Muskets fired in memory of Alamo battle

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (KXAN) - It was 177-years-ago today that a battle was fought on Mexican soil that paved the way for Texas to eventually become a nation, then a U.S. state.

The saying “Remember The Alamo” is engrained in Texas Children as they go through school. On this anniversary the San Antonio Living History Association fired muskets in a pre-dawn memorial ceremony.

The group commemorated the 1836 Battle of the Alamo, and those who fell on both sides on March 6.

The battle site, originally named Mission San Antonio de Valero was a home for missionaries in their Indian coverts for nearly 77-years.

Built in 1724, and later secularized by Spanish officials in 1793, the mission among four others in Texas, was distributed to remaining Indian residents who farmed the fields.

Spanish soldiers would later refer to the former mission as the Alamo, a Spanish word for cottonwood.

In December of 1835 Ben Milam led Texian and Tejano volunteers in a five-day battle that ended in a takeover of the Alamo site.

Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna’s army arrived in February of 1836. Defenders held out for 13-days, viewing the Alamo as key to the defense of Texas.

The final battle came on the morning of March 6, 1836 when Santa Anna’s army dealt the final crushing blow.

Thought the battle at the Alamo was ultimately a victory for Mexico, it stood as a symbol of the heroic struggle against all odds by men who made the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.

Texas gained its independence and went on to become it’s own nation after winning the battle of San Jacinto, where Santa Anna signed over Mexico’s rights to Texas.

Texas became the 28th U.S. state in 1845, but later seceded from the Union in 1861 and joined the Confederate States of America by a State Convention vote of 166 to 8 in Austin.

Texas was readmitted into the Union as an American state in 1870.