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Mass
grave of the Alamo Defenders - The Plot
Oddfellows Cemetery, San Antonio
Photo courtesy Sarah
Reveley , 2007 |
About
a mile from the site of the Alamo
and Pompeo Coppini’s
grand cenotaph,
is a modest plot in the Oddfellows Cemetery, one of the old San Antonio
city cemeteries. Only a thick chain and a recently erected historical
marker delineates the plot from nearby civilian tombstones.
There are several accounts of what happened immediately after the
Alamo fell. Since victors
usually write the history, Mexican historians have their take (the
official but widely-believed-to-be-inflated report sent to Mexico
City by Santa Anna).
Historians in the United States seem a little more concerned with
what happened to the men who were taken prisoner that morning, or
indeed, if there were any prisoners.
All accounts say that the bodies were burned and the site of Coppini’s
cenotaph is a logical place for the pyre to have been.
In Lone Star, historian T.R. Fehrenbach stated: “The charred remains
of the Alamo dead were dumped in a common grave. Its location went
unrecorded and was never found.”
The story of this tiny 10 X 10 plot, surely the least-frequented site
in the whole Alamo epic,
is best told by the text on the historical marker: |
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"Lost
Burial Place of the Alamo Defenders" marker
Photo courtesy Sarah
Reveley , 2007 |
Captain
R.A. Gillespe monument
Photo courtesy Sarah
Reveley , 2007 |
Captain
Samuel H. Walker monument
Photo courtesy Sarah
Reveley , 2007 |
"Lost Burial
Place of the Alamo Defenders" plaque & Obelisk
Oddfellows Cemetery, San Antonio
TE Photo,
2006 |
Oddfellows Cemetery Statue, San Antonio
TE Photo, 2006 |
Oddfellows Cemetery Statue, San Antonio
TE Photo, 2006 |
Oddfellows Cemetery
Angel, San Antonio
TE Photo,
2006
More Texas
Statues |
About The Alamo
&
The Battle of the Alamo
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Photo
courtesy Texas State Library & Archives |
Texas
Escapes, in its purpose to preserve historic, endangered and vanishing
Texas, asks that anyone wishing to share their local history, stories,
landmarks and recent or vintage photos, please contact
us. |
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