Exploring Alamo Legends

Book excerpt: Did the famous Davy Crockett surrender at the Alamo or die fighting like a tiger according to Texas tradition? Did Sam Houston lie when he said he ordered James Bowie to blow up the Alamo? What happened to James C. Neill, the real commander of the Alamo? You be the judge. After years of researching all available Alamo records, including primary letters and accounts by participants, government documents from the period, newspaper articles, diary entries, and even receipts, Wallace O. Chariton has answered these and many more of the perplexing Alamo questions. No punches are pulled in this hard hitting investigation. Some of the answers presented may excite your patriotic yearnings: other more controversial answers may ignite your historical anger. In either event, some new light has been cast onto a few of the shadows of the Alamo legends.