A Line in the Sand: The Alamo in Blood and Memory

by Randy W. Roberts, James Stuart Olson

In late February and early March of 1836, a Mexican army led by General Antonio López de Santa Anna lay siege to a mission known as the Alamo, held by a small band of rebels that included Davy Crockett, James Bowie, and William Travis. In the dark early morning of March 6, all inside the fort were dead -- and one of America's most enduring legends was born.
Randy Roberts and James S. Olson retell the story of the Alamo from both the Mexican and the American perspectives, delving into the historical accuracy of such myths as Bowie's famous line in the sand, Crockett's celebrated fight to the death, and the common portrayal of the Mexicans as ruthless killers. Separating fact from fiction, they trace how and why those fictions grew, from the rapid spread of the rallying cry "Remember the Alamo!" to the "patriotic" depictions of battle in American films and television to the potency of the Alamo as a symbol in Texas politics and American culture today.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

384 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

"All that other stuff, all that history? To hell with it, right? Forget the Alamo."
- Elizabeth Pena as Pilar Cruz, in John Sayles' Lone Star

There are two ways to view the Alamo as a historical event.

The first is as a minor skirmish blown all out of proportion: a 13-day siege of a rundown Spanish mission defended by criminals, slave owners, deadbeats, miscreants, and dreamers, which ended in wholesale if relatively limited slaughter. A not insignificant number of defenders attempted to escape at some point, and were rundown by Mexican lancers, somewhat belying the image of a southwestern Thermopylae. Nevertheless, one cannot overstate the courage it took to get behind those walls in the first place, will all the odds against stacked against them, willing to face a European-modeled army that was not shy about summary executions.

The second is as a historical pivot, the hinge on which the Texas Revolution swung, leading, by turns, to the battle of San Jacinto, the formation of the Texas Republic, the annexation of Texas, the Mexican War, the introduction of slavery into Texas, and the Civil War.

You can take your pick as to what the Alamo means to you.

A Line in the Sand: The Alamo in Blood and Memory isn't really interested in either of these historical views. Its intent is to look at its cultural resonance, from its initial prominence as a rallying cry ("Remember the Alamo!") to Fess Parker's iconic portrayal in the classic Disney television shows, to John Wayne's coupling of the event to Cold War politics of the 60s (specifically, Vietnam).

The first and shorter section of the book deals with the framework in which the battle of the Alamo took place. It goes to great lengths to present a balanced story, and as such, properly begins in Mexico, with its ruler, Santa Anna. While the America of the 21st Century is embroiled in a debate over immigration, it is helpful to recall that Americans were the original illegal aliens. This was never truer than in Texas, where Anglo-Americans poured over the border of Texas (then part of Mexico), took up residence, and flaunted the laws. As Mexico tried to deal with this problem (balancing the need to populate the land with some semblance of control), Santa Anna rose to power. Demonized today, Santa Anna is actually a fascinating, enigmatic character. Author Randy Roberts does a great job capturing this mercurial wannabe Napoleon:

Santa Anna possessed voracious appetites - for sex, power, and money, but most of all for adulation - and he dominated his country. He lusted for absolute power. A contemporary later said of him, 'He lives in perpetual agitation, he gets carried away by an irresistible desire to acquire glory...Defeat...maddens him.' Late in life, recalling the ambitions of his youth, Santa Anna wrote, 'How impatient I was to climb the stair of life! With the typical eagerness of youth, I wished to vault its stairs two by two, four by four.' And in the end, his destiny became Mexico's.

Part of what endures about the Alamo is that so little about the final battle is known. Thus, it becomes a kind of blank slate where we can project images, either heroic or otherwise, onto the event.

The problem with attempting to piece together what actually happened starts with the paucity of American survivor-participants. The only Anglo eyewitnesses were Susanna Dickinson, who spent the battle in the Chapel, and later came to define unreliable narrator, and Joe, Travis's slave, who also tended to change his recollections, most likely an effect of having spent time with Susanna. Unfortunately, no enterprising young Texas journalist of the 1830s and 1840s sought out Mexican troops for a wider picture of the battle. What we're left with are Susanna, Joe, and a number of Mexican accounts of debatable accuracy (the most famous being the de la Pena diary).

Instead of spending time reconstructing the battle, then, Roberts tells the story almost in passing, in a chapter titled "Interlude." In other words, if you're new to the Alamo, and are looking for a battle narrative, it's best to go elsewhere.

This is not to say that you can't learn anything. Though brisk, Roberts' retelling of the dawn fight is clear-eyed, objective, and well-written:

Texans rushed to their positions on the walls and palisades, but they had few targets. Musket and artillery fire filled the air with clouds of acrid smoke, and noise crowded the senses. Along the east wall, with the sun still well below the horizon but the skyline just starting to brighten, the attackers stood out a bit, casting long shadows, but at the north, south, and west walls they were, at best, opaque objects scurrying about in dim moonlight. The early morning attack had rendered the Kentucky long rifle all but useless. They were accurate up to two hundred yards, but the Texans' field of vision was only a few feet deep.

The writing in A Line in the Sand is consistently above-average. From chapter to chapter, my attention seldom waned. It makes the case that the Alamo as a cultural artifact and political symbol is just as interesting as the Alamo as a last stand.

Roberts spends a little time picking through the myths, including, as the title suggests, Travis's famous "line in the sand." He spends an entire chapter dealing with Crockett's death: whether he died fighting or whether he was captured and executed. (This is a very big deal for some people, for some reason).

The investigation into these myths is a little cursory, because Roberts isn’t really concerned about historical truths. He is more interested in how the Alamo has been used as a symbol by both sides of the political divide.

In dealing with the political right, Roberts presents an entire chapter on Davy Crockett: The King of the Wild Frontier, discussing how Disney took the Crockett story, and Crockett's death, and massaged it into a paean of American individualism, freedom, and liberty. (When I was a kid, my family rented it once a week, supporting our local Adventures in Video store).

Another chapter is devoted to John Wayne, who despite his baggage, is still one of my favorite actors. Wayne's take on the battle, the overlong, preachy, and unintentionally hilarious The Alamo, is a commentary on the Cold War and Vietnam. It fails as commentary, it fails as history, and fails at the rudiments of editing, but still has a heck of a fight scene.

The book ends with a chapter on the left's symbolic use of the battle, as well as attempts by certain historians and Mexican groups to reframe the narrative and place the Alamo in a more nuanced historical context. In this endeavor, the left ran smack dab into the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, who have defended the Alamo far longer than Bowie and Travis ever did.

A book like this serves a worthy purpose. While it lacks the thrills you might get from a battle narrative, such as Walter Lord’s A Time to Stand, it provides a necessary reminder that how we recall historical events can be as crucial as the event itself.

The border wars have intensified dramatically since this book’s original publication. Thus, even though a lot of time has passed, its exploration of the Alamo as a symbolic rallying ground for people on both sides of the Texas-Mexico border is as relevant as ever.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read very little specifically about the Alamo, so this book really filled a gap in my knowledge. It is particularly good at placing the events leading up to the battle for the Alamo in the context of Mexican politics and Santa Anna's determination to crush federalist insurgencies and impose a centralized authority, thereby destroying regional autonomy.

I was very interested in how the Alamo has been elevated to mythic status in American memory and the symbolic uses to which it has been put. Who owns history? Who gets to interpret it? Roberts and Olson discuss these questions skilfully and thoughtfully.

The book could have benefited from the inclusion of a chronology for quick reference, especially given the authors' occasional tendency to suddenly go back in time and describe events out of sequence.

[Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the first book I have read specifically about the legendary battle at the Alamo on March 6th, 1836 and its aftermath. I chose it because it delves not only into the battle itself, but also the ways that subsequent generations have chosen to remember it. Randy Roberts and James Olson recount the reasons for the Texas Revolution and the long journey of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's Mexican forces to San Antonio, where the fewer than 200 people at the Alamo knew they had little hope for their survival but nonetheless refused to give in and fought to the death.

The rest of the book was what really intrigued me, because the authors discuss the ways that people drew upon the memory of the Alamo as the nineteenth and twentieth centuries progressed. During World War II and the Cold War, for instance, many Americans viewed the refusal to give in to an enemy at the Alamo as the best way to respond to the conflicts of their own time. John Wayne's 1960 movie especially tried to characterize the Alamo as a patriotic symbol in this way. Meanwhile, Walt Disney's television series of the 1950s celebrated Alamo defender Davy Crockett as the kind of person who Americans should revere and even sparked a craze for coonskin caps across the nation. To these Americans, Crockett lived his life and died as a hero and any suggestion that he surrendered to Mexicans at the Alamo is blasphemous (despite the words of a Mexican officer who reported that he surrendered and was then executed after the battle). On the other hand, the authors also point to a more recent revisionist movement that calls for Americans to view the Alamo defenders not as heroes, but as imperialists and slaveholders. The authors make clear that these points of view will not fade anytime soon, because "the stakes held in all competing versions are simply too high." I am impressed with the thorough research that the two authors have conducted here and think they have made a vital contribution to the field of historical memory, in the manner of several historians who have examined the Civil War in this way.

[Kurt Porter · Rating 5 out of 5]

When one hears the words “Remember the Alamo”; what is it that one remembers? Is it the names of the men who gave their life’s defending the Alamo against Santa Anna’s army? Is it the epic John Wayne movie or the white washed Disney television series you watched when you were a child? Is it the idealistic version of the events that one learns in middle school? The answer, like most events of historical importance, is not quite so easy to ascertain. A Line in the Sand: The Alamo in Blood and Memory illustrates the different arguments of how the Alamo affected both Texas and America, including how the Alamo has been remembered over the years.
A Line in the Sand was written by James S. Olson and Randy Roberts who are both well-known for their work in modern history. Their books tend to be about the American experience. Their knowledge more than qualifies them to write a book on the historical events that took place at the Alamo. Professor Olson and Professor Roberts have worked together on several other projects. Including the 1995 Pulitzer Prize nominated John Wayne American. James Stuart Olson received his B.A. in History from Brigham Young University in 1967 and later attended the State University of New York, Stony Brook where he earned his Masters of Arts in 1969. He also earned his Ph.D. in 1972, in the field of history. He started his career as an Instructor of History in 1970 at Dowling College. In 1972, he found a home when he began teaching at Sam Houston University as an Associate Professor. In 1984, he was appointed as a Professor in History and later during 1996, he was awarded the position of Distinguished Professor of History. He holds that position today. The other author, Randy Roberts, received his Ph.D. from Louisiana State University in 1978. Roberts taught at the University of Maryland, Louisiana State University, and Sam Houston University (where he met Olson) before becoming an Associate Professor at Purdue during 1988, where he still teaches and holds the position of Distinguished Professor of History.
In A Line in the Sand Olson and Roberts are attempting to prove that the Alamo is not only a place where a few brave men fought many other brave men, but that the Alamo has influenced everything including our history, our state and our nation. By using letters and journal’s the book demonstrates alternative perspectives besides the ones perpetuated by popular history and legend. The book makes the reader rethink history by illustrating the thoughts and intentions of the Texan defenders, the Mexican solders, and the generals of both sides. The narrative provides an insight into what the participants may have been thinking, feeling, and what could have been their motivation. A Line in the Sand demonstrates how the Alamo was not fought over once, but many times for various reasons. The authors demonstrate how controversy has followed the Alamo since the first battle, from the debate over Davy Crockett’s death, to Clara Driscoll’s and Adina DeZavala’s bitter clash over how the Alamo should be preserved. The novel illustrates how the Alamo was used as a commercial gimmick by Walt Disney to sell coon skin caps to bankroll Disneyland. In addition, how Disney affected the nation’s perceptions of the combatants and the idea of the Alamo. The book shows how John Wayne attempted to immortalize it on the silver screen in his own glacial version of the siege and battle and its effects on the legend. Olson and Roberts show the reader how the Alamo has been used as a political tool by activist and presidents alike to try and achieve their own political goals. The intent of the book is demonstrates quite clearly. That the Alamo is much more than what the reader learned in middle school, watches on television, or sees in theaters and that Alamo is still in many aspects still affecting our lives.
Olson and Roberts have done a fantastic job of presenting the battle of the Alamo and its historical importance in a detailed way, but not so much so that only stuffy old scholars can understand the book. The authors wrote this novel so anyone who loves history can pick it up and enjoy reading it. At times the book might be hard follow due to the fact that not all the events are in chronological order; instead the authors opt for a more topical method, but overall is easy enough to follow. The narrative style of the writing keeps the reader interested and tells the story of the people, events, and places involved. The book does have a bias towards Texas, but overall it gives a true and unflinching look at all the parties involved in the many battles. The only inconsistencies are due to the fact that many of the events happened so long ago that they have become tangled into a Gordian knot of legend and myth. The primary sources of information about the Texas Revolution used to write A Line in the Sand can be found in the Texas State Library in Austin, The Benson Latin American Collection, The Barker Center for American History at the University of Texas in Austin, The DRT Library in San Antonio, and the Texana collection at Yale University. The primary source for the information about the Mexican Army can be found in the Mexican Military Archives in Mexico City. For most readers the most accessible information can be found in John H. Jenkins eight-volume paper “The Papers of the Texas Revolution.”
Professor Gilbert M. Chuthbertson is known for his work at Rice University in the fields of Texas Politics, American Government, Folk-art in Texas and Mexico said about A Line in the Sand “the Alamo is no longer like Thermopylae in having no messenger.” Olson and Roberts have become the messengers of enlightenment that help the reader understand the events, from the first battle through the many battles that followed. Chuthbertson continues on to say “Overall, their contribution to the cannon of Alamo literature is as readable and significant as the reconstructions of Lon Tinkle’s 13 Days of Glory: The Siege of the Alamo and Walter Lord’s A Time to Stand.” This puts A Line in the Sand among some of the loftiest books on the subject of the Alamo. (Journal of Southern History, 68, November 2002, 939)
In conclusion, Olson and Roberts illustrated that the Alamo has affected all of us including our history, our legends, and our government. The authors show that the Alamo is more complex than anyone who has not read the book would have ever imagined and that it still plays a role in our lives to this day. A line in the Sand explains the event surrounding the Alamo and their effects in a well-crafted way that helps the reader gain new insights on the subject, and changes the way they “Remember the Alamo.”

[Oscar Lilley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not what I expected but still well researched and written.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

What happen to the ALAMO during and after Texas independence and statehood.

[Don Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the path taken. It covered off the people. Many of the custom's of the Tejano's living in the Texas. Gave an excellent viewpoint of the USA and why people had migrated to Texas. Then it went on to give a pretty decent picture of all the main players in the war. Santa Anna, his officers and soldiers. Travis, Houston, Fannin, Bowie, and Crockett. An excellent insight of the battle and the various combatants from both armies not only up to the fall of the Alamo but the battles of Golliad.

Then suddenly it took an unexpected turn. There were chapters on Disney and the making of Davy Crocket and the fall of the Alamo into an American hero and icon. From there it moved on to the making of John Wayne's movie the Alamo. Again a whole new view point I had never seen or clearly did not understand. Yet it did not stop there. On and on it went to cover the impact the Alamo had in the American political arena.

This is a book well worth reading. James Olson gives us a well written historical book of men and hero's. Their strength's, ambitions, hopes as well as where things went wrong and the impact. This is all well researched and so many details and references all combined in an easy to read open style.

If you are interested in the history of Texas and the Alamo this is a must read book.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the myriad of books about the Alamo. These authors divide the book into three battles for the Alamo: first, the real battle: secondly, the battle to preserve the Alamo and thirdly, the battle to save heroic legend of the defense of the Alamo from the New Western Historians. According to Jeff Long, a revisionist historian,and others, the rebel defenders of the Alamo were nothing more than rabble-rousers (sounds like the Sons of Liberty?) and racist slaveowners and lots of other charges had some probability of truth. The charge that not enough recognition was give to the Tejano defenders is true.

Will we ever know if Davy Crockett died in the Alamo or if he was taken prisoner and executed? Do we need to know? Probably not. What is important, I think, is that a group of people wanted their freedom and were willing to sacrifice their lives for it. Now, did they do it in the calm, polite, and gentlemenly way it would have been done today ( a little scarcasm there)? No, but that was the way things were done back then.

[Enid Horowitz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed A Line in the Sand, which I read before, during and after a trip to San Antonio. The book brought to life the history of the Alamo, the historical context of the battle and the vivid characters involved. I heartily recommend this book to anyone curious about the growth of America and Mexican history.

One addition to the book is greatly needed: a map or two. Although an old map of Texas/Mexico is included, this reader cries out for a map of the Alamo to refer to when the battle is being discussed. Another area map should be included that shows Goliad and Washington on the Brazos and the rivers mentioned. Those readers unfamiliar with the area need to see what you're describing to understand it better.

[George Heidemark · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting blend of a history of the Battle of the Alamo along with an examination of the shifting views of how Americans have perceived the Alamo since 1836. A fascinating part of the book deals with how the Disney TV specials on Davy Crockett shaped American perceptions of the Alamo. Another interesting chapter examines the film made by John Wayne and how he felt the Alamo was a metaphor for courage along with his views that communism was infiltrating America and how the Alamo defenders represented decision and bravery in a world of growing appeasement and indecision. A great survey of the evolution of an iconic American symbol.

[Kosar7480 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Presents events leading up to the Alamo siege, then, as the title indicates, spends several chapters detailing the resonance of the Alamo in history and memory. A great overview of the Alamo and its importance, although I hoped for more detail on the siege itself.