GE for DSL #1

[Gray]

In this game we use Panaramo and Gigpan or Gigapixl stickies located in GE
Here is one from Panaramo that i'm posting today i tryed to make it easy the first time out.
I'm betting almost all the US players know this site this is through Panaramo

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p257/grayfrier/used%20GE%20game%20pictures/GEDSL1.jpg

And this one is through GE's 3D program either can be used to post but as always please have enough hints to carry you through it tuff but the info on almost everything is out there.
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p257/grayfrier/used%20GE%20game%20pictures/AnotherwaytouseGeDsl1.jpg
What i want is its Location and why this place is a part of US history and name one historical figure Died here!

[Taz]

Great pictures Gray...............I especially favor the second one............... Good selection for the first game................ As always...done well!!!


Even some of the non U.S. folks may identify the site.... with so much cinema available.........


'One of my favorite tales..as a youngster...


:) Thanks Gray!

[Bruce]

Alamo

[Taz]

Righto Bruce.... !
... post the shot and the other couple things Gray requested....and it's your win! :) :)

[Bruce]

Texas, Davey Crockett.

[Gray]

Texas, Davey Crockett.
Right On Bruce as always :) you have the honor of picking or posting Ge For DSL#2. :thumbs:

[Taz]

Gray...how about the extras you always post ..the background and associated information....?

...Texas revolution...Santa Anna.....the famous last stand...............:)

[Bruce]

Right On Bruce as always :) you have the honor of picking or posting Ge For DSL#2. :thumbs:
Let someone Else Post for me.
I am up to my ears here with Problems.

[Gray]

Gray...how about the extras you always post ..the background and associated information....?

...Texas revolution...Santa Anna.....the famous last stand...............:)
Well if i have to :wink:
The Battle (and siege) of the Alamo took place at the Alamo Mission in San Antonio, Texas (then known as "San Antonio de Béxar") in February and March 1836. The battle was between the Republic of Mexico and the rebel Texian forces, including both Anglos (ethnic Americans) and Tejanos (ethnic Mexicans in Texas), during the Texians' fight for independence — the Texas Revolution. The 13-day siege started Tuesday, February 23, 1836, and ended on Sunday, March 6, 1836, with the capture of the mission and the death of nearly all the Texian and Tejano defenders, except for a few slaves, women and children. Despite the win, the 13-day holdout stalled the Mexican Army, and allowed Sam Houston to gather troops and supplies for his later success at the Battle of San Jacinto. The Texian revolutionaries went on to win the war.

The battle took place at a turning point in the Texas Revolution, which had begun with the October 1835 Consultation, whose delegates narrowly approved a call for rights under the Mexican Constitution of 1824. By the time of the battle, however, sympathy for declaring independence from Mexico had grown. The delegates from the Alamo to the Constitutional Convention were both instructed to vote for independence.

[Gray]

The Prelude to battle
Texas was part of the Spanish colony of New Spain. With the conclusion of the Mexican War of Independence from Spain in 1821, Texas became part of Mexico and in 1824 became the northern section of Coahuila y Tejas. The new independent government invited people to come live in Texas, hoping to gain more people. This act was called the Empresario System. On January 3, 1823, Stephen F. Austin began a colony of 300 American families along the Brazos River in present-day Fort Bend County and Brazoria County, primarily in the area of what is now Sugar Land. The political center for the colony was San Felipe, a settlement on the Brazos River where Empresario Stephen F. Austin lived and William Barret Travis began his law practice.

In 1835, President and General Antonio López de Santa Anna abrogated the Constitution of 1824 and proclaimed a new constitution that reduced the power of many of the provincial governments and increased the power of the presidency. Since the end of hostilities with Spain ten years before, the Mexican government, and Santa Anna in particular, had been eager to reassert its control over the entire country, and control of Texas was seen as particularly important as Santa Anna rightly perceived the province to be vulnerable to the westward expansion of the United States.

Hostilities in Texas began with the Battle of Gonzales on October 2 1835, after which the Texian rebels quickly captured Mexican positions at La Bahía and San Antonio.

With the surrender of General Martín Perfecto de Cos and his garrison at San Antonio, there was no longer a Mexican military presence in Texas. Santa Anna decided to launch an offensive with the aim of putting down the rebellion. Minister of War José María Tornel and Major General Vicente Filisola proposed a seaborne attack to Santa Anna, which would have been easier on the troops and had been a proven means of expeditions into Texas since 1814. Santa Anna refused on the basis that this plan would take too long and the rebels in Texas might receive aid from the United States.

Santa Anna assembled an estimated force of 6,100 soldiers and 20 cannons at San Luis Potosí in early 1836 and moved through Saltillo, Coahuila, towards Texas. His army marched across the Rio Grande through inclement weather, including snowstorms, to suppress the rebellion. San Antonio de Béxar was one of his intermediate objectives; his ultimate objective was to capture the Texas government and restore the rule of the central or "Centralista" Mexican government over a rebellious state. He had earlier suppressed widespread rebellions across Mexico including Tampico, Yucatán, and Zacatecas. Santa Anna and his army arrived in San Antonio de Béxar on February 23. It was a mixed force of regular infantry and cavalry units as well as activo reserve infantry battalions and prisoners from the Yucatán impressed into the army. They were equipped with the British Baker and the outdated, short range but effective and deadly British Tower Musket, Mark III, or "Brown Bess" musket. Many of his soldiers were recent conscripts with no previous combat experience. Although they were well-drilled, the Mexican army discouraged individual marksmanship. The initial forces were equipped with four 7 inch (178 mm) howitzers, seven 4-pound (1.8 kg), four 6-pound (2.7 kg), four 8-pound (3.6 kg) and two 12-pound (5 kg) cannon.

Several of Santa Anna's officers were foreign mercenary veterans, including Vicente Filisola of Italy, Adrián Wolle of France, and Antonio Gaona of Cuba, and General Santa Anna was himself a veteran of the War of Independence.

Alamo defenders
Lieutenant Colonel William Barret Travis commanded the Texian regular army forces assigned to defend the old mission. In January 1836, he was ordered by the provisional government to go to the Alamo with volunteers to reinforce the 189 already there. Travis arrived in San Antonio on February 3 with 29 reinforcements. Within a short time, he had become the post's official commander, taking over from Colonel James C. Neill, who promised to be back in twenty days after leaving to tend to a family illness.

Various people had also assembled to help in the defensive effort, including several unofficial volunteers under the command of Jim Bowie.

In the United States, the siege of the Alamo was seen as a battle of American settlers against Mexicans, but many of the Tejanos sided with the rebellion. Many viewed this struggle in similar terms with the American Revolution of 1776. The Tejanos wanted Mexico to have a loose central government which supported states rights as expressed in the 1824 Constitution. One Tejano combatant at the Alamo was Captain (later Colonel) Juan Nepomuceno Seguín, who was sent out as a dispatch rider before the final assault.

The defenders of the Alamo came from many places besides Texas. The youngest, Galba Fuqua, was 16, and one of the oldest, Gordon C. Jennings, was 57. The men came from 28 different countries and U.S. states. William Barret Travis and James Butler Bonham were both from Saluda County, South Carolina, and Travis had spent some time in Alabama. Jim Bowie was born in Kentucky but spent most of his life in Louisiana. From Tennessee came another small group of volunteers led by famous hunter, politician and Indian-fighter David "Davy" Crockett who was accompanied by Micajah Autry, a neighbor and lawyer. The 12-man "Tennessee Mounted Volunteers" arrived at the Alamo on February 8. The previous month David Crockett had resigned from politics having told the electorate that "if they did not elect me they could go to hell and I would go to Texas!"[citation needed]

Another group, the "New Orleans Greys", came from that city to fight as infantry in the revolution. The two companies comprising the Greys had participated in the Siege of Béxar in December. Most of the Greys then left San Antonio de Béxar for an expedition to Matamoros, Tamaulipas, with the promise of taking the war to Mexico, but about two dozen remained at the Alamo.

The question of the Alamo defenders' politics has been controversial. The abrogation of the Constitution of 1824 was a key trigger for the revolt in general, yet many Anglos in Texas had strong sympathies for independence or union with the United States. And for many of them, the right to own slaves was a key issue. While the political climate would have been more favorable earlier during 1835 for a reliance on such a Constitution, things changed towards the fall of that year. When the Texians defeated the Mexican garrison at the Alamo in December 1835, their flag did have the word INDEPENDENCE on it. Letters written from the Alamo expressed that "all here are for independence",[citation needed] and the famous letter from Travis referred to their "flag of Independence". Some 25 years after the battle, historian Reuben Potter made the assertion that reinstatement of the Constitution of 1824 was a primary objective, and Potter's comments have also been the source of a myth that the battle flag of the Alamo garrison was some sort of Mexican tricolor with "1824" on it

[Gray]

The Siege
Lieutenant Colonel William Travis was able to dispatch riders before the battle and as late as March 3 informing the Texas provisional government of his situation and requesting assistance. However, Sam Houston's Texas Army was not strong enough to fight through the Mexican Army and relieve the post. The provisional Texas government was also in disarray because of in-fighting among its members. Travis also sent several riders, including James Bonham, to Colonel James Fannin for assistance. Fannin, commander of over 450 Texas forces at Goliad 100 miles (160 km) southeast of the Alamo, attempted an unorganized relief march with 320 men and cannon on February 28 to the Alamo, but he aborted the relief column, citing poor transportation. On March 27, Fannin and most of his men were slaughtered by a Mexican force after surrendering.

On March 1 at about 1 a.m., 32 Texians led by Captain George Kimbell and John W. Smith from the town of Gonzales slipped through the Mexican lines and joined the defenders inside the Alamo. They would be the only response to Travis' plea for help. The group became known as the "Immortal 32."[1]


Final assault

"The Fall of the Alamo" by Robert Jenkins Onderdonk depicts Davy Crockett in a charge at the Mexican troops who have breached the walls of the mission.At the end of 12 days the number of Mexican forces attacking the post was reported as high as 4,000 to 5,000, but only about 1,400 to 1,600 soldiers were used in the investment and the final assault. 6,500 soldiers had originally set out from San Luis Potosí, but illness and desertion had since reduced the force. The siege was scientific and professionally conducted in the Napoleonic style. After a 13-day period in which the defenders were tormented with bands blaring at night (including buglers sounding the no-mercy call El Degüello, which literally translates into "slit throat"), occasional artillery fire, and an ever closing ring of Mexicans cutting off potential escape routes, Santa Anna planned the final assault for March 6. Santa Anna raised a blood red flag which made his message perfectly clear. No quarter would be given for the defenders.

Lieutenant Colonel Travis wrote in his final dispatches: "The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion otherwise the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken — I have answered their demand with a cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the walls — I shall never surrender or retreat."[2]

The Mexican army attacked the Alamo in four columns plus a reserve and a pursuit and security force, starting at around 5:00 a.m. The first column of 300 to 400 men led by Martín Perfecto de Cos moved towards the northwest corner of the Alamo. The second was of 380 men commanded by Colonel Francisco Duque. The third column comprised 400 soldiers led by Colonel José María Romero. The fourth comprised 100 cazadores (light infantry) commanded by Colonel Juan Morales. The attacking columns had to cover 200 to 300 yards (180 to 275 m) of open ground before they could reach the Alamo walls. To prevent any attempted escape by the fleeing Texians or reinforcements from coming in, Santa Anna placed 350 cavalry under Brigadier General Ramírez y Sesma to patrol the surrounding countryside.

The Texians initially pushed back one of the attacking columns, although Cos' column was able to breach the Alamo's weak north wall, which was just a plain wooden palisade, fairly quickly where the first defenders fell — among them William Barret Travis, who was allegedly killed by a shot to the head. Meanwhile, the rest of Santa Anna's columns continued the assault while Cos's men flooded into the fortress. The Alamo defenders were spread too thin to adequately defend both the walls and the invading Mexicans. By 8:00 that morning, nearly all of the Alamo defenders had been slain in brutal hand-to-hand combat. Jim Bowie is reported by some survivors to have been bayoneted and shot to death in his cot. The battle, from the initial assault to the capture of the Alamo, lasted only an hour. According to several reports, a group of male survivors were executed after the battle. [3] [4] According to one report Davy Crockett was among them

[Gray]

Casualties
Mexican: There are wide variations among reports regarding the number of Mexican casualties at the Alamo. However, some historians and military analysts accept those reports which place the number of Mexican casualties at approximately 200 deaths and 400 wounded.

Texan: 183 to 250 Texian and Tejano bodies were found at the Alamo after the battle, though Santa Anna's official report back to Mexico City, dictated to his personal secretary Ramón Martínez Caro, stated 600 rebel bodies were found. Historians believe this to be a false claim. All but one of the bodies were burned by the Mexicans; the sole exception being Gregorio Esparza, who was buried rather than burned because his brother Francisco had served as an activo and had fought under General Cos in the Siege of Béxar.[citation needed]

Alamo survivors
Susanna Dickinson
Angelina Dickinson
Joe the slave of William B. Travis
Sam the slave of Jim Bowie
Juana Navarro Alsbury
Alijo Perez Jr. (he was the last living survivor of the Alamo battle, he died in 1918)
Gertrudis Navarro
Ana Esparza
Enrique Esparza
Francisco Esparza
Manuel Esparza
María de Jesús Castro
Trinidad Saucedo
Petra Gonzales
Brígido Guerrero
Henry Wornell

Texan independence
Texas had declared independence on March 2. The delegates elected David G. Burnet as Provisional President and Lorenzo de Zavala as Vice-President. The men inside the Alamo likely never knew this event had occurred. Houston still held his rank of supreme military commander. The Texian Army numbered around 2,000 men at the time of the Alamo siege. Successive losses at Goliad, Refugio, Matamoros and San Antonio de Béxar, reduced the army to about 1,000 men.

On April 21, at the Battle of San Jacinto, Santa Anna's 1,250-strong force was defeated by Sam Houston's army of about 910 men who used the now-famous battle cry, "Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!" The Mexican losses for the day were about 650 killed (in only eighteen minutes) with 600 taken prisoner. Texian losses were about 9 killed and 18 wounded. Santa Anna was captured the following day, dressed in a common soldier's jacket, having discarded his finer clothing in hopes of escaping. He issued orders that all Mexican troops under the command of Vicente Filisola and José de Urrea were to pull back into Mexico.




Line in the sand
A legend exists that on March 3, March 4, or March 5, Lieutenant Colonel Travis drew a line in the sand with his sword, and invited all those who were willing to stay (and, presumably, almost certainly to die) to cross over the line. According to one variant of the story, all but one Alamo defender crossed the line. Moses Rose (aka Louis or Lewis Rose), said to be a French soldier who had fought under Napoleon in Russia before arriving in Texas, allegedly slipped out of the Alamo. After evading the Mexican forces by moving at night, Rose is said to have taken shelter with the family of William P. Zuber to whom he told the tale of his escape. In 1873, Zuber's son published a version of the story, which has not been historically documented. This account is carried in numerous Texas histories, including Steven Kellerman's The Yellow Rose of Texas, the Journal of American Folklore, and numerous other histories of the time. A moving account of this "line in the dust" story and Bowie's being carried over in a cot can be found online in a city guide to San Antonio and the Alamo shrine.


Davy Crockett's death
Before the siege ended, Santa Anna ordered that a red flag be raised from San Fernando cathedral in San Antonio indicating to the defenders that no quarter would be given. According to the controversial José Enrique de la Peña diary, several of those not killed in the final assault were captured by Colonel Manuel Fernández Castrillón and presented to Santa Anna, who personally ordered their executions. It is speculated that Davy Crockett was one of the six prisoners. De la Peña also states that Crockett attempted to negotiate a surrender with Santa Anna but was turned down on the grounds of 'no guarantees for traitors'. However, there is little evidence to support this.

Still, some people believe that Davy Crockett was killed by Santa Anna's men after the 12 day struggle. A contemporary history summarizes the battle thus: "They fought all one bloody night, until he [Travis] fell with all the garrison but seven;--and they were slain, while crying for quarter!"[3] This history, while not providing proof that Crockett was among those who survived the assault, does corroborate de la Peña's diary entry. However, two eyewitness survivors attested that Crockett did die in the battle. Susanna Dickinson, the wife of an officer, said that Crockett was killed in the assault and that she saw his body between the long barracks and the chapel, and Travis' slave Joe said that he also saw Crockett lying dead with the bodies of slain Mexican soldiers around him.

[Gray]

Col. William Fairfax Gray was present during the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos and kept a detailed diary of events. His entry for March 20, 1836 begins:

Sunday, March 20, 1836
This morning Messrs. Zavalla, Ruis and Navarro arrived. The cabinet are now all here, except Hardiman.
The servant of the late lamented Travis, Joe, a black boy of about twenty-one or twenty-two years of age, is now here. He was in the Alamo when the fatal attack was made. He is the only male, of all who were in the fort, who escaped death, and he, according to his own account, escaped narrowly. I heard him interrogated in presence of the cabinet and others. He related the affair with much modesty, apparent candor, and remarkably distinctly for one of his class. The following is, as near as I can recollect, the substance of it:
The garrison was much exhausted by incessant watching and hard labor. They had all worked until a late hour on Saturday night, and when the attack was made, sentinels and all were asleep, except one man, Capt. -----, who gave the alarm. There were three picket guards without the fort, but they, too, it is supposed, were asleep, and were run upon and bayonetted, for they gave no alarm. Joe was sleeping in the room with his master when the alarm was given. Travis sprang up, seized his rifle and sword, and called to Joe to follow him. Joe took his gun and followed. Travis ran across the Alamo and mounted the wall,and called out to his men, "Come on, boys, the Mexicans are upon us, and we'll give them Hell." He discharged his gun; so did Joe. In an instant Travis was shot down. He fell within the wall, on the sloping ground, and sat up. The enemy twice applied their scaling ladders to the walls, and were twice beaten back. But this Joe did not well understand, for when his master fell he ran and ensconced himself in a house, from which he says he fired on them several times, after they got in. On the third attempt they succeeded in mounting the walls, and then poured over like sheep. The battle then became a melee. Every man fought for his own hand, as he best might, with butts of guns, pistols, knives, etc. As Travis sat wounded on the ground General Mora, who was passing him, made a blow at him with his sword, which Travis struck up, and ran his assailant through the body, and both died on the same spot. This was poor Travis' last effort. The handful of Americans retreated to such covers as they had, and continued the battle until only one man was left alive, a little, weakly man named Warner, who asked for quarter. He was spared by the soldiery, but on being conducted to Santa Anna, he ordered him to be shot, and it was done. Bowie is said to have fired through the door of his room, from his sick bed. He was found dead and mutilated where he lay. Crockett and a few of his friends were found together, with twenty-four of the enemy dead around them.
The Handbook of Texas Online reports several noncombatants being killed, including an unknown black woman (in the battle), an unnamed boy aged 8 or 9, and two sons of gunner Anthony Wolf (who were bayoneted with their father by Mexican soldiers in front of Mrs. Dickinson).
However it also states that "Santa Anna treated enemy women and children with admirable gallantry", pledging their safe passage and giving them money.

[Gray]

Ok we need a volunteer to post GE for DSL#2 any takers ?

[Taz]

Now THAT...is what you do so very well, Gray...and I for one....thoroughly enjoy these 'extras'......So much written here...that I was not aware of....the details...... Thanks very much Gray!!

Next to the challenge of the search...this is the best part!!!!!! ....and I thought I had a pretty fair recall of many Alamo details.... NOT....you found many more!!!!! :jig: I enjoy the dickens out of the extras..


You could post another.....since this was the first..and relatively short lived..........????

Why don't you do that? Okeedoke? :)

[surferdude]

I'll give gray (or whomever) till his/her bedtime to post next one. If not, I'll post one I found. & I promise mine will be very easy:thumbs::hi:

[Gray]

Thank you Surfer :thumbs:

[surferdude]

You're welcome. The clues will be so simple,there will be no excuse for not solving it by Tuesday evening:thumbs::hi: