What Happened After the Battle?

Many visitors who come to the Alamo are often already familiar with the story of the thirteen day long siege that ended in the defeat of the Texans early on the morning of March 6, 1836. One of the questions we frequently hear at the Alamo is "What happened after the battle?"

The Alamo had just been the scene of a fierce and brutal contest between troops of Santa Anna’s Centralist government and Texan rebels. As on all battlefields, property had been destroyed and lives had been lost. The most pressing concern following the battle was disposal of the bodies of those slain in the fighting. Springtime in Texas was as unpredictable in 1836 as it is today. Although several northers, or cold fronts, had swept through the region, some February days had already been unseasonably warm. The hundreds of corpses on the edge of town posed a serious public health threat, especially if temperatures should climb. General Antonio López de Santa Anna, who had temporarily stepped down as the President of Mexico to lead his troops to Texas, gave orders for his army’s dead to be buried at the old Campo Santo on the western edge of San Antonio. (This old cemetery was located near the present-day Milam Square and Santa Rosa Hospital.) Some of the Mexican bodies, however, were thrown into the river. This act was later blamed on Francisco Antonio Ruíz, the town’s alcalde (mayor) and son of signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence – Colonel José Francisco Ruíz. Historians lately have rallied to Ruíz’ defense, however, because it seems unlikely that he would have intentionally had the townspeople throw bodies into the river which provided them, their families, and their neighbors with water for drinking, bathing, and cooking.

Santa Anna ordered the bodies of the Texans burned, an act traditionally interpreted as a sign of disrespect toward the Alamo’s defenders by denying them a proper burial. Mystery somewhat obscures the location of the pyres today. One legend contends that a large fire was built in the middle of the compound to consume the Texans, which would place it somewhere in Alamo Plaza. Historians are skeptical of this tale because it seems unlikely since Santa Anna planned to repair and reoccupy the fort; nevertheless, the cenotaph dedicated to the memory of the Alamo garrison was erected in the plaza nearly sixty years ago. At least two pyres were built on the old cottonwood-lined Alameda, just west of the intersection of modern-day Commerce and Bowie streets. Evidence indicates that another funeral pyre, the exact location of which is now lost, was located east of the fortress near an orchard.

It appears, however, that at least one Tejano defender was buried instead of burned. Francisco Esparza, a resident of San Antonio who had fought on the side of the Mexican government during the Siege of Béxar, received permission to find the body of Gregorio Esparza, his brother, and bury him in the Campo Santo. The burial of Esparza remains one of the more poignant aspects of the battle and illustrates how the Texas Revolution split some Tejano families along political lines that placed them on the opposite side of the battlefield.

Santa Anna’s troops remained in San Antonio for several weeks following the fall of the Alamo before continuing the advance toward the Texan settlements. Not all of his men, however, accompanied the Mexican general when he marched away. Colonel Juan José Andrade had been left behind in San Antonio with a 1,000-man garrison with orders to repair and reoccupy the Alamo and other local fortifications. Santa Anna had reason to believe that the revolution would soon be over and he planned to keep this important stronghold from ever falling into rebel hands again. But the situation changed dramatically at the Battle of San Jacinto when the Texans defeated and captured Santa Anna. As part of an agreement intended to prevent his execution, Santa Anna issued orders for his troops still in the field to withdraw to the Rio Grande. In late May, the last elements of Colonel Andrade’s forces evacuated the town. Having no desire to fight the Battle of the Alamo again, the Mexican troops destroyed the old mission-fortress by knocking down exterior walls, burning wooden structures, and wrecking cannons, thereby insuring that it could not be easily refortified by the Texans.

On June 4, 1836, Texan troops under Captain Juan N. Seguín reentered San Antonio. They withdrew from the town several weeks later once it became clear that the newly formed Republic of Texas could not send an adequate force to defend the town from a renewed invasion, should one occur. Seguín and his men returned to San Antonio shortly after the start of the new year. On February 25, 1837, almost a year to the day after the siege began, Col. Seguín led a military procession that gathered the ashes of the men of the Alamo and placed them in a small coffin. The procession then moved to San Fernando Church, where a memorial service was held to honor the fallen Alamo heroes. Afterward, according to Seguín, the coffin was returned to one of the sites of the funeral pyres and buried with full military honors. Speculation exists, however, that remains later found inside San Fernando were actually those of the Alamo defenders. But based on Seguín’s statement, most historians believe that the ashes were buried as he described and have since been lost through the passage of the years.

The author, Richard Bruce Winders, Ph.D., is Historian and Curator of the Alamo. A variation of this article entitled "Appreciating the Historic Alamo: Part I" originally appeared in the May/June 1999 issue of San Antonio Food & Leisure, 19-22.