The Blood of Heroes: The 13-Day Struggle for the Alamo--and the Sacrifice That Forged a Nation (45 page)

General Martín Perfecto de Cós, commander of the defeated Mexican army forces at Béxar. He broke his parole and returned to Texas with Santa Anna.

James Bowie, the most dangerous knife fighter in the West: six feet of solid muscle, with eyes that “resembled a tiger’s” when he was angered.
(Courtesy of Joseph Musso)

The lovely Ursula Bowie, who died of cholera in 1833.
(Courtesy of Joseph Musso)

David Crockett (as he always signed his name), three-time congressman from Tennessee: “You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas.”

Dr. Amos Pollard, an abolitionist from Massachusetts, served as the Alamo garrison’s surgeon.

Despite his injured leg, Dr. John Sutherland carried the first word of the Mexican army’s arrival at Béxar to the east, reaching the town of Gonzales the next day.

There is no known likeness of James Bonham, but the nephew pictured in this photograph, also named James Bonham (shown here at age twenty-eight, the same age as his uncle at the time of the Alamo battle), was said to be “in appearance almost a double of his famous uncle.”

Antonio López de Santa Anna: “If I were God, I would wish to be more.”

The brave and respected Lieutenant Colonel José Vicente Miñón, hero of the Mexican Revolution. He was often assigned command of the
cazadores,
the army’s marksmen.

Colonel Juan Almonte, trusted adviser to Santa Anna. New Orleans–educated and fluent in English, he had gained respect for the colonists during an 1834 fact-finding journey through Texas.

General Vicente Filisola, the Italian-born second commander in chief of Santa Anna’s Army of Operations. He was past his prime as a fighting man but more than capable as an administrator, his primary duty.

General Pedro de Ampudia, artillery commander, was Cuban-born and reputed to be skilled and ruthless.

Lieutenant Colonel José Mariano de Salas, commander of the Jimenez Permanente Battalion.