The 1836 battle for the Alamo has grown to mythic proportions,
             bolstered in posterity by those keen to liken the last stand of Davy
             Crockett, Jim Bowie, and William Barret Travis to the Spartan defense of
             Thermopylae two and a half millennia hence. Not a particularly shrewd or
             strategic military ploy, the defense of the Alamo was as much a
             miscalculation as it was a rebellious last stand. Nonetheless, the heroism
             and valor displayed by the small band of "Texians" during the siege on the
             Alamo remains today a source of pride for modern day Texans and Americans
             alike. Today, new accounts of the battle have surfaced, calling into
             question what have heretofore been regarded as incontrovertible historical
             facts. Also, Mexican-Americans have clamored for their place in the
             history books alongside Crockett, Bowie, Travis and company as opponents of
             the Mexican tyrant General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. As in all things
             throughout history, a true picture of the Alamo is hard to come by.
             Sifting through the legends, the lore, and the rumors, however, is an
             It was the Mexican independence from Spain in 1821 that truly set the
             stage for what was to become a mini-revolution in Texas. Established at
             this time as an independent state within Mexico, Texas became a beacon to
             fortune-seekers, visionaries, and adventurers from the United States and
             Europe (Grigg 35). In 1824, Stephen F. Austin and the "Old Three
             Hundred"â€"a complement of three hundred familiesâ€"arrived in Texas to settle;
             around this time, Americans were learning that in Mexican-controlled Texas,
             slack rule was coupled with few constitutional protections (Grigg 36). By
             1830, Mexico's central government was canceling land contracts, imposing a
             variety of taxes and duties, placing restrictions on coastal shipping, and
             stationing troops throughout (Grigg 37).
             In 1832, when Gener...