Coordinates	12°2′36″N77°1′42″N
Conflict	Battle of the Alamo
Partof	the Texas Revolution
Date	February 23 – March 6, 1836
Place	San Antonio, Texas
Result	Mexican victory
Combatant1
Combatant2
Commander1	Antonio López de Santa Anna
Commander2	William TravisJames Bowie
Strength1	2,400
Strength2	182–260
Casualties1	400–600 killed or wounded
Casualties2	180–258 killed }}

The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 – March 6, 1836) was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar (modern-day San Antonio, Texas). All but two of the Texian defenders were killed. Santa Anna's perceived cruelty during the battle inspired many Texians—both Texas settlers and adventurers from the United States—to join the Texian Army. Buoyed by a desire for revenge, the Texians defeated the Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto, on April 21, 1836, ending the revolution.

Several months prior, Texians had driven all Mexican troops out of Mexican Texas. Approximately 100 Texians were then garrisoned at the Alamo. The Texian force grew slightly with the arrival of reinforcements led by eventual Alamo co-commanders James Bowie and William B. Travis. On February 23, approximately 1,500 Mexican troops marched into San Antonio de Béxar as the first step in a campaign to re-take Texas. For the next 12 days the two armies engaged in several skirmishes with minimal casualties. Aware that his garrison could not withstand an attack by such a large force, Travis wrote multiple letters pleading for more men and supplies, but fewer than 100 reinforcements arrived.

In the early morning hours of March 6, the Mexican Army advanced on the Alamo. After repulsing two attacks, Texians were unable to fend off a third attack. As Mexican soldiers scaled the walls, most of the Texian soldiers withdrew into interior buildings. Defenders unable to reach these points were slain by the Mexican cavalry as they attempted to escape. Between five and seven Texians may have surrendered; if so, they were quickly executed. Most eyewitness accounts reported between 182 and 257 Texians dead, while most historians of the Alamo agree that 400–600 Mexicans were killed or wounded. Several noncombatants were sent to Gonzales to spread word of the Texian defeat. The news sparked a panic, known as "The Runaway Scrape", in which the Texian army, most settlers, and the new Republic of Texas government fled from the advancing Mexican Army.

Within Mexico, the battle has often been overshadowed by events from the Mexican–American War of 1846–48. In 19th-century Texas, the Alamo complex gradually became known as a battle site rather than a former mission. The Texas Legislature purchased the land and buildings in the early part of the 20th century and designated the Alamo chapel as an official Texas State Shrine. The Alamo is now "the most popular tourist site in Texas". The Alamo has been the subject of numerous non-fiction works beginning in 1843. Most Americans, however, are more familiar with the myths spread by many of the movie and television adaptations, including the 1950s Disney miniseries ''Davy Crockett'' and John Wayne's 1960 film ''The Alamo''. The 2004 movie, The Alamo presented a more balanced view of the events surrounding the siege and subsequent battle.

Background

Under President Antonio López de Santa Anna, the Mexican government began to shift away from a federalist model. The increasingly dictatorial policies, including the revocation of the Constitution of 1824 in early 1835, incited many federalists to revolt. The Mexican border region of Texas was largely populated by immigrants from the United States. These were accustomed to a federalist government and to extensive individual rights, and they were quite vocal in their displeasure at Mexico's shift towards centralism. Already leery of previous American attempts to purchase Texas, Mexican authorities blamed much of the Texian unrest on American immigrants, most of whom had made little effort to adapt to the Mexican culture.

In October, Texians engaged Mexican troops in the first official battle of the Texas Revolution. Determined to quash the rebellion, Santa Anna began assembling a large force, the Army of Operations in Texas, to restore order. Most of his soldiers were raw recruits, and a large number had been forcibly conscripted.

The Texians systematically defeated the Mexican troops already stationed in Texas. The last group of Mexican soldiers in the region—commanded by Santa Anna's brother-in-law, General Martín Perfecto de Cos—surrendered on December 9 following the siege of Béxar. By this point, the Texian Army was dominated by very recent arrivals to the region, primarily adventurers from the United States. Many Texas settlers, unprepared for a long campaign, had returned home. Angered by what he perceived to be American interference in Mexican affairs, Santa Anna spearheaded a resolution classifying foreigners found fighting in Texas as pirates. The resolution effectively banned the taking of prisoners of war: in this period of time, captured pirates were executed immediately. Santa Anna reiterated this message in a strongly worded letter to United States President Andrew Jackson. This letter was not widely distributed, and it is unlikely that most of the American recruits serving in the Texian Army were aware that there would be no prisoners of war.

When Mexican troops departed San Antonio de Béxar (now San Antonio, Texas) Texian soldiers established a garrison at the Alamo Mission, a former Spanish religious outpost which had been converted to a makeshift fort. Described by Santa Anna as an "irregular fortification hardly worthy of the name", the Alamo had been designed to withstand an attack by native tribes, not an artillery-equipped army. The complex sprawled across , providing almost of perimeter to defend. An interior plaza was bordered on the east by the chapel and to the south by a one-story building known as the Low Barracks. A wooden palisade stretched between these two buildings. The two-story Long Barracks extended north from the chapel. At the northern corner of the east wall stood a cattle pen and horse corral. The walls surrounding the complex were at least thick and ranged from high.

To compensate for the lack of firing ports, Texian engineer Green B. Jameson constructed catwalks to allow defenders to fire over the walls; this method, however, left the rifleman's upper body exposed. Mexican forces had left behind 19 cannons, which Jameson installed along the walls. A large 18-pounder had arrived in Texas with the New Orleans Greys. Jameson positioned this cannon in the southwest corner of the compound. He boasted to Texian Army commander Sam Houston that the Texians could "whip 10 to 1 with our artillery".

The Texian garrison was woefully under-manned and under-provisioned, with fewer than 100 soldiers remaining by January 6, 1836. Colonel James C. Neill, the acting Alamo commander, wrote to the provisional government: "If there has ever been a dollar here I have no knowledge of it". Neill requested additional troops and supplies, stressing that the garrison was likely unable to withstand a siege lasting longer than four days. The Texian government was in turmoil and unable to provide much assistance. Four different men claimed to have been given command over the entire army: on January 14, Neill approached one of them, Sam Houston, for assistance in gathering supplies, clothing, and ammunition.

Prelude to battle

Houston could not spare the number of men necessary to mount a successful defense. Instead, he sent Colonel James Bowie with 30 men to remove the artillery from the Alamo and destroy the complex. Bowie was unable to transport the artillery since the Alamo garrison lacked the necessary draft animals. Neill soon persuaded Bowie that the location held strategic importance. In a letter to Governor Henry Smith, Bowie argued that "the salvation of Texas depends in great measure on keeping Bexar out of the hands of the enemy. It serves as the frontier picquet guard, and if it were in the possession of Santa Anna, there is no stronghold from which to repel him in his march toward the Sabine." The letter to Smith ended, "Colonel Neill and myself have come to the solemn resolution that we will rather die in these ditches than give it up to the enemy." Bowie also wrote to the provisional government, asking for "men, money, rifles, and cannon powder". Few reinforcements were authorized; cavalry officer William B. Travis arrived in Bexar with 30 men on February 3. Five days later, a small group of volunteers, including Davy Crockett, arrived.

On February 11, Neill left the Alamo, likely to recruit additional reinforcements and gather supplies. He transferred command to Travis, the highest-ranking regular army officer in the garrison. Volunteers comprised much of the garrison, and they were unwilling to accept Travis as their leader. The men instead elected Bowie, who had a reputation as a fierce fighter, as their commander. Bowie celebrated by getting very intoxicated and creating havoc in Béxar. To mitigate the resulting ill feelings, Bowie agreed to share command with Travis.

As the Texians struggled to find men and supplies, Santa Anna continued to gather men at San Luis Potosi; by the end of 1835 his army numbered 6,019 soldiers. Rather than advance along the coast, where supplies and reinforcements could be easily delivered by sea, Santa Anna ordered his army inland to Béxar, the political center of Texas and the site of Cos's defeat. The army began its march north in late December. Officers used the long journey to train the men. Many of the new recruits did not know how to use the sights of their guns, and many refused to fire from the shoulder because of the large recoil.

Progress was slow. There were not enough mules to transport all of the supplies, and many of the teamsters, all civilians, quit when their pay was delayed. The large number of ''soldaderas''–women and children who followed the army–consumed the already scarce supplies. The soldiers were soon reduced to partial rations. On February 12 they crossed the Rio Grande. Temperatures in Texas reached record lows, and by February 13 an estimated of snow had fallen. Hypothermia, dysentery, and Comanche raiding parties took a heavy toll on the Mexican soldiers.

On February 21, Santa Anna and his vanguard reached the banks of the Medina River, from Béxar. Unaware of the Mexican Army's proximity, the majority of the Alamo garrison joined Béxar residents at a fiesta. After learning of the planned celebration, Santa Anna ordered General Joaquín Ramírez y Sesma to immediately seize the unprotected Alamo, but sudden rains halted that raid.

Siege

Investment

In the early hours of February 23, residents began fleeing Béxar, fearing the Mexican army's imminent arrival. Although unconvinced by the reports, Travis stationed a soldier in the San Fernando church bell tower—the highest location in town—to watch for signs of an approaching force. Several hours later, Texian scouts reported seeing Mexican troops outside the town. Few arrangements had been made for a potential siege. One group of Texians scrambled to herd cattle into the Alamo, while others scrounged for food in the recently abandoned houses. Several members of the garrison who had been living in town brought their families with them when they reported to the Alamo. Among these were Almaron Dickinson, who brought his wife Susanna and their infant daughter Angelina; Bowie, who was accompanied by his deceased wife's cousins, Gertrudis Navarro and Juana Navarro Alsbury, and Alsbury's young son; and Gregorio Esparza, whose family climbed through the window of the Alamo chapel after the Mexican army arrived. Other members of the garrison failed to report for duty; most of the men working outside Béxar did not try to sneak past Mexican lines.

By late afternoon Béxar was occupied by about 1,500 Mexican troops. When the Mexican troops raised a blood-red flag signifying no quarter, Travis responded with a blast from the Alamo's largest cannon. Believing that Travis had acted hastily, Bowie sent Jameson to meet with Santa Anna. Travis was angered that Bowie had acted unilaterally and sent his own representative, Albert Martin. Both emissaries met with Colonel Juan Almonte and José Bartres. According to Almonte, the Texians asked for an honorable surrender but were informed that any surrender must be unconditional. On learning this, Bowie and Travis mutually agreed to fire the cannon again.

Skirmishes

The first night of the siege was relatively quiet. Over the next few days, Mexican soldiers established artillery batteries, initially about from the south and east walls of the Alamo. A third battery was positioned southeast of the fort. Each night the batteries inched closer to the Alamo walls. During the first week of the siege more than 200 cannonballs landed in the Alamo plaza. At first the Texians matched Mexican artillery fire, often reusing the Mexican cannonballs. On February 26 Travis ordered the artillery to conserve powder and shot.

Two notable events occurred on Wednesday, February 24. At some point that day, Bowie collapsed from illness, leaving Travis in sole command of the garrison. Late that afternoon, a Mexican scout became the first fatality of the siege. The following morning, 200–300 Mexican soldiers crossed the San Antonio River and took cover in abandoned shacks near the Alamo walls. Several Texians ventured out to burn the huts,Texians within the Alamo provided cover fire. After a two-hour skirmish the Mexican troops retreated to Béxar. Two Mexican soldiers were killed and four wounded. No Texians were injured.

A blue norther blew in on February 25, dropping the temperature to . Neither army was prepared for the cold temperatures. Texian attempts to gather firewood were thwarted by Mexican troops. On the evening of February 26 Colonel Juan Bringas engaged several Texians who were burning more huts. According to historian J.R. Edmondson, one Texian was killed.

Reinforcements

Santa Anna posted one company east of the Alamo, on the road to Gonzales. Almonte and 800 dragoons were stationed along the road to Goliad. Throughout the siege these towns had received multiple couriers, dispatched by Travis to plead for reinforcements and supplies. The most famous of his missives, written February 24, was addressed To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World. According to historian Mary Deborah Petite, the letter is "considered by many as one of the masterpieces of American patriotism". Copies of the letter were distributed across Texas, and eventually reprinted throughout the United States and much of Europe.

As news of the siege spread throughout Texas, potential reinforcements gathered in Gonzales. They hoped to rendezvous with Colonel James Fannin, who was expected to arrive from Goliad with his garrison. On February 26, after days of indecision, Fannin ordered 320 men, four cannon, and several supply wagons to march toward the Alamo, away. This group traveled less than before turning back. Fannin blamed the retreat on his officers; the officers and enlisted men accused Fannin of aborting the mission.

Texians gathered in Gonzales were unaware of Fannin's return to Goliad, and most continued to wait. Impatient with the delay, on February 27 Travis ordered Samuel G. Bastian to go to Gonzales "to hurry up reinforcements". According to historian Thomas Ricks Lindley, Bastian encountered the Gonzales Ranging Company led by Lieutenant George C. Kimble and Travis' courier to Gonzales, Albert Martin, who had tired of waiting for Fannin. A Mexican patrol attacked, driving off four of the men, including Bastian. In the darkness, the Texians fired on the remaining 32 men, whom they assumed were Mexican soldiers. One man was wounded, and his English curses convinced the defenders to open the gates.

On March 3, the Texians watched from the walls as approximately 1,000 Mexican troops marched into Béxar. The Mexican army celebrated loudly throughout the afternoon, both in honor of their reinforcements and at the news that troops under General José de Urrea had soundly defeated Texian Colonel Frank W. Johnson at the Battle of San Patricio on February 27. Most of the Texians in the Alamo believed that Sesma had been leading the Mexican forces during the siege, and they mistakenly attributed the celebration to the arrival of Santa Anna. The reinforcements brought the number of Mexican soldiers in Bexar to almost 2,400.

The arrival of the Mexican reinforcements prompted Travis to send three men, including Davy Crockett, to find Fannin's force, which he still believed to be en route. The scouts discovered a large group of Texians camped from the Alamo. Lindley's research indicates that up to 50 of these men had come from Goliad after Fannin's aborted rescue mission. The others had left Gonzales several days earlier. Just before daylight on March 4, part of the Texian force broke through Mexican lines and entered the Alamo. Mexican soldiers drove a second group across the prairie.

Assault preparations

On March 4, the day after his reinforcements arrived, Santa Anna proposed an assault on the Alamo. Many of his senior officers recommended that they wait for two 12-pounder cannons anticipated to arrive on March 7. That evening, a local woman, likely Bowie's cousin-in-law Juana Navarro Alsbury, approached Santa Anna to negotiate a surrender for the Alamo defenders. According to many historians, this visit probably increased Santa Anna's impatience; as historian Timothy Todish noted, "there would have been little glory in a bloodless victory". The following morning, Santa Anna announced to his staff that the assault would take place early on March 6. Santa Anna arranged for troops from Béxar to be excused from the front lines, so that they would not be forced to fight their own families.

Legend holds that at some point on March 5, Travis gathered his men and explained that an attack was imminent, and that the Mexican Army would prevail. He supposedly drew a line in the sand and asked those willing to die for the Texian cause to cross and stand alongside him; only one man was reputed to decline. Many historians disregard the story. The last Texian verified to have left the Alamo was James Allen, a courier who carried personal messages from Travis and several of the other men on March 5.

Final assault

Exterior fighting

+Initial Mexican troop deployment
!Commander!!Troops!!Equipment
	350	10 ladders	2 crowbars	2 axes
	400	10 ladders
Romero	400	6 ladders
Morales	125	2 ladders
	400 reserves

At 10 p.m. on March 5, the Mexican artillery ceased their bombardment. As Santa Anna had anticipated, the exhausted Texians soon fell into the first uninterrupted sleep many had gotten since the siege began. Just after midnight Mexican troops began preparing for the final assault. The troops were divided into four columns, commanded by Cos, Colonel Francisco Duque, Colonel José María Romero and Colonel Juan Morales. Veterans were positioned on the outside of the columns to better control the new recruits and conscripts in the middle. As a precaution, 500 Mexican cavalry were positioned around the Alamo to prevent escape of either Texian or Mexican soldiers. Santa Anna remained in camp with the 400 reserves. Despite the bitter cold, the soldiers were ordered not to wear overcoats, which could impede their movements. Clouds concealed the moon, and thus the movements of the soldiers.

At 5:30 a.m. troops silently advanced. Cos and his men approached the northwest corner of the Alamo, while Duque led his men from the northwest toward a repaired breach in the Alamo's north wall. The column commanded by Romero marched towards the east wall, and Morales's column aimed for the low parapet by the chapel.

The three Texian sentinels stationed outside the walls were killed in their sleep, allowing Mexican soldiers to approach undetected within musket range of the walls. At this point, the silence was broken by shouts of ''"¡Viva Santa Anna!"'' and music from the buglers. The noise woke the Texians. Most of the noncombatants gathered in the church sacristy for safety. Travis rushed to his post yelling, "Come on boys, the Mexicans are upon us and we'll give them hell!" and, as he passed a group of Tejanos, ''"¡No rendirse, muchachos!"'' ("No surrender, boys").

In the initial moments of the assault Mexican troops were at a disadvantage. Their column formation allowed only the front rows of soldiers to fire safely. Unaware of the dangers, the untrained recruits in the ranks "blindly fir[ed] their guns", injuring or killing the troops in front of them. The tight concentration of troops also offered an excellent target for the Texian artillery. Lacking canister shot, Texians filled their cannon with any metal they could find, including door hinges, nails, and chopped-up horseshoes, essentially turning the cannon into giant shotguns. According to the diary of José Enrique de la Peña, "a single cannon volley did away with half the company of chasseurs from Toluca". Duque fell from his horse after suffering a wound in his thigh and was almost trampled by his own men. General Manuel Castrillón quickly assumed command of Duque's column.

Although some in the front of the Mexican ranks wavered, soldiers in the rear pushed them on. As the troops massed against the walls, Texians were forced to lean over the walls to shoot, leaving them exposed to Mexican fire. Travis became one of the first defenders to die, shot while firing his shotgun into the soldiers below him. Few of the Mexican ladders reached the walls. The few soldiers who were able to climb the ladders were quickly killed or beaten back. As the Texians discharged their previously loaded rifles, however, they found it increasingly difficult to reload while attempting to keep Mexican soldiers from scaling the walls.

Mexican soldiers withdrew and regrouped, but their second attack was repulsed. Fifteen minutes into the battle, they attacked a third time. During the third strike, Romero's column, aiming for the east wall, was exposed to cannon fire and shifted to the north, mingling with the second column. Cos's column, under fire from Texians on the west wall, also veered north. When Santa Anna saw that the bulk of his army was massed against the north wall, he feared a rout; "panicked", he sent the reserves into the same area. The Mexican soldiers closest to the north wall realized that the makeshift wall contained many gaps and toeholds. One of the first to scale the 12-foot (3.7 m) wall was General Juan Amador; at his challenge, his men began swarming up the wall. Amador opened the postern in the north wall, allowing Mexican soldiers to pour into the complex. Others climbed through gun ports in the west wall, which had few defenders. As the Texian defenders abandoned the north wall and the northern end of the west wall, Texian gunners at the south end of the mission turned their cannon toward the north and fired into the advancing Mexican soldiers. This left the south end of the mission unprotected; within minutes Mexican soldiers had climbed the walls and killed the gunners, gaining control of the Alamo's 18-pounder cannon. By this time Romero's men had taken the east wall of the compound and were pouring in through the cattle pen.

Interior fighting

As previously planned, most of the Texians fell back to the barracks and the chapel. Holes had been carved in the walls to allow the Texians to fire. Unable to reach the barracks, Texians stationed along the west wall headed west for the San Antonio River. When the cavalry charged, the Texians took cover and began firing from a ditch. Sesma was forced to send reinforcements, and the Texians were eventually killed. Sesma reported that this skirmish involved 50 Texians, but Edmondson believes that number was inflated.

The defenders in the cattle pen retreated into the horse corral. After discharging their weapons, the small band of Texians scrambled over the low wall, circled behind the church and raced on foot for the east prairie, which appeared empty. As the Mexican cavalry advanced on the group, Almaron Dickinson and his artillery crew turned a cannon around and fired into the cavalry, probably inflicting casualties. Nevertheless, all of the escaping Texians were killed.

The last Texian group to remain in the open were Crockett and his men, defending the low wall in front of the church. Unable to reload, they used their rifles as clubs and fought with knives. After a volley of fire and a wave of Mexican bayonets, the few remaining Texians in this group fell back toward the church. The Mexican army now controlled all of the outer walls and the interior of the Alamo compound except for the church and rooms along the east and west walls. Mexican soldiers turned their attention to a Texian flag waving from the roof of one building. Four Mexicans were killed before the flag of Mexico was raised in that location.

For the next hour, the Mexican army worked to secure complete control of the Alamo. Many of the remaining defenders were ensconced in the fortified barracks rooms. In the confusion, the Texians had neglected to spike their cannon before retreating. Mexican soldiers turned the cannon toward the barracks. As each door was blown off Mexican soldiers would fire a volley of muskets into the dark room, then charge in for hand-to-hand combat.

Too sick to participate in the battle, Bowie likely died in bed. Eyewitnesses to the battle gave conflicting accounts of his death. Some witnesses maintained that they saw several Mexican soldiers enter Bowie's room, bayonet him, and carry him alive from the room. Others claimed that Bowie shot himself or was killed by soldiers while too weak to lift his head. According to historian Wallace Chariton, the "most popular, and probably the most accurate" version is that Bowie died on his cot, "back braced against the wall, and using his pistols and his famous knife."

The last of the Texians to die were the 11 men manning the two 12-pounder cannon in the chapel. A shot from the 18-pounder cannon destroyed the barricades at the front of the church, and Mexican soldiers entered the building after firing an initial musket volley. Dickinson's crew fired their cannon from the apse into the Mexican soldiers at the door. With no time to reload, the Texians, including Dickinson, Gregorio Esparza and James Bonham, grabbed rifles and fired before being bayoneted to death. Texian Robert Evans, the master of ordnance, had been tasked with keeping the gunpowder from falling into Mexican hands. Wounded, he crawled toward the powder magazine but was killed by a musket ball with his torch only inches from the powder. Had he succeeded, the blast would have destroyed the church and killed the women and children hiding in the sacristy.

As soldiers approached the sacristy, one of the young sons of defender Anthony Wolf stood to pull a blanket over his shoulders. In the dark, Mexican soldiers mistook him for an adult and killed him. Possibly the last Texian to die in battle was Jacob Walker, who attempted to hide behind Susannah Dickinson and was bayoneted in front of the women. Another Texian, Brigido Guerrero, also sought refuge in the sacristy. Guerrero, who had deserted from the Mexican Army in December 1835, was spared after convincing the soldiers he was a Texian prisoner.

By 6:30 a.m. the battle for the Alamo was over. Mexican soldiers inspected each corpse, bayoneting any body that moved. Even with all of the Texians dead, Mexican soldiers continued to shoot, some killing each other in the confusion. Mexican generals were unable to stop the bloodlust and appealed to Santa Anna for help. Although the general showed himself, the violence continued and the buglers were finally ordered to sound a retreat. For 15 minutes after that, soldiers continued to fire into dead bodies.

Aftermath

Casualties

According to many accounts of the battle, between five and seven Texians surrendered. Incensed that his orders had been ignored, Santa Anna demanded the immediate execution of the survivors. Weeks after the battle, stories circulated that Crockett was among those who surrendered. However, Ben, a former American slave who cooked for one of Santa Anna's officers, maintained that Crockett's body was found surrounded by "no less than sixteen Mexican corpses". Historians disagree on which version of Crockett's death is accurate.

Santa Anna reportedly told Captain Fernando Urizza that the battle "was but a small affair". Another officer then remarked that "with another such victory as this, we'll go to the devil". In his initial report Santa Anna claimed that 600 Texians had been killed, with only 70 Mexican soldiers killed and 300 wounded. His secretary, Ramón Martínez Caro, later repudiated the report. Other estimates of the number of Mexican soldiers killed ranged from 60–2,000, with an additional 250–300 wounded. Most Alamo historians place the number of Mexican casualties at 400–600 Mexicans. This would represent about one-third of the Mexican soldiers involved in the final assault, which Todish remarks is "a tremendous casualty rate by any standards". Most eyewitnesses counted between 182–257 Texians killed. Some historians believe that at least one Texian, Henry Warnell, successfully escaped from the battle. Warnell died several months later of wounds incurred either during the final battle or during his escape as a courier.

Mexican soldiers were buried in the local cemetery, Campo Santo. Shortly after the battle, Colonel José Juan Sanchez Navarro proposed that a monument should be erected to the fallen Mexican soldiers. Cos rejected the idea.

The Texian bodies were stacked and burned. The only exception was the body of Gregorio Esparza. His brother Francisco, an officer in Santa Anna's army, received permission to give Gregorio a proper burial. The ashes were left where they fell until February 1837, when Juan Seguín returned to Béxar to examine the remains. A simple coffin inscribed with the names Travis, Crockett, and Bowie was filled with ashes from the funeral pyres. According to a March 28, 1837, article in the ''Telegraph and Texas Register'', Seguín buried the coffin under a peach tree grove. The spot was not marked and cannot now be identified. However, Seguín later claimed that he had placed the coffin in front of the altar at the San Fernando Cathedral. In July 1936 a coffin was discovered buried in that location, but according to historian Wallace Chariton it is unlikely to actually contain the remains of the Alamo defenders. Fragments of uniforms were found in the coffin, and it is known that the Alamo defenders did not wear uniforms.

Texian survivors

In an attempt to convince other slaves in Texas to support the Mexican government over the Texian rebellion, Santa Anna spared Travis's slave, Joe. The day after the battle, he interviewed each noncombatant individually. Impressed with Susanna Dickinson, Santa Anna offered to adopt her infant daughter Angelina and have the child educated in Mexico City. Dickinson refused the offer, which was not extended to Juana Navarro Alsbury for her son who was of similar age. Each woman was given a blanket and two silver pesos. Alsbury and the other ''Tejano'' women were allowed to return to their homes in Béxar; Dickinson, her daughter and Joe were sent to Gonzales, escorted by Ben. They were encouraged to relate the events of the battle, and to inform the remainder of the Texian forces that Santa Anna's army was unbeatable.

Impact on revolution

During the siege, newly elected delegates from across Texas met at the Convention of 1836. On March 2, the delegates declared independence, forming the Republic of Texas. Four days later, the delegates at the convention received a dispatch Travis had written March 3 warning of his dire situation. Unaware that the Alamo had fallen, Robert Potter called for the convention to adjourn and march immediately to relieve the Alamo. Sam Houston convinced the delegates to remain in Washington-on-the-Brazos to develop a constitution. After being appointed sole commander of all Texian troops, Houston journeyed to Gonzales to take command of the 400 volunteers who were still waiting for Fannin to lead them to the Alamo.

Within hours of Houston's arrival on March 11, Andres Barcenas and Anselmo Bergaras arrived with news that the Alamo had fallen and all Texians were slain. Hoping to halt a panic, Houston arrested the men as enemy spies. They were released hours later when Susannah Dickinson and Joe reached Gonzales and confirmed the report. Realizing that the Mexican army would soon advance toward the Texian settlements, Houston advised all civilians in the area to evacuate and ordered his new army to retreat. This sparked a mass exodus, known as the Runaway Scrape, and most Texians, including members of the new government, fled east.

Despite their losses at the Alamo, the Mexican army in Texas outnumbered the Texian army by almost six to one. Santa Anna assumed that knowledge of the disparity in troop numbers and the fate of the Texian soldiers at the Alamo would quell the resistance, and that Texian soldiers would quickly leave the territory. News of the Alamo's fall had the opposite effect, and men flocked to Houston's army. The ''New York Post'' editorialized that "had [Santa Anna] treated the vanquished with moderation and generosity, it would have been difficult if not impossible to awaken that general sympathy for the people of Texas which now impels so many adventurous and ardent spirits to throng to the aid of their brethren".

On the afternoon of April 21 the Texian army attacked Santa Anna's camp near Lynchburg Ferry. The Mexican army was taken by surprise, and the Battle of San Jacinto was essentially over after 18 minutes. During the fighting, many of the Texian soldiers repeatedly cried "Remember the Alamo!" Santa Anna was captured the following day, and reportedly told Houston: "That man may consider himself born to no common destiny who has conquered the Napoleon of the West. And now it remains for him to be generous to the vanquished." Houston replied, "You should have remembered that at the Alamo". Santa Anna was forced to order his troops out of Texas, ending Mexican control of the province and giving some legitimacy to the new republic.

Legacy

Following the battle, Santa Anna was alternately viewed as a national hero or a pariah. Mexican perceptions of the battle often mirrored the prevailing viewpoint. Santa Anna had been disgraced following his capture at the Battle of San Jacinto, and many Mexican accounts of the battle were written by men who had been, or had become, his outspoken critics. Petite and many other historians believe that some of the stories, such as the execution of Crockett, may have been invented to further discredit Santa Anna. In Mexican history, the Texas campaign, including the Battle of the Alamo, was soon overshadowed by the Mexican–American War of 1846–48.

In San Antonio de Béxar, the largely ''Tejano'' population viewed the Alamo complex as more than just a battlesite; it represented decades of assistance—as a mission, a hospital, or a military post. As the English-speaking population increased, the complex became best known for the battle. Focus has centered primarily on the Texian defenders, with little emphasis given to the role of the ''Tejano'' soldiers who served in the Texian army or the actions of the Mexican army. In the early 20th century the Texas Legislature purchased the property and appointed the Daughters of the Republic of Texas as permanent caretakers of what is now an official state shrine. In front of the church, in the center of Alamo Plaza, stands a cenotaph, designed by Pompeo Coppini, which commemorates the Texians and ''Tejanos'' who died during the battle. According to Bill Groneman's ''Battlefields of Texas'', the Alamo has become "the most popular tourist site in Texas".

The first English-language histories of the battle were written and published by Texas Ranger and amateur historian John Henry Brown. The next major treatment of the battle was Reuben Potter's ''The Fall of the Alamo'', published in ''The Magazine of American History'' in 1878. Potter based his work on interviews with many of the Mexican survivors of the battle. The first full-length, non-fiction book covering the battle, John Myers Myers' ''The Alamo'', was published in 1948. In the decades since, the battle has featured prominently in many non-fiction works.

According to Todish ''et al.'', "there can be little doubt that most Americans have probably formed many of their opinions on what occurred at the Alamo not from books, but from the various movies made about the battle." The first film version of the battle appeared in 1911, when Gaston Melies directed ''The Immortal Alamo''. The battle became more widely known after it was featured in the 1950s Disney miniseries ''Davy Crockett'', which was largely based on myth. Within several years, John Wayne directed and starred in one of the best-known, but questionably accurate, film versions, 1960's ''The Alamo''. In 2004 another film, also called ''The Alamo'', was released. CNN described it as possibly "the most character-driven of all the movies made on the subject". It is also considered more faithful to the actual events than other movies.

A number of songwriters have been inspired by the Battle of the Alamo. Tennessee Ernie Ford's "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" spent 16 weeks on the country music charts, peaking at No. 4 in 1955. Marty Robbins recorded a version of the song "The Ballad of the Alamo" in 1960 which spent 13 weeks on the pop charts, peaking at No. 34.

See also

List of Alamo defenders

List of Texan survivors of the Battle of the Alamo

List of Texas Revolution battles

Last stand

Notes

References

Bibliography

. Reprint. Originally published: New York: McGraw-Hill, 1958

Further reading

External links

Official website for the Alamo

Category:Battles of the Texas Revolution Battle of the Alamo Category:History of San Antonio, Texas Category:Sieges Alamo Category:1836 in Texas

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Coordinates	12°2′36″N77°1′42″N
Name	Marty Robbins
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Martin David Robinson
Born	September 26, 1925Glendale, Arizona, United States
Died	December 08, 1982Nashville, Tennessee, United States
Instrument	Guitar, piano, dobrovocals
Genre	country, gospel, pop, rock and roll, rockabilly
Occupation	Musician, songwriter, actor, NASCAR driver
Years active	1948–1982
Label	Columbia, Decca
Notable instruments	}}

Martin David Robinson (September 26, 1925–December 8, 1982), known professionally as Marty Robbins, was an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. One of the most popular and successful country and Western singers of his era, for most of his nearly four-decade career, Robbins was rarely far from the country music charts, and several of his songs also became pop hits.

Biography

Robbins was born in Glendale, a suburb of Phoenix, in Maricopa County, Arizona. He was reared in a difficult family situation. His father took odd jobs to support the family of ten children. His father's drinking led to divorce in 1937. Among his warmer memories of his childhood, Robbins recalled having listened to stories of the American West told by his maternal grandfather, Texas Bob Heckle. Robbins left the troubled home at the age of 17 to serve in the United States Navy as an LCT coxswain during World War II. He was stationed in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific. To pass the time during the war, he learned to play the guitar, started writing songs, and came to love Hawaiian music.

After his discharge from the military in 1945, he began to play at local venues in Phoenix, then moved on to host his own show on KTYL. He thereafter had his own television show on KPHO-TV in Phoenix. After Little Jimmy Dickens made a guest appearance on Robbins' TV show, Dickens got Robbins a record deal with Columbia Records. Robbins became known for his appearances at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee.

In addition to his recordings and performances, Robbins was an avid race car driver, competing in 35 career NASCAR races with six top 10 finishes, including the 1973 Daytona 500. In 1967, Robbins played himself in the car racing film ''Hell on Wheels''. Robbins was partial to Dodges, and owned and raced Chargers and then a 1978 Dodge Magnum. His last race was in a Junior Johnson-built 1982 Buick Regal in the Atlanta Journal 500 on November 7, 1982, the month before he died. In 1983, NASCAR honored Robbins by naming the annual race at Nashville the Marty Robbins 420. He was also the driver of the 60th Indianapolis 500 Buick Century pace car in 1976.

He ran many of the big super speedway races including Talladega Superspeedway in 1972, when he stunned the competition by turning laps that were 15 mph faster than his qualifying time. Apparently, in his motel room, Robbins had knocked the NASCAR-mandated restrictors out of his carburetor. After the race, NASCAR tried to give him the Rookie of the Race award, but Robbins would not accept it, admitting he was illegal because he "just wanted to see what it was like to run up front for once."

Robbins was awarded an honorary degree by Northern Arizona University.

On Sept. 27,1948, Robbins married Marizona Baldwin (September 11, 1930–July 10, 2001) to whom he dedicated his song "My Woman, My Woman, My Wife". They had two children, a son Ronny (born 1949) and daughter Janet (born 1959), who also followed a singing career in Los Angeles, California.

Robbins later portrayed a musician in the 1982 Clint Eastwood film ''Honkytonk Man''. Robbins died a few weeks before the film's release in December 1982 of complications following cardiac surgery. At the time of his death, Robbins lived in Brentwood in Williamson County, outside Nashville. He was interred in Woodlawn Memorial Park in Nashville. The city of El Paso, Texas later honored Robbins by naming a park and a recreational center after him. Marty's twin sister Mamie Ellen Robinson Minotto died on March 14, 2004, when she was part way through writing a book about her brother "Some Memories: Growing up with Marty Robbins" as remembered by Mamie Minotto, as told to Andrew Means. It was published in Jan. 2007.

Music and honors

Robbins's 1957 recording of "A White Sport Coat and a Pink Carnation" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. His musical accomplishments include the Grammy Award for his 1959 hit and signature song "El Paso", taken from his album ''Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs''. "El Paso" was the first song to hit #1 on the pop chart in the 1960s. It was followed up, successfully, by "Don't Worry", which reached #3 on the pop chart in 1961, becoming his third, and last, Top 10 pop hit. "El Paso" was followed by two sequels: "Feleena" and "El Paso City", both of which continued the story featured in the original song. Also in 1961, Robbins wrote the words and music and recorded "I Told the Brook," a ballad later also recorded by Billy Thorpe.

He won the Grammy Award for the Best Country & Western Recording 1961, for his follow-up album ''More Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs,'' and was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Country Song in 1970, for "My Woman, My Woman, My Wife". Robbins was named Artist of the Decade (1960–69) by the Academy of Country Music, was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1982, and was given a Grammy Hall of Fame Award in 1998 for his song "El Paso".

Robbins was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1975. For his contribution to the recording industry, Robbins has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6666 Hollywood Blvd.

Robbins has been honored by many bands, including the Grateful Dead who covered "El Paso". The Who's 2006 album ''Endless Wire'' includes the song "God Speaks Of Marty Robbins". The song's composer, Pete Townshend, explained that the song is about God deciding to create the universe just so he can hear some music, "and most of all, one of his best creations, Marty Robbins." The Beasts of Bourbon released a song called "The Day Marty Robbins Died" on their 1984 debut album ''The Axeman's Jazz''. Johnny Cash recorded a version of "Big Iron" as part of his American Recordings series, which is included in the ''Cash Unearthed'' box set. Both Frankie Laine and Elvis Presley, among others, recorded versions of Robbins's song "You Gave Me a Mountain", with Laine's recording reaching the pop and adult contemporary charts in 1969.

Robbins performed and recorded several songs by longtime songwriter Coleman Harwell, most notably "Thanks but No Thanks" in 1964; Robbins and his producers employed the top sessions musicians and singers including the Jordanaires to record Harwell's songs. Harwell is the nephew of former ''Nashville Tennessean'' newspaper editor Coleman Harwell.

When Robbins was recording his 1961 hit "Don't Worry", session guitarist Grady Martin accidentally created a clicking effect, believed to be caused by a bad electical element in the recording equipment during the session. Marty heard the sound and decided to keep it in the final version. The sound was in sync with the tempo. The song reached #1 on the country chart, and #3 on the pop chart.

Robbins' song "Big Iron", originally released on his 1959 album ''Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs'', gained renewed popularity following its use in the video game ''Fallout: New Vegas''.

Discography

Notes

References

IMDb Bio Retrieved on 2008-01-25

Pruett, Barbara J. ''"Marty Robbins: Fast Cars and Country Music"''. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. 2007. ISBN 0-8108-6036-8

"Fallout: New Vegas" Big Iron is used on Radio New Vegas

External links

Official Marty Robbins Web site

Robbins page at Country Music Hall of Fame

Robbins page at Western Music Association

Robbins page at Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame

Robbins bio by Hank Davis at ''Allmusic''

Robbins page by Gaylen Duskey at NASCAR

Category:American country guitarists Category:American country singer-songwriters Category:American country singers Category:American male singers Category:American military personnel of World War II Category:American racecar drivers Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Deaths from surgical complications Category:NASCAR drivers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Grand Ole Opry members Category:People from Glendale, Arizona Category:1925 births Category:1982 deaths Category:Musicians from Arizona Category:People from Nashville, Tennessee Category:Columbia Records artists Category:United States Navy sailors

ar:مارتي روبينز cs:Marty Robbins de:Marty Robbins fr:Marty Robbins no:Marty Robbins ru:Марти Роббинс simple:Marty Robbins sv:Marty Robbins

Coordinates	12°2′36″N77°1′42″N
name	Dimitri Tiomkin
birth name	Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin
ethnicity	Jewish
birth date	May 10, 1894
birth place	Kremenchuk, Poltava, Russian Empire (now Ukraine)
death date	November 11, 1979
death place	London, England
occupation	Hollywood Film composer
influences	European classic composers
notable works	"High Noon," "Giant"Westerns and drama
spouse	Albertina Rasch (1927-1967 - her death)
years active	1929–1979 }}

Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (May 10, 1894November 11, 1979) was a Russian-born Hollywood film score composer and conductor. He is considered "one of the giants of Hollywood movie music." Musically trained in Russia, he is best-known for his westerns, "where his expansive, muscular style had its greatest impact." Tiomkin received 22 Academy Award nominations and won four Oscars.

Early life and education

Dimitri Tiomkin (, ''Dmytro Zynoviyovych Tiomkin'', , ''Dmitrij Zinov'evič Tjomkin'', sometimes transliterated as Dmitri Tiomkin) was born in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, then part of the Russian Empire.

His family was of Jewish descent, with his father a "distinguished pathologist" and associate of Professor Paul Ehrlich, the inventor and Nobel laureate noted for discovering a cure for syphilis and for his research in autoimmunity, later becoming chemotherapy. His mother was a musician who began teaching the young Tiomkin piano at an early age. Her hope was to have her son become a professional pianist, according to Tiomkin biographer, Christopher Palmer. Tiomkin described his mother as being "small, blonde, merry and vivacious."

He was educated at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory in Russia, where he studied piano with Felix Blumenfeld, teacher of Vladimir Horowitz, and harmony and counterpoint with Alexander Glazunov, mentor to Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich.

Music career

Early years

In 1920, while working for the Petrograd Military District Political Administration (PUR), he was one of the lead organizers of two revolutionary mass spectacles, the "Mystery of Liberated Labor," a pseudo-religious mystery play for the May Day festivities, and "The Storming of the Winter Palace" for the celebrations of the third anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution. He supported himself while living in St. Petersburg by playing piano accompaniment for numerous Russian silent films.

He moved to Berlin after the Russian Revolution to live with his father; the revolution had diminished opportunities for classic musicians in Russia. In Berlin, from 1921 to 1923, he studied with the pianist Ferruccio Busoni and Busoni's disciples Egon Petri and Michael von Zadora. He composed light classical and popular music, and made his performing debut as a pianist playing Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Berlin Philharmonic.

He moved to Paris with his room-mate, Michael Kariton, to perform a piano duo repertory together, which they did before the end of 1924. In 1925 the duo received an offer from the New York theatrical producer Morris Gest and went to the United States where they performed together on the Keith/Albee and Orpheum vaudeville circuits in which they accompanied a ballet troupe run by the Austrian ballerina Albertina Rasch. Tiomkin and Rasch's professional relationship evolved into a personal one, and they married in 1927.

While in New York Tiomkin gave a recital at Carnegie Hall which featured music by Maurice Ravel, Alexander Scriabin, Francis Poulenc, and Alexandre Tansman. He and his new wife went on tour to Paris in 1928, where he played the European premiere of George Gershwin's Concerto in F at the Paris Opera, with Gershwin in the audience.

Hollywood (1930)

After the stock market crash in October 1929 reduced work opportunities in New York, Tiomkin and his wife moved on to Hollywood, where she was hired to supervise dance numbers in MGM movie musicals. He worked on some minor films, some without being credited under his own name, but his first significant film score project was for Paramount's Alice in Wonderland in 1933. Although he worked on some smaller film projects, his goal was to become a concert pianist. However, that goal ended abruptly in 1937 when he broke his arm, and he then focused on a career as a film-music composer.

Frank Capra in ''Lost Horizons'' (1937)

Tiomkin received his first break from Columbia director Frank Capra, who picked him to write and perform the score for his film, ''Lost Horizon'' in 1937. The film won Tiomkin significant recognition in Hollywood, and came out the same year he became a U.S. citizen.

In his autobiography, ''Please Don't Hate Me!'' (1959), Tiomkin recalls how the assignment by Capra forced him to first confront a director in a matter of music style:

He worked on other Capra films during the following decade, including the comedy, ''You Can't Take It With You'' (1938 -AA winner for "Best Picture); ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'' (1939- AA winner for "Best Picture"); ''Meet John Doe'' (1941); and ''It's a Wonderful Life'' (1946). During World War II, he continued his close collaboration with Capra by composing scores for his ''Why We Fight'' series, consisting of seven films commissioned by the U.S. government to show American soldiers the reason for the war. They were later released to the general U.S. public to generate support for American involvement.

Tiomkin credits Capra for broadening his musical horizons by shifting them away from a purely Eurocentric and romantic style to a more American style based on subject matter and story. After the war Tiomkin became one of the most sought-after composers in Hollywood.

''High Noon'' (1952)

In 1952 he composed the score to Fred Zinnemann's ''High Noon'', with the theme song, “Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin'” (“The Ballad of High Noon”). At its opening preview to the press, the film, which starred Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly, did badly. Tiomkin writes that "film experts agreed that the picture was a flat failure. . . The producers hesitated to release the picture." Tiomkin then bought the rights to the song and released it as a single for the popular music market, with singer Frankie Laine. The record became an immediate success worldwide, one of the few hits that year. Based on the popularity of the song, the studio released the film four months later, with the words sung by country western star Tex Ritter. The film went on to receive seven Academy Award nominations and four wins, including two for Tiomkin: Best Original Music and Best Song.

According to film historian Arthur R. Jarvis, Jr., the score "has been credited with saving the movie." Another music expert, Mervyn Cooke, agrees, adding that in his opinion "the song's spectacular success was partly responsible for changing the course of film-music history . . ." Tiomkin became the first composer to receive two Oscars (score and song) for the same dramatic film.

The song's lyrics briefly tell the entire story of the film, a tale of cowardice and conformity in a small Western town. The score was built entirely around a single western-style ballad. Tiomkin created an unconventional score for the film, and eliminated violins from the ensemble. Along with other instruments, he added a subtle harmonica sound in the background, to give the film a "rustic, deglamorized sound that suits the anti-heroic sentiments" expressed by the story.

According to Russian film historian Harlow Robinson, building the score around a single folk tune was typical of many Russian classical composers. Glenda Abramson, a historian of Jewish culture, adds that the song was likely adapted from a Yiddish folk tune, and has compared and found direct similarities in the music notation. She also notes that other widely recognized American songs were likewise adaptations from Jewish folk songs, including Irving Berlin's "Blue Skies," and Harold Arlen's "Paper Moon," among others. However, Robinson adds that the source of Tiomkin's score, if indeed folk, has not been proven.

Tiomkin won two more best score Oscars in subsequent years: the John Wayne film ''The High and the Mighty'' (1954), and for ''The Old Man and the Sea'' (1958). During the ceremonies in 1955, Tiomkin humorously thanked all of the earlier composers who had influenced him in writing this music, including Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and many of the other great names of European classical music.

Work with noted directors

Along with doing many films for Frank Capra, Tiomkin scored films for a number of other leading directors. He did four films for Alfred Hitchcock ''Shadow of a Doubt'' (1943), ''Strangers on a Train'' (1951), ''I Confess'' (1953) and ''Dial M for Murder'' (1954). He was one of few composers, the other main two being Franz Waxman and Bernard Herrmann, who scored multiple films for Hitchcock.

He also worked with Howard Hawks on ''The Big Sky'' (1952) and ''Land of the Pharaohs'' (1955), with Fred Zinnemann in ''The Men'' (1950) and ''The Sundowners'' (1960), with John Huston on ''The Unforgiven'' (1960), and with Nicholas Ray on ''55 Days at Peking'' (1963).

Film genres

Many of his scores were for Western movies, for which he is best remembered. His first Western was ''Duel in the Sun'' (1946), directed by King Vidor. His most well-know Western was ''High Noon'' (1952). Among his other Westerns were ''Giant'' (1956), ''Friendly Persuasion'' (1956), ''Gunfight at the O.K. Corral'' (1957), ''Rio Bravo'' (1959), and ''The Alamo'' (1960). He received Oscar nominations for both ''Giant'' and ''The Alamo''.

Although influenced by Eastern European music traditions, he was self-trained as a film composer and scored many other American successful movies of various genres, from ''Cyrano de Bergerac'' (1950) to the military drama, ''The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell'' (1955). Among other genres were ''The Guns of Navarone'' (1961), ''Town Without Pity'' (1961), ''55 Days at Peking'' (1963), ''The Fall of the Roman Empire'' (1964), and ''The War Wagon'' (1967).

Tiomkin also wrote scores for four of Alfred Hitchcock's romantic dramas, where he used a lush style relying on solo violins and muted trumpets. He composed the score for the science fiction thriller, ''The Thing'', which is considered to be among the "greatest of all sci-fi scores" ever written, and is considered his "strangest and most experimental score."

Television

In addition to the cinema he was also active in composing for the small screen, including such memorable television theme songs as ''Rawhide'' (1959) and ''Gunslinger.'' Although he was also hired to compose the theme for TV's ''The Wild Wild West'' (1965), the producers rejected his music and subsequently hired Richard Markowitz as his replacement. A cover version of the theme from ''Rawhide'' was performed in the 1980 cult musical film ''The Blues Brothers'', the in-joke that the composer is a Ukrainian-born Jew being lost on the crowd at the cowboy bar.

Tiomkin also made a few appearances as himself on television programs. These include being the mystery challenger on What's My Line? and an appearance on Jack Benny's CBS program in December 1961, in which he attempted to help Jack write a song.

He also composed the music to the song "Wild Is The Wind". It was originally recorded by Johnny Mathis for the 1957 film ''Wild Is the Wind''. It is mostly well-known as jazz singer Nina Simone's standard. The song carried on in a 1976 David Bowie's cover (Bowie being a long time admirer of Simone). In 1981, Bowie released a shorter version as a single. which became a hit in the UK charts. It has since been recorded by several other artists.

Composition styles and significance

Although Tiomkin was a trained classical pianist, he adapted his music training in Russia to the rapidly expanding Hollywood film industry, and self-taught himself how to compose meaningful film scores for almost any story type. Film historian David Wallace notes that despite Tiomkin's indebtedness to Europe's classical composers, he would go on to express more than any other composer, "the American spirit—its frontier spirit, anyway—in film music." Wallace summarizes the overall effect of his scores on the movie industry:

Nonetheless, Tiomkin had no illusions about his talent and the nature of his film work when compared to the classical composers. "I am no Prokofiev, I am no Tchaikovsky. But what I write is good for what I write for. So please, boys, help me." Upon receiving his Oscar in 1955 for ''The High and the Mighty'', he became the first composer to publicly list and thank the great European masters, including Beethoven, Strauss, and Brahms, among others.

Music historian Christopher Palmer states that Tiomkin's "genius lay in coming up with themes and finding vivid ways of creating sonic color appropriate to the story and visual image, not in his ability to combine the themes into a complex symphonic structure that could stand on its own." In addition he speculates how a Russian-born pianist like Tiomkin, who was educated at a respected Russian music conservatory, could have become so successful in the American film industry:

Tiomkin himself alluded to this relationship in his autobiography:

Techniques of composing

Tiomkin's methods of composing a film score have been analyzed and described by music experts. Musicologist Dave Epstein, for one, has explained that after Tiomkin reads the script, he then outlines the film's major themes and movements. After the film itself has been filmed, he then makes a detailed study of the timing of scenes, using a stopwatch to arrange precise synchronization of the music with the scenes. He completes the final score after assembling all the musicians and orchestra, rehearses a number of times, and then records the final soundtrack.

Tiomkin also paid careful attention to the voices of the actors when composing. According to Epstein, he "found that in addition to the timbre of the voice, the pitch of the speaking voice must be very carefully considered. . . " To accomplish this, Tiomkin would go to the set during filming and would carefully listen to each of the actors. He would also talk with them individually, noting the pitch and color of their voice. Tiomkin explains why he took the extra time with actors:

Death

Dimitri Tiomkin died in London, England, UK, in 1979 and was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.

Legacy

Dimitri Tiomkin, although born and trained in Russia, has been credited with composing the most memorable film songs ever produced by Hollywood. During the 1950s he was the highest paid film composer, composing nearly a picture each month, achieving his greatest fame during the 1950s and 1960s. Between 1948 and 1958, his "golden decade," he composed 57 film scores. During the single year of 1952, he composed 9 film scores, including ''High Noon'', for which he won two Academy Awards. In the same decade, he won two more Oscars and his film scores were nominated nine times.

Beginning with ''Lost Horizon'' in 1937, through his retirement from movies in 1979 over four decades later, and up until modern times, he is recognized as being the only Russian to have become a Hollywood film composer. Other Russian-born composers, such as Irving Berlin, wrote their scores for Broadway plays, many of which were later adapted to film.

Tiomkin was the first film score composer to write both the title theme song and the score. That technique was exemplified in many of his westerns, including ''High Noon'' and ''Gunfight at the O.K. Corral,'' where the main theme song became a common thread running through the entire film. For the film ''Red River'', for example, his biographer Christopher Palmer describes how the music immediately sets the epic and heroic tone for the film: Because of this stylistic contribution to westerns, along with other film genres, using title and ongoing theme songs, he had the greatest impact on Hollywood films in the following decades up until the present. With many of his songs being used in the title of films, Tiomkin created what composer Irwin Bazelon called "title song mania." In subsequent decades, studios often attempted to create their own hit songs to both sell as a soundtrack and to enhance the movie experience, with a typical example being the film score for ''Titanic''.

He was known to use "source music" in his scores, which some experts claim were often based on Russian folk songs. Much of his film music, especially for westerns, was used to create an atmosphere of "broad, sweeping landscapes," with a prominent use of chorus. During a TV interview, he credited his love of the European classic composers along with his ability to adapt American folk music styles to creating grand American theme music.

A number of Tiomkin's film scores were released on LP soundtrack albums, including ''Giant'' and ''The Alamo''. Some of the recordings, which usually featured Tiomkin conducting his own music, have been reissued on CD. The theme song to ''High Noon'' has been recorded by many artists, with one German CD producer, Bear Family Records, producing a CD with 25 different artists performing that one song.

In 1999, the U.S. Postal Service added his image to their "Legends of American Music" stamp series. The series began with the issuance of the Elvis Presley in 1993, and Tiomkin's image was added as part of their "Hollywood Composers" selection.

In 1976, RCA Victor released ''Lost Horizon: The Classic Film Scores of Dimitri Tiomkin'' (US catalogue #ARL1-1669, UK catalogue #GL 43445) with Charles Gerhardt and the National Philharmonic Orchestra. Featuring highlights from various Tiomkin scores, the album was later reissued by RCA on CD with Dolby Surround Sound.

The American Film Institute ranked Tiomkin's score for ''High Noon'' #10 on their list of the greatest film scores. His scores for the following films were also nominated for the list:

''The Alamo'' (1960)

''Dial M for Murder'' (1954)

''Duel in the Sun'' (1946)

''Friendly Persuasion'' (1956)

''The Guns of Navarone'' (1961)

''Lost Horizon'' (1937)

Awards and nominations

Academy Awards

1972 - nominated for "Best Music, Scoring Adaptation and Original Song" Score for ''Chaikovsky'' (1969)

1965 - nominated for "Best Music, Score - Substantially Original" for: ''The Fall of the Roman Empire'' (1964)

1964 - nominated for "Best Music, Original Song" and "Best Music, Score - Substantially Original" for ''55 Days at Peking'' (1963)

1962 - nominated for "Best Music, Original Song" for ''Town Without Pity'' (1961) and for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for ''The Guns of Navarone'' (1961)

1961 - nominated for "Best Music, Original Song" and for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for ''The Alamo'' (1960)

1961 - nominated for "Best Music, Original Song" for ''The Young Land'' (1959)

1959 - won an Oscar for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for ''The Old Man and the Sea'' (1958)

1958 - nominated for "Best Music, Original Song" for ''Wild Is the Wind'' (1957)

1957 - nominated for "Best Music, Original Song" for ''Friendly Persuasion'', "Best Scoring of a Dramatic Picture" for "Giant" (1956)

1955 - nominated for "Best Music, Original Song" for ''The High and the Mighty'' (1954) and won an Oscar for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for the same movie

1953 - won (with Ned Washington) an Oscar for "Best Music, Original Song" for ''High Noon'' (1952) for "Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darlin'", sung by Tex Ritter

1953 - won an Oscar for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for ''High Noon'' (1952)

1950 - nominated for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for ''Champion'' (1949)

1945 - nominated for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for ''The Bridge of San Luis Rey'' (1944)

1944 - nominated for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for ''The Moon and Sixpence'' (1943)

1943 - nominated for "Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture" for ''The Corsican Brothers'' (1941)

1940 - nominated for "Best Music, Scoring" for ''Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'' (1939)

Golden Globes

1965 for "Best Original Score" for ''The Fall of the Roman Empire'' (1964)

1962 for "Best Motion Picture Score" for ''The Guns of Navarone'' (1961) AND for "Best Motion Picture Song" for ''Town Without Pity'' (1961)

1961 for "Best Original Score" for ''The Alamo'' (1960)

1957 he received the "Special Award" as "Recognition for film music"

1955 he received the "Special Award" "For creative musical contribution to Motion Picture"

1953 for "Best Motion Picture Score" for ''High Noon'' (1952)

References

External links

Official site

Find-A-Grave for Dimitri Tiomkin

Dimitri Tiomkin

Dimitri Tiomkin's HIGH NOON

Multimedia links

Audio clips, 40 film samples

, audio score compilation by Berny Debney, 10 minutes

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Coordinates	12°2′36″N77°1′42″N
Name	David "Davy" Crockett
State	Tennessee
District	12th
Term start	March 4, 1833
Term end	March 3, 1835
Predecessor	''District created''
Successor	Adam Huntsman
State2	Tennessee
District2	9th
Term start2	March 4, 1827
Term end2	March 3, 1831
Predecessor2	Adam Rankin Alexander
Successor2	William Fitzgerald
Party	Anti-Jacksonian
Birth name	David Crockett
Birth date	August 17, 1786
Birth place	Greene County, Tennessee (then in the State of Franklin)
Death date	March 06, 1836
Death place	Alamo Mission, San Antonio, Republic of Texas
Occupation	Pioneer, Soldier, Trapper, Explorer, State Assembly man, Congressman
Religion	Christian
Spouse	Polly Finley (1806–1815) her deathElizabeth Patton (1815–1836) his death
Signature	Davy Crockett signature, 1835.svg }}

David "Davy" Crockett (August 17, 1786 – March 6, 1836) was a celebrated 19th century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician. He is commonly referred to in popular culture by the epithet “''King of the Wild Frontier''”. He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives, served in the Texas Revolution, and died at the Battle of the Alamo.

Crockett grew up in East Tennessee, where he gained a reputation for hunting and storytelling. After being elected to the rank of colonel in the militia of Lawrence County, Tennessee, he was elected to the Tennessee state legislature in 1821. In 1826, Crockett was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Congressman Crockett vehemently opposed many of the policies of President Andrew Jackson, most notably the Indian Removal Act. Crockett's opposition to Jackson's policies led to his defeat in the 1834 elections, prompting his angry departure to Texas shortly thereafter. In early 1836, Crockett took part in the Texas Revolution and was killed at the Battle of the Alamo in March.

Crockett became famous in his own lifetime for larger-than-life exploits popularized by stage plays and almanacs. After his death, he continued to be credited with brazen acts of mythical proportion. These led in the 20th century to television and movie portrayals, and he became one of the best-known American folk heroes.

Ancestry and birth

David Crockett was born in what is now Greene County, Tennessee, close to the Nolichucky River and near the community of Limestone. At the time of his birth, however, the surrounding area was part of the autonomous territory known as the State of Franklin. A replica of his birthplace cabin stands in Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park on the Nolichucky River near Limestone.

Crockett was of Irish, Scots-Irish, French Huguenot and English descent, the family name being derived from ''Monsieur de la Croquetagne'', a captain in the Royal Guard of French King Louis XIV. The family converted to Protestantism and, as Huguenots fled France in the 17th century, settled in Ireland. Family tradition says that David Crockett's father was born on the voyage to America from Ireland, though in fact Crockett's great-grandfather, William David Crockett, was registered as having been born in New Rochelle, New York in 1709.

David Crockett was the fifth of nine children of John and Rebecca (Hawkins) Crockett. He was named after his paternal grandfather, who was killed in 1777 at his home near today's Rogersville, Tennessee, by Indians led by Dragging Canoe. Crockett's father was one of the Overmountain Men who fought in the Battle of Kings Mountain during the American Revolutionary War. The Crocketts moved to Morristown, Tennessee, in the 1790s and built a tavern there. A museum stands on the site and is housed in a reconstruction of the tavern.

Childhood

In his autobiography, Crockett told that his early years were filled with adventure, hardship, and travel. When he was 8 years old, he told his father he wanted to hunt with a rifle. His father said he could not afford to waste ammunition on "a boy's missed shots". Crockett promised to make every shot count, and began hunting with his older brothers. After being sent to school, he dropped out to run away from home to avoid a beating at the hands of his father when he was 13. Crockett said he had "whupped the tar" out of a school bully who had embarrassed him on his first day in school. Crockett decided not to return to school for the next few days, fearing the bully would return with some friends backing him up, as well as the teacher's punishments. The teacher eventually wrote to Crockett's father to ask why his son did not attend class. Crockett told his father the truth. Angry that family trade goods exchanged for his son's education had gone to waste, he refused to listen. Crockett ran away from home and spent three years roaming from town to town. He claimed he visited most of the towns and villages in Tennessee and learned his skills as a backwoodsman, hunter and trapper.

Near his 16th birthday, David Crockett returned home. Before Crockett had left, his father had opened a tavern on the road between Knoxville, Tennessee and Abingdon, Virginia. Crockett stopped in for a meal unannounced. The first to finally recognize him, his older sister, Betsy, cried, "Here is my lost brother! Look! He is home!" The family was delighted and he was welcomed back. His father was in debt, so he hired Davy out to Abraham Wilson to settle a debt of $36. Later, Crockett generously worked off a $40 debt to John Kennedy. In return, John Crockett told his son he was free to leave. Davy went to work again for Kennedy, this time working for himself.

Shortly afterwards, Crockett became engaged to Margaret Elder and, although the marriage never took place, the contract of marriage (dated October 21, 1805) has been preserved by the Dandridge, Tennessee, courthouse. It is well documented that Crockett's bride-to-be changed her mind and married someone else. Heartbroken at age 19, Crockett decided he was "only born for hardships, misery, and disappointment".

On August 16, 1806, one day before his 20th birthday, Crockett married Mary (Polly) Finley in Jefferson County, Tennessee. They had two sons: John Wesley Crockett was born July 10, 1807, followed by William Finley Crockett (born 1809). They also had a daughter, Margaret Finley (Polly) Crockett in 1812. As wild game ran scarce, the Crocketts then moved to Franklin County, Tennessee in 1813. He named the new settlement on Beans Creek "Kentuck."

After his wife Polly's death, Crockett married a widow named Elizabeth Patton in 1815; they had three children: Robert, Rebecca and Matilda.

Tennessee Militia

On September 24, 1813, Crockett joined the Second Regiment of Tennessee Volunteer Mounted Riflemen for an initial term of 60 days and served under Colonel John Coffee in the Creek War, marching south into present day Alabama and taking an active part in the fighting. Made a scout because of his abilities as a hunter, trapper, and woodsman, Crockett is known to supposedly have supported the starving troops during the time of the Creek War with the game he hunted. He was eventually discharged from service on March 27, 1814. Crockett was elected Lieutenant Colonel of the Fifty-seventh Regiment of Tennessee Militia on March 27, 1818.

Political career

On September 17, 1821, Crockett was elected to the Committee of Propositions and Grievances. He lost his first run for Congress in 1824, but ran again in the next election. In 1826 he was elected to the United States House of Representatives as a Jacksonian. As a Congressman, Crockett supported the rights of squatters, who were barred from buying land in the West without already owning property. He also joined the Anti-Jacksonians in opposing President Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal Act, and his opposition to Jackson caused his defeat when he ran for re-election in 1830; however, he won when he ran again in 1832. As he explained, "I bark at no man's bid. I will never come and go, and fetch and carry, at the whistle of the great man in the White House no matter who he is."

Under the date of November 26, 1833, John Quincy Adams records in his diary an encounter with Crockett, whom he quotes as saying that he (Crockett) "had taken for lodgings two rooms on the first floor of a boarding-house, where he expected to pass the winter and to have for a fellow-lodger Major Jack Downing, the only person in whom he had any confidence for information of what the Government was doing."

In an 1884 book written by dime novelist and non-fiction author Edward S. Ellis, Crockett is recorded as giving a speech (the "Not Yours to Give" speech) critical of his Congressional colleagues who were willing to spend taxpayer dollars to help a widow of a US Navy man who had lived beyond his naval service, but would not contribute their own salary for a week to the cause. Ellis describes how the once popular proposal died in the Congress largely as a result of the speech. It was said that a man from Crockett's district, Horatio Bunce, converted Crockett to such a course of action by explaining that the Constitution did not allow Congress to give charity. The authenticity of this speech is questioned, however, since the Register of Debates and the Congressional Globe do not contain transcripts of speeches made on the House floor. Crockett is on record opposing a similar bill and offering personal support to the family of a General Brown in April 1828, but Crockett considered applications for relief on a case by case basis and sometimes voted in favor of the applicant. An article by Crockett biographer James R. Boylston debunking the "Not Yours to Give" speech was published in the November 2004 issue of ''The Crockett Chronicle.''

In 1834, his autobiography titled ''A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett. Written by Himself'' was published. Crockett went east to promote the book and was narrowly defeated for re-election. He said, "I told the people of my district that I would serve them as faithfully as I had done; but if not ... you may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas." Following his defeat, he did just that.

Texas Revolution

By December, 1834, Crockett was writing to friends about moving to Texas if Van Buren were elected President. The next year he discussed with his friend Benjamin McCulloch raising a company of volunteers to take to Texas in the expectation that a revolution was imminent. After the election results became known in August, his departure to Texas was delayed by a court appearance in the last week of October as co-executor of his deceased father-in-law’s estate, and he finally left his home near Rutherford in West Tennessee on Nov. 1, 1835, with three other men to explore Texas. His youngest child, Matilda, later wrote that she distinctly remembered the last time she saw her father: "He was dressed in his hunting suit, wearing a coonskin cap, and carried a fine rifle presented to him by friends in Philadelphia . . . He seemed very confident the morning he went away that he would soon have us all to join him in Texas."

From his home he traveled to Jackson, arriving there with 30 well-armed men, where he gave a speech from the steps of the Madison County courthouse, and then rode southwest to Bolivar, where he spent the night at residence of Dr. Calvin Jones, once again drawing crowds who sent him off the next morning. He arrived in Memphis in the second week of November with a much-diminished company, and ferried over the Mississippi River the next day and continued his journey on horseback through Arkansas.

On Nov. 12, 1835, Crockett and his entourage arrived in Little Rock, Arkansas. The local newspapers reported that hundreds of people swarmed into town to get a look at Crockett, and a group of leading citizens put on a dinner in his honor that night at the Jeffries Hotel. Crockett spoke “mainly to the subject of Texan independence,” as well as Washington politics.

He arrived in Nacogdoches, Texas, in early January 1836. On January 14, 1836, Crockett and 65 other men signed an oath before Judge John Forbes to the Provisional Government of Texas for six months: "''I have taken the oath of government and have enrolled my name as a volunteer and will set out for the Rio Grande in a few days with the volunteers from the United States''." Each man was promised about 4,600 acres (19 km²) of land as payment. He also sold two rifles to Colonel O'Neal for $60. (After his death there was a claim for his heirs for $57.50. In 1854 his widow received a payment certificate for $24.00 from Texas.) On February 6, Crockett and about five other men rode into San Antonio de Bexar and camped just outside the town. They were later greeted by James Bowie and Antonio Menchaca, and taken to the home of Don Erasmo Seguin.

Crockett arrived at the Alamo on February 8. To the surprise of the men garrisoned in the Alamo, on February 23, a Mexican army, led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, arrived. The Mexican soldiers immediately initiated a siege. Santa Anna ordered his artillery to keep up a near-constant bombardment. The guns were moved closer to the Alamo each day, increasing their effectiveness. On February 25, 200–300 Mexican soldiers crossed the San Antonio River and took cover in abandoned shacks approximately to from the Alamo walls. The soldiers intended to use the huts as cover to establish another artillery position, although many Texians assumed that they actually were launching an assault on the fort. Several men volunteered to burn the huts. To provide cover, the Alamo cannons fired grapeshot at the Mexican soldiers, and Crockett and his men fired rifles, while other defenders reloaded extra weapons for them to use in maintaining a steady fire. Within two hours, the battle was over, and the Mexican soldiers retreated. Inside the Alamo, the stores of powder and shot were limited. On February 26, Travis ordered the artillery to stop returning fire so as to conserve precious ammunition. Crockett and his men were encouraged to keep shooting, as they were unusually effective.

As the siege progressed, Alamo commander William Barret Travis sent many messages asking for reinforcements. Several messengers were sent to James Fannin, who commanded the only other official group of Texian soldiers. Fannin and several hundred Texians occupied Presidio La Bahia at Goliad. Although Fannin ultimately decided it was too risky to attempt to reinforce the Alamo, historian Thomas Ricks Lindley concludes that up to 50 of Fannin's men left his command to go to Bexar. These men would have reached Cibolo Creek, from the Alamo, on the afternoon of March 3. There they joined another group of men who also planned to join the garrison.

That same night, outside the Alamo, there was a skirmish between Mexican and Texian troops. Several historians, including Walter Lord, speculated that the Texians were creating a diversion to allow their last courier, John Smith, to evade Mexican pickets. However, in 1876, Alamo survivor Susannah Dickinson said that Travis sent three men out shortly after dark on March 3, probably a response to the arrival of Mexican reinforcements. The three men, who included Crockett, were sent to find Fannin. Lindley stated that just before midnight, Crockett and one of the other men found the force of Texians waiting along Cibolo Creek, who had advanced to within of the Alamo. Just before daylight on March 4, part of the Texian force managed to break through the Mexican lines and enter the Alamo. A second group was driven across the prairie by Mexican cavalry.

The siege ended on March 6, when the Mexican army attacked just before dawn while the defenders were sleeping. The daily bombardment by artillery had been suspended, perhaps a ploy to encourage the natural human reaction to a cessation of constant strain. But the garrison awakened and the final fight began. Most of the noncombatants gathered in the church sacristy for safety. According to Dickinson, before running to his post, Crockett paused briefly in the chapel to say a prayer. When the Mexican soldiers breached the north outer walls of the Alamo complex, most of the Texians fell back to the barracks and the chapel, as previously planned. Crockett and his men were too far from the barracks to take shelter. and were the last remaining group in the mission to be in the open. The men defended the low wall in front of the church, using their rifles as clubs and relying on knives, as the action was too furious to allow reloading. After a volley and a charge with bayonets, Mexican soldiers pushed the few remaining defenders back toward the church. The Battle of the Alamo lasted almost 90 minutes.

Once all of the defenders had been killed, Santa Anna ordered his men to take the bodies to a nearby stand of trees where they were stacked together and wood piled on top. That evening, a fire was lit and the bodies of the defenders were burned to ashes.

The ashes were left undisturbed until February 1837, when Juan Seguin and his cavalry returned to Bexar to examine the remains. A local carpenter created a simple coffin, and ashes from the funeral pyres were placed inside. The names of Travis, Crockett, and Bowie were inscribed on the lid. The coffin is thought to have been buried in a peach tree grove, but the spot was not marked and can no longer be identified.

Death and controversy

All that is certain about the fate of David Crockett is that he died at the Alamo on March 6. According to many accounts of the battle, between five and seven Texians surrendered during the battle, possibly to General Castrillon. Incensed that his orders had been ignored, Santa Anna demanded the immediate execution of the survivors. Although Castrillon and several other officers refused to do so, staff officers who had not participated in the fighting drew their swords and killed the unarmed Texians. Weeks after the battle, stories began to circulate that Crockett was among those who surrendered and were executed. However, Ben, a former American slave who acted as cook for one of Santa Anna's officers, maintained that Crockett's body was found in the barracks surrounded by "no less than sixteen Mexican corpses", with Crockett's knife buried in one of them. Historians disagree on which story is accurate. According to Petite, "every account of the Crockett surrender-execution story comes from an avowed antagonist (either on political or military grounds) of Santa Anna's. It is believed that many stories, such as the surrender and execution of Crockett, were created and spread in order to discredit Santa Anna and add to his role as villain."

In 1955 Jesús Sánchez Garza self-published a book called ''La Rebelión de Texas—Manuscrito Inédito de 1836 por un Ofical de Santa Anna'' purporting to be memoirs of José Enrique de la Peña, a Mexican officer present at the Battle of the Alamo. In 1975 the Texas A&M; University Press published an English translation of the book, called ''With Santa Anna in Texas: A Personal Narrative of the Revolution''. The English publication caused a scandal within the United States as it asserted that Crockett did not die in battle. Historians disagree on whether any or all of the book has been falsified. Because the original book was self-published, no editor or publisher ever vetted its authenticity. Garza never explained how he gained custody of the documents or where they were stored after de la Peña's death.

Some historians, including Bill Groneman, found it suspicious that Garza's compilation was published in 1955, at the height of interest in Crockett and the Alamo caused by Walt Disney's television miniseries about Crockett's life, ''Davy Crockett''. Groneman also points out that the journals are made up of several different types of paper from several different paper manufacturers, all cut down to fit. Historian Joseph Musso also questions the validity, likewise basing his suspicions on the timing of the diaries' release. However, James Crisp, a history professor from North Carolina State University, has studied the papers and is convinced they are genuine.

In de la Peña's narrative, he adds a footnote which may align both versions. He states that "All of the enemy perished, there remaining alive only an elderly lady and a Negro slave, whom the soldiers spared out of mercy and because we had established that only force had kept them in danger." (Perry 1975) This implies that the summary execution of the survivors may have occurred prior to the releasing of Dickinson and Joe, so that they observed Crockett as dead, lending credence to their testimony. De la Peña describes the disposal of the dead and wounded as an ongoing process that took some time.

However, critics now tend to discount this on three key points. First, no other accounts of Crockett surviving the Alamo have surfaced besides de la Peña's diary. No documentation in the archives of the Mexican government, nor any of the personal records of others present at the Battle of the Alamo, give any hint of survivors amongst the defenders, much less any claiming Crockett as a survivor. Secondly, there is some speculation that de la Peña's account may have been a deliberate fabrication, with the intention of presenting Santa Anna in a far more diabolical light than American (and especially Texan) historians have given him since the fall of the Alamo. Finally, it is highly dubious that the Mexican soldiers – ripped and torn as they were in breaching the walls of the Alamo, filled with the blood-lust that battle generates, furious at seeing their friends killed or wounded beside them – and with explicit orders to give "no quarter" would have had the slightest intention to spare the lives of any obvious Texan combatants.

The written account by de la Peña, even if a legitimate writing, has also been questioned in that many doubt his abilities to identify any of the Alamo defenders by name. It is a popular belief by many historians that de la Peña may have witnessed or been told about executions of some Alamo survivors, but in fact neither he nor his comrades would have known who these men were. Part of the reason that de la Peña's memoirs are questioned comes from his detailed account of Col. William Travis' death in ''"With Santa Anna in Texas"''. In that account, he describes with detail how Travis was heroic in his final moments, turning straight into the Mexican soldiers and facing his death with honor. The problem with this is: how would de la Peña have been able to distinguish Travis from any of the other defenders of the Alamo? The freed former slave to Travis, Joe, claimed Travis died early on in the battle, on the north wall. In addition to this, the Mexican Army had not breached the walls of the Alamo when Travis was killed, therefore they would have been seeing him from an area below the walls, while being fired down upon by the defenders. To add to this, Travis was killed before daybreak, meaning it was still dark. Therefore, it is believed that de la Peña either created the scenario of Travis' death, or he saw another of the defenders after breaching the walls, and took him to be Travis.

Legacy

One tale tells how Crockett greeted a crowd on his way to Congress. He bragged, "I'm that same David Crockett, fresh from the backwoods, half-horse, half-alligator, a little touched with the snapping turtle; can wade the Mississippi, leap the Ohio, ride upon a streak of lightning, and slip without a scratch down a honey locust [tree]."

''Davy Crockett’s Almanac, of Wild Sports in the West, Life in the Backwoods, & Sketches of Texas,'' a jest book, printed the text of a speech Crockett supposedly made to Congress. While there is no evidence whatever that the speech is authentic, it suggests the image of Crockett promoted by the "Crockett Alamanacs," published annually for years after his death

"Mr. Speaker.

"Who-Who-Whoop — Bow-Wow-Wow-Yough. I say, Mr. Speaker; I ve had a speech in soak this six months, and it has swelled me like a drowned horse; if I don’t deliver it I shall burst and smash the windows. The gentleman from Massachusetts [Mr. Everett] talks of summing up the merits of the question, but I’ll sum up my own. In one word I’m a screamer, and have got the roughest racking horse, the prettiest sister, the surest rifle and the ugliest dog in the district. I’m a leetle the savagest crittur you ever did see. My father can whip any man in Kentucky, and I can lick my father. I can outspeak any man on this floor, and give him two hours start. I can run faster, dive deeper, stay longer under, and come out drier, than any chap this side the big Swamp. I can outlook a panther and outstare a flash of lightning, tote a steamboat on my back and play at rough and tumble with a lion, and an occasional kick from a zebra.

"To sum up all in one word I’m a horse. Goliah was a pretty hard colt but I could choke him. I can take the rag off-frighten the old folks-astonish the natives-and beat the Dutch all to smash-make nothing of sleeping under a blanket of snow and don’t mind being frozen more than a rotten apple.

"Congress allows lemonade to the members and has it charged under the head of stationery-I move also that whiskey be allowed under the item of fuel. For bitters I can suck away at a noggin of aquafortis, sweetened with brimstone, stirred with a lightning rod, and skimmed with a hurricane. I’ve soaked my head and shoulders in Salt River, so much that I’m always corned. I can walk like an ox, run like a fox, swim like an eel, yell like an Indian, fight like a devil, spout like an earthquake, make love like a mad bull, and swallow a Mexican whole without choking if you butter his head and pin his ears back."

One of Crockett's sayings, which were published in almanacs between 1835 and 1856 (along with those of Daniel Boone and Kit Carson), was:

In 1838, Robert Patton Crockett went to Texas to administer his father's land claim. In 1854, Elizabeth Crockett finally came to Texas to live, dying in 1860. Crockett's son John Wesley Crockett was a U.S. Congressman from Tennessee, serving two terms between 1837 and 1841.

A section of U.S. Route 64 between Winchester, Tennessee and Lawrenceburg, Tennessee is signed as ''David Crockett Memorial Highway''.

By the late 19th century, Crockett was largely forgotten. His legend was reborn in a 1950s TV show by Walt Disney, which also introduced his legendary coonskin cap. In 1948, Disney told columnist Hedda Hopper that it was "time to get acquainted, or renew acquaintance with, the robust, cheerful, energetic and representative folk heroes". As part of a deal that allowed him to build a theme park, Disneyland, Disney would produce weekly one-hour television programs for ABC. Disney wished to highlight historical figures and his company developed three episodes on Crockett—''Davy Crockett, Indian Fighter'', ''Davy Crockett Goes to Congress'', and ''Davy Crockett at the Alamo''— starring Fess Parker as Crockett. According to historians Randy Roberts and James Olson, "by the end of the three shows, Fess Parker would be very well known, the power of television would be fully recognized, and Davy Crockett would be the most famous frontiersman in American history." The shows sparked heated debate, with many questioning whether Crockett was really deserving of the amount of attention he was now receiving. Letter writers also questioned the series' historical accuracy. Nevertheless, the shows proved very popular. They were combined into a feature-length movie in the summer of 1955, and Parker and his co-star Buddy Ebsen toured the United States, Europe, and Japan. By the end of 1955, Americans had purchased over $300 million worth of Davy Crockett merchandise ($2 billion by 2001). The television series also introduced a new song, "The Ballad of Davy Crockett". Four different versions of the song hit the ''Billboard'' Best Sellers pop chart in 1955. The versions by Bill Hayes, TV series star Fess Parker, The Wellingtons and Tennessee Ernie Ford charted in the Top 10 simultaneously, with Hayes' version hitting #1.

The shows were repeated on NBC in the 1960s after Disney had moved his program to that network. The 1960 repeats marked the first time that the programs had actually been shown in color on TV. Davy Crockett made a return with Disney in two further adventures: ''Davy Crockett's Keelboat Race'' and ''Davy Crockett and the River Pirates''. In these two episodes Crockett faced off against Mike Fink, another early American legend. A three-episode 1988–89 revival was made entitled ''The New Adventures of Davy Crockett'', in which Tim Dunigan took over Fess Parker's famous role. Johnny Cash played an older Davy in a few scenes set before he went to Texas.

The fad eventually waned, but Crockett was often a prominent role in movies about the Alamo. In the 1960 film ''The Alamo'', John Wayne portrayed Crockett. More recently was the John Lee Hancock version of ''The Alamo'' (2004). This Crockett, played by Billy Bob Thornton, is portrayed as a man trying to downplay his legend, but in the end unable to escape it. This is epitomized in a scene where Crockett, speaking to Bowie says, "If it was just me, simple old David from Tennessee, I might drop over that wall some night, take my chances. But that Davy Crockett feller...they're all watchin' him."

A seventh-season episode of the Discovery Channel series ''MythBusters'' explored a story of Crockett's backwoods exploits: that he could stick an axe into a tree trunk, fire his long rifle from 40 yards away, and hit the edge so precisely that the bullet would split in two. After some practice, Tory Belleci was able to duplicate the feat from 20 yards with the gun resting on sandbags and declared the myth "Confirmed," reasoning that Crockett could have consistently made the 40-yard shot with enough experience.

Crockett in films

In films, Crockett has been played by:

Charles K. French (''Davy Crockett – In Hearts United'', 1909, silent)

Dustin Farnum (''Davy Crockett'', 1916, silent)

Cullen Landis (''Davy Crockett at the Fall of the Alamo'', 1926, silent)

Jack Perrin (''The Painted Stallion'', 1937)

Lane Chandler (''Heroes of the Alamo'', 1937)

Robert Barrat (''Man of Conquest'', 1939)

George Montgomery (''Davy Crockett, Indian Scout'', 1950) [a different person, cousin of the famous Davy Crockett]

Trevor Bardette (''The Man from the Alamo'', 1953)

Arthur Hunnicutt (''The Last Command'', 1955)

Fess Parker (co-starring with Buddy Ebsen as Georgie Russel in ''Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier'', 1955, and ''Davy Crockett and the River Pirates'', 1956, both on ABC's ''Walt Disney Presents'')

James Griffith (''The First Texan'', 1956)

John Wayne (''The Alamo'', 1960)

Brian Keith (''The Alamo: Thirteen Days to Glory'', 1987)

Merrill Connally (''Alamo: The Price of Freedom'', 1988)

Johnny Cash (''Davy Crockett: Rainbow in the Thunder'', 1988)

Tim Dunigan (''Davy Crockett: Rainbow in the Thunder'', ''Davy Crockett: A Natural Man'', ''Davy Crockett: Guardian Spirit'', ''Davy Crockett: Letter to Polly'', 1988–1989)

David Zucker (''The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear'', 1991 [a very small cameo role])

John Schneider (''Texas'', 1994)

Scott Wickware (''Dear America: A Line in the Sand'', 2000)

Justin Howard (''The Anarchist Cookbook'', 2002)

Billy Bob Thornton (''The Alamo'', 2004)

See also

Timeline of the Texas Revolution

"The Ballad of Davy Crockett"

Crockett, Texas

Fort Crockett

Alamo, Tennessee

Crockett County, Tennessee

Footnotes

References

. . . . . . . Reprint. Originally published: New York: McGraw-Hill, 1958

Further reading

Boylston, James R. and Allen J. Weiner, ''David Crockett in Congress: The Rise and Fall of the Poor Man's Friend''; Bright Sky Press; ISBN 1-933-97951-8

Crockett, David, ''A Narrative of the Life of David Crockett of the State of Tennessee''; University of Nebraska Press; ISBN 0-8032-6325-2

Derr, Mark ''The Frontiersman. Davy Crockett'' William Morrow and Co. ISBN 0-688-09656-5

Davis, William C., ''Lone Star Rising-The Revolutionary Birth of the Texas Republic''; Free Press; ISBN 0-684-86510-6

Davis, William C., ''Three Roads to the Alamo''; Harper Collins; ISBN 0-06-017334-3

Levy, Buddy, ''The Real Life Adventures of David Crockett''; Putnam Press; ISBN 0-399-15278-4

; written by John S. C. Abbott

External links

Official site of the descendants of David Crockett

''An account of Col. Crockett's tour to the North and down East, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-four. . .'' written by David Crockett, and published 1835, hosted by the Portal to Texas History.

First Hand Alamo Accounts

Crockett quote, "...they might go to hell, and I would go to Texas" from April 9, 1836 ''Niles Weekly Register'' newspaper.

Category:Alamo defenders Category:American folklore Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives from Tennessee Category:Members of the Tennessee House of Representatives Category:People of the Creek War Category:People from Tennessee Category:American people of Anglo-Irish descent Category:American people of Scotch-Irish descent Category:American people of English descent Category:American people of French descent Category:People of the Texas Revolution Category:People from Greene County, Tennessee Category:1786 births Category:1836 deaths Category:Tall tales Category:Tennessee National Republicans Category:Tennessee Jacksonians Category:Folklore of the Southern United States

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Coordinates	12°2′36″N77°1′42″N
Name	Carter Burwell
Birthname	Carter Benedict Burwell
Birth date	November 18, 1955
Birth place	New York City, New York }}

Carter Benedict Burwell (born November 18, 1955) is an American composer of film scores.

Life and career

Burwell was born in New York City, the son of Natalie (née Benedict), a math teacher, and Charles Burwell, who founded Thaibok Fabrics, Ltd. He graduated from King School in Stamford, Connecticut, and Harvard College, where he was a cartoonist for The Harvard Lampoon.

As a film composer, Burwell has had a long working relationship with the Coen Brothers, providing music for every film they have made (except for ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'', where he provided additional music to a score of traditional songs produced by T-Bone Burnett). He enjoys working with left-field directors, such as Spike Jonze. Among his best known film scores are ''Miller's Crossing'' (1990), ''And the Band Played On'' (1993), ''Conspiracy Theory'' (1997), ''Hamlet'' (2000), ''The Spanish Prisoner'' (1997), ''Before the Devil Knows You're Dead'' (2007), ''In Bruges'' (2008), ''Twilight'' (2008) ''Where The Wild Things Are'' (2009) and ''The Blind Side'' (2009).

Burwell, like many composers, studied piano as a child, but eventually quit. His interest in music reignited when Steve Kraemer, a fellow high school student, taught him basic blues improvisation on the piano. To the annoyance of his family and friends he kept this up through college.

Ultimately the punk rock movement and its encouragement to get on stage no matter how poorly educated or prepared gave him the impetus to start performing. He did this in New York with several bands notably The Same, Thick Pigeon and Radiante.

By 1986 he had composed the music for a dance piece, RAB which premiered at the Avignon Festival. At the same time, he was touring worldwide with The Harmonic Choir, David Hykes' experimental vocal group which specialized in overtone singing.

Burwell used the country music genre as the basis for his score for the Coens' ''Raising Arizona'' in 1987.

His work has alternated between live performance, dance and theatre commissions, and film scoring. His chamber opera "The Celestial Alphabet Event" was presented in New York in 1991 and other theatre pieces include "Mother" (1994) and "Lucia's Chapters" (2007), both with the experimental theatre group Mabou Mines.

In April 2005, Burwell composed and conducted music, performed by The Parabola Ensemble, for the plays "Sawbones" written and directed by the Coen Brothers, "Hope Leaves the Theater" written and directed by Charlie Kaufman and "Anomalisa" written and directed by Francis Fregoli. This was a segment of the sound-only production Theater of the New Ear, which debuted at St. Ann's Warehouse in Brooklyn, NY with support from Sirius Satellite Radio, United Talent Agency and Sony Pictures. It was also performed at the Royal Festival Hall in London and as part of the UCLA Live Festival in Los Angeles.

Burwell married Christine Sciulli in 1999.

Thick Pigeon

Burwell once played in Thick Pigeon with Stanton Miranda. The group released only two albums, ''Too Crazy Cowboys'' and tracks on Miranda's album ''Thick Pigeon'' (as Miranda Dali). On Burwell's soundtrack for ''Psycho III'', Miranda was a featured singer.

Filmography

1984: ''Blood Simple''

1986: ''Psycho III''

1987: ''Raising Arizona''

1990: ''Miller's Crossing''

1991: ''Barton Fink''

1991: ''Doc Hollywood''

1992: ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer

1992: ''Storyville''

1993: ''This Boy's Life''

1993: ''Wayne's World 2''

1993: ''Kalifornia''

1993: ''And the Band Played On''

1994: ''Airheads''

1994: ''The Hudsucker Proxy''

1994: ''It Could Happen To You''

1995: ''Rob Roy''

1995: ''A Goofy Movie''

1996: ''Fear''

1996: ''Fargo''

1997: ''Conspiracy Theory''

1997: ''The Spanish Prisoner''

1997: ''The Jackal''

1997: ''Assassin(s)''

1998: ''Velvet Goldmine''

1998: ''The Big Lebowski''

1998: ''Gods and Monsters''

1999: ''The Hi-Lo Country''

1999: ''The General's Daughter''

1999: ''The Corruptor''

1999: ''Mystery, Alaska''

1999: ''Three Kings''

1999: ''Being John Malkovich''

2000: ''Before Night Falls''

2000: ''Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2''

2000: ''Hamlet''

2001: ''A Knight's Tale''

2002: ''The Man Who Wasn't There''

2002: ''The Rookie''

2002: ''S1m0ne''

2002: ''Adaptation.''

2003: ''Intolerable Cruelty''

2004: ''The Ladykillers''

2004: ''Kinsey''

2004: ''The Alamo''

2006: ''The Hoax''

2006: ''Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus''

2007: ''No Country for Old Men''

2007: ''Before the Devil Knows You're Dead''

2008: ''In Bruges''

2008: ''Burn After Reading''

2008: ''Twilight''

2009: ''A Serious Man''

2009: ''Where the Wild Things Are''

2009: ''The Blind Side''

2010: ''The Kids Are All Right''

2010: ''True Grit''

2010: ''Howl''

2011: ''Mildred Pierce'' (TV Mini-series)

2011: ''The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1''

References

External links

Carter Burwell's official website

Category:1955 births Category:Living people Category:Harvard University alumni Category:Harvard Lampoon people Category:American film score composers Category:People from New York City

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