First of all, the Battle of the Alamo was nothing like the silly 1960 John Wayne movie, which used racial stereotypes (having a slave attempt to save Jim Bowie in his sick bed). There were only about 1500 Mexican soldiers that attacked in the dark and only 300 suffered fatal wounds, half of that number by friendly fire. The truth is coming out that the Alamo battle and the Battle of San Jacinto was a racial war for human bondage against a Mexican government that had abolished slavery. Additionally, many slaves joined the Mexican army in order to fight against the Texas slave owners while others used the Underground Railroad to Mexico.
