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Post by fespar on Mar 6, 2011 10:03:01 GMT -5
Remember the Alamo!It's 175 years ago today!
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Post by gtj222 on Mar 6, 2011 11:54:35 GMT -5
Hear Hear!!! Remember the Alamo!
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Post by sloanrodgers on Feb 28, 2013 22:23:14 GMT -5
Hear Hear!!! Remember the Alamo! This might be a stupid question and I might not get any responses here, but I thought I would ask. Who first uttered the "Remember the Alamo" battle cry? In the 2004 Alamo movie Gen. Sam Houston yells the famous quote while mounted on his rearing romanticised white stallion (which should have been gray) to inspire the troops prior to the battle of San Jacinto. Most historians supposedly state that 2nd Volunteer Regiment Commander Col. Sidney Sherman created this rallying watchword during the charge on the Mexican line, but I don't know if Sherman ever made the claim.
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Post by sloanrodgers on Mar 1, 2013 17:25:58 GMT -5
Another source says Moseley Baker was the guilty party.
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Post by Don Allen on Mar 2, 2013 11:43:21 GMT -5
That's probably impossible to know.
It could've been any member of the Texian Army as they marched to the east.
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Post by loucapitano on Mar 2, 2013 13:37:02 GMT -5
Not another rethinking of who actually said "Remember the Alamo" and where. For all we know, some private mentioned it within Houston's earshot and he just picked up on it and shouted as he ordered the troops forward. I think it's one of those "Print the legend' moments. If Houston didn't say it, he should have, and he never denied it (like every good politician with a slogan) Maybe we get spoiled with all the modern day recordings of immortal quotes ("ask not..." "...fear itself" or "I'm not a crook!") As you said, it's impossible to know. But fun to speculate.
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Post by Chuck T on Mar 2, 2013 16:17:47 GMT -5
Who said it is not nearly as important as the remembering I think.,
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Post by sloanrodgers on Mar 2, 2013 21:08:25 GMT -5
Not another rethinking of who actually said "Remember the Alamo" and where. Well, I said it might be a stupid question, but I for one was not rethinking it. I never cared before I noticed that different authors credit various San Jacinto officers (Houston, Sherman, Baker, Billingsley, etc.) or the general mass of rushing soldiers for the battle cry. It might be impossible to know who vocally said the words "Remember the Alamo" first without a time machine and it may be unimportant, but I think we know where it was yelled at the Mexican army. Perhaps I should have asked what is the "first contemporary or primary source" for this famous quote? Anyone who knows me, knows I'm not much for speculatin' or prospectin'. I do wonder and wander from time to time.
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Post by Rich Curilla on Mar 13, 2013 18:06:54 GMT -5
That's probably impossible to know. It could've been any member of the Texian Army as they marched to the east. And each would have assumed that he started it.
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Post by Rich Curilla on Mar 13, 2013 18:09:32 GMT -5
That's probably impossible to know. It could've been any member of the Texian Army as they marched to the east. And each would have assumed that he started it. Had you been there in the midst of it all, I'd bet you wouldn't have been able to determine who started it.
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Post by sloanrodgers on Mar 15, 2013 1:34:58 GMT -5
And each would have assumed that he started it. Had you been there in the midst of it all, I'd bet you wouldn't have been able to determine who started it. In the din of battle would you even have heard " Remember the Alamo" yelled from one end of the line to the other? One soldier stated that on the charge, there was such a cacaphony of sound that he couldn't even hear Dick's drum beating near him. A few S.J. veterans said they first heard the watchword in an officer's speech prior to the battle, which seems plausible. Some stated that Gen. Houston gave this address, while others say that Capt. Moseley Baker gave it. Corp. Isaac L. Hill was in Baker's compnay, but instead of attaching credit for the speech and battle cry to his company commander, he gives it to Gen. Houston. Corp. Hill also said that Rusk responded with; "The Alamo and La Bahia", which Hill found more appropriate. Pvt. John W. Harvey, although in a different regiment ( Sherman's ) agreed with Corp. Hill. Pvt. Harvey related that; "Gen. Houston formed us in a solid colm- rode into our midst, and delivered to us one of the best speeches- told us that when we got into the battle to make the Mexicans remember the Alamo." Having served several years in the army, Remember the Alamo sounds to me like a preparatory marching command that was given a followup with Goliad. By the way, I don't think Moseley Baker enjoyed the prestige and respect during the Texas Revolution that he does now. He was a Moseley-come-lately to the conflict and known as a belligerant editor, forger, liar, convicted felon and war monger at the time. Stephen F. Austin didn't like him and thought he was trouble. Capt. Baker was a self-professed friend of Gen. Houston and minor character in the Texas Revolution until he wrote a 1844 letter denouncing his former commander. Afterward, Baker became almost respectable and one 1902 author declared him, Gen. Houston's bitterest enemy.
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Post by sloanrodgers on Mar 17, 2013 17:13:41 GMT -5
Even Texas President Anson Jones, who became disenchanted with his commander stated in his well-known San Jacinto account that Gen. Houston gave an address before the battle. Jones confirmed the Remember the Alamo quotes of the two enlisted men above and there might be more.
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Post by loucapitano on Mar 24, 2013 17:39:20 GMT -5
This aspect of the Alamo legend is subject to good scholarship and discussion. But for me, I'll never forget how upset I was after seeing Fess Parker go down on Disney. My Dad took me on his knee and said, don't be sad, a few weeks after the Alamo, the Texans defeated the Mexicans and shouted "Remember the Alamo" as they charged. I was so excited and have remained excited for 60+ years. Dad passed away last year, but I'll never forget that moment. We may never know who said it first in 1836, but my Dad said it to me, and that's all I need to know. Sorry to get so shmaltzy...but the Alamo does that to me.
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Post by Rich Curilla on Mar 24, 2013 20:14:36 GMT -5
I had the same reaction at seven when Disney's Davy looked like he wasn't gonna make it. (He didn't actually go down, and that added to the confusion.) His buddies all got killed, his sidekick too. This wasn't what TV shows did in the fifties. Then, there he was, swinging Old Betsy as all those "bad guys" surrounded him. Fade to the flag. I do not remember what my questions were to my dad, but I do recall that he took me to the Funk & Wagnall Encyclopedia and looked up "Davy Crockett." I look back on this as the first moment I understood the link between films and education. My dad died in 1976. We too were best friends.
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Post by Paul Sylvain on Mar 25, 2013 20:03:21 GMT -5
Rich --- You captured that moment and emotion exactly as it was for me. "Good guys" didn't die, back then. Only "bad guys" died and those Mexican soldiers were the bad guys. I was confused, too, an I figured old "Fess Crockett" had beat those bad dudes and was coming back the next week. I must have been, six at the time -- maybe seven -- and didn't have any concept of death until that moment.
I don't recall my dad saying much about it, other than saying Davy was killed and dies with all the other "good guys". ironically, my dad took me to see Wayne's Alamo when it was released, and on a rare school night viewing. I think I was 11. Fast forward to 1995, when I was living in San Antonio, and my dad drove down from New Hampshire to Texas for a visit. I took him to see "Price of Freedom", then toured the Alamo with him. It kind of brought things around full circle, and he was part of all three Alamo experiences with me.
Paul
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