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Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. "Viva la Patria." ...
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Description
Santa Anna Announces Victory at the Alamo: "Amongst the dead were the first and second commanders Buy [Bowie] and Travis, with the rank of colonels, Croket of the same rank"
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. "Viva la
Patria." Alcance al num. 71 del Mercurio de
Matamoros. Two pages, 8.5" x 11.75". Imprenta del Mercurio del
Puerto de Matamoros, March 16, 1836.Publication of Santa Anna's report to the Minister of War on the taking of the Alamo with a short paragraph of editorial comment announcing the receipt of the report from General Francisco Vital Fernandez, Commandant General of the Department of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon. With wood-engraved eagle on cactus and crossed cannons on recto and horseback rider blowing horn on verso. Housed in a custom quarter orange leather and marble board folding case.
Santa Anna's report reads: "Victory lays with the Mexican Army, and as of eight o'clock in the morning, it has just managed to achieve the most complete and glorious victory that will forever be remembered. Like I told you on the 27 of last month about taking this city [San Antonio], I waited for the first infantry brigade to move decisively on the Alamo fortress; but being that all the men that comprised the brigade could not make it here, three battalions, Zapadores, Aldama, and Toluca, made it here marching double, which combined with those from Matamoros, Jimenes, and San Luis Potosí, counted 1400 infantrymen, excepting conscripts. These men were divided into four columns and one reserve, as indicated in the general order issued yesterday, a copy of which was sent to Your Excellency, and the assault began at five in the morning, experiencing immediately the most obstinate resistance; so much so that the fight lasted more than an hour and a half, making it necessary to employ the reserve.
The scene created by this fight was extraordinary: men were fighting individually and each one exhibited actions of heroism: they maneuvered twenty pieces of enemy artillery with skill: the live gunfire that appeared to illuminate the interior of the fortification as well as the pits and walls were not obstacles for the undaunted Mexicans: they served bravely and are worthy of all consideration from the Supreme Government and the gratitude of our compatriots. In the end, we gained control of the fort as well as its artillery, park, etc., and entombed within its pits and trenches more than 600 cadavers, all foreigners, and in the immediate aftermath, a large number that we have not yet been able to examine, and wanting to escape the infantry's bayonets fell beneath the sables of the cavalry, who had been placed for that very task. Thus, I can verify that very few were able to leave and alert their accomplices of the events that took place. Amongst the dead were the first and second commanders Buy [James Bowie] and [William B.] Travis, with the rank of colonels, Croket [Davy Crockett] of the same rank, and all of the other leaders and officials who had served as delegates at the Convention. For our part, we had approximately seventy dead and three hundred wounded, including two commanders and twenty-three officers, whose loss is the least sensible outcome of this just cause, but it is the duty of the Mexican military to die in defense of the rights of the nation and for its glory; and all have found themselves willing to do so for such precious objects, sacrificing themselves in whichever way necessary, so that never again may foreigners, which they are because of their origin, insult the homeland and sever its territory. I will provide a more detailed description of this most important victory, concluding now by congratulating the nation and His Excellency the President ad interim and offering this piece of information which Your Excellency will do well to let him know. The flag bearer flies one of the enemy battalion flags taken that day to better see the true designs of the traitorous colonizers and their accomplices who have come from various ports in the United States of the North."
Santa Anna's report of the fall of the Alamo was written only a few hours after his pre-dawn attack on the Texian forces. Santa Anna describes the obstinate resistance of the Texians, the discovery of the corpses of the first and second commanders (Bowie and Travis) as well as Crockett, and how the artillery lit up the interior of the fort and its walls. It served as a supplement to the Matamoros newspaper Mercurio and is one of the first printings in Mexico describing Santa Anna's victory.
The massacre at the Alamo and the defeat at Goliad galvanized both the revolutionary troops and Texas sympathizers in the United States. Word of events at San Antonio reached Austin ten days later when Sam Houston's aide-de-camp arrived with the news. Six weeks later at San Jacinto, Mexican troops were defeated by Houston and Santa Anna was captured and forced to sign a treaty recognizing Texas as an independent nation.
Condition: Broad, untrimmed margins. Three punctures along left, one resulting in a small tear, with bits of paper loss. Light foxing at edges and along folds. Light wear along folds.
References: Streeter 865.
Auction Info
2023 December 2 The Ted Lusher Texas History Collection, Part One Signature® Auction #6281 (go to Auction Home page)
Auction Dates
December, 2023
2nd
Saturday
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