DUANE
Duane's take
Now, I'm gonna tell you this one straight from the official marker — so hold on, because this ground you're standing near has a long memory. It starts, as so many Texas stories do, with a beginning that wasn't quite in the right place. Mission San Antonio de Valero was established nearby in 1718 — and then, just like that, picked up and relocated right here in 1724.
By 1762, the Mission Plaza had been enclosed by thick stone and adobe walls. Solid. Serious.
The kind of walls that say: we intend to stay. And right along that south wall stood the main gateway — eleven feet wide, fourteen feet tall. Not a grand arch by some measures, but a threshold with a lot of history waitin' to walk through it.
In 1803, Spanish cavalry from San Carlos de Parras del Alamo, Mexico, moved into the secularized mission and built one-story barracks inside that south wall, one on each side of the main gateway. Low barracks, folks called them. Simple construction.
Functional. Nobody was thinkin' about posterity just then. The complex came to be known as the Alamo.
By 1835, Mexican soldiers led by General Cos were occupying it. They weren't just movin' in and settlin' down — they fortified that main gateway with artillery pieces and a defensive lunette, a semi-circular enclosure with deep trenches dug around it. They understood what that gateway meant.
You control the gate, you control everything. In December of 1835, Texas patriots captured the Alamo. A victory.
A moment to breathe. It did not last long. By February 23rd, 1836, an armed force led by General Santa Anna had the Alamo under siege.
And that main gateway — the same one built up, fortified, fought over — became the only way out. Couriers departed through it during the siege, slipping into the darkness beyond those walls, carrying word to a world that might or might not answer. On March the 6th, Mexican troops breached the main gateway and retook the Alamo.
Afterward, some Mexican military observers and local residents stated that Colonel James Bowie and others died in those low barracks — the same simple one-story structures that Spanish cavalry had put up alongside the gate decades before. In 1871, the low barracks and the main gateway were leveled. Valero Plaza on the south was melded with the Alamo's plaza, creating one open space where walls and a gateway and a whole lot of history used to stand.
So when you look out over that open ground today, just know — it wasn't always open. Once, there was a gateway there. And through it passed soldiers, and couriers, and the turning of Texas history itself.
What the marker says
Mission San Antonio de Valero, established nearby in 1718, was relocated here in 1724. By 1762, the Mission Plaza was enclosed by thick stone and adobe walls. The 11 x 14-foot main gateway was located at this site along the south wall. In 1803 Spanish cavalry from San Carlos de Parras del Alamo, Mexico, occupied the secularized mission and built one-story (low) barracks inside the south wall on each side of the main gateway. The Alamo, as the complex came to be known, was occupied in 1835 by Mexican soldiers led by Gen. Cos. They fortified the main gateway with artillery pieces and a defensive lunette, a semi-circular enclosure with deep trenches. In December 1835, Texas patriots captured the Alamo, but by Feb. 23, 1836, were under siege by an armed force led by Gen. Santa Anna. Couriers departed the Alamo through the main gateway during the siege. On March 6 Mexican troops breached the main gateway and retook the Alamo. After the assault, some Mexican military observers and local residents stated that Col. James Bowie and others died in the low barracks. The low barracks and main gateway were leveled in 1871, melding Valero Plaza on the south with the Alamo's plaza to create an open space. (1996)