Mission San Antonio de Valero ("The Alamo," meaning "cottonwood") was originally established in 1718 at San Pedro Springs (San Pedro Park). It was moved further south to its present location in what is now downtown San Antonio, and the famous structure dates back to the middle of the eighteenth century. It was one of the original five missions situated along the banks of the San Antonio River but was secularized in 1793. It is best known, of course, for the Battle of the Alamo (1836), for which it earned the reputation as the cradle of Texas liberty. It should come as no surprise that many famous authors have included it in their comments on San Antonio.
"The Patriot Shrine of Texas"
[The Alamo]is now within the town, and in extent, probably, a mere wreck of its former grandeur. It consists of a few irregular stuccoed buildings, huddled against the old church, in a large court surrounded by a rude wall; the whole used as an arsenal by the U.S. quartermaster. The church-door opens on the square, and is meagerly decorated by stucco mouldings, all hacked and battered in the battles it has seen. Since the heroic defense of Travis and his handful of men in ‘36, it has been a monument, not so much to faith as to courage. (155)
The Alamo as it appeared during the visits
by Olmsted and Lanier (DRT Library)
Concerning San Antonio’s most famous architectural landmark, the Alamo, Sydney Lanier had almost nothing descriptively to say. This omission is not really surprising, considering the fact that, while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had already--as one historian anachronistically put it--“taco-belled” the old ruin by 1850, the structure was being used as a supply depot until Fort Sam Houston was built at its present location in 1876.
Walt Whitman (Image credit: AccuNet/AP)
Although Walt Whitman never visited Texas, he knew about the Alamo and alluded to it, along with Goliad, in Section 34 of his famous poem “Song of Myself”:
Now I tell what I knew in Texas in my early youth,
(I tell not the fall of the Alamo,
Not one escaped to tell the fall of Alamo,
The hundred and fifty are dumb yet at Alamo),
Tis the tale of the murder in cold blood of four hundred and twelve young men [Goliad].
Oscar Wilde (Courtesy of Oscariana)
During his American lecture tour (1882), Oscar Wilde visited San Antonio in the month of June and pronounced the Alamo a noble structure. He used the word "monstrous" in lamenting that it was not better preserved (Lewis and Smith 365).
STEPHEN CRANE (1895): Stephen Crane was enchanted with the Alamo, which for him, had become "the patriot shrine of Texas." In fact, by 1895 the Alamo had already become so famous that Crane exhibited a little reluctance at giving it so much attention in his essay on San Antonio, which he appropriately titled, "Patriot Shrine of Texas":
It is something of a habit among the newspaper men and others who write here to say: "Well, there's a good market for Alamo stuff, now!" Or perhaps they say: "Too bad! Alamo stuff isn't going very strong now." Literary aspirants of the locality, as soon as they finish writing about Her Eyes, begin on the Alamo. (Crane 38)
In spite
of the Alamo's prominence among popular writers in Crane's day, Crane
insisted that "it remains the greatest memorial to courage which civilization
has allowed to stand" (38), and he launched into a six-paragraph summary
of the decisive battle which took place there in March 1836.
O. HENRY (1895): The area immediately in front of the Alamo is called the Alamo Plaza, which, along with Main Plaza and the Military Plaza further west, make up three of the most historic sites in downtown San Antonio. In the short story "The Enchanted Kiss," which is set exclusively in San Antonio, O. Henry imaginatively reconstructed the Plaza as it might have appeared before the events of the story take place:
A few
years before, their nightly encampments upon the historic Alamo Plaza,
in the heart of the city, had been a carnival, a saturnalia that was renowned
throughout the land. Then the caterers numbered hundreds; the patrons
thousands. Drawn by the coquettish señoritas, the music of the weird Spanish
minstrels, and the strange piquant dishes served at a hundred competing
tables, crowds thronged the Alamo Plaza all night. Travellers, rancheros,
family parties, gay gasconading rounders, sight-seers and prowlers of
polyglot, owlish San Antone mingled there at the centre of the city's
fun and frolic. The popping corks, pistols, and questions; the glitter
of eyes, jewels, and daggers; the ring of laughter and coin--these were
the order of the night. (Complete Works, 1: 483)
ROBERT FROST
(1922, 1937): Robert Frost made his first lecture tour to Texas in 1922,
which included Ft. Worth, Dallas, Waco, Temple, Austin, and San Antonio.
His interest in San Antonio and the Alamo can be seen in a letter addressed
in November 1927 to Leonidas W. Payne, Chair of the English Department
at the University of Texas. The poet observed,"Some year you and Armstrong
[A.J. Armstrong at Baylor University] must ask me back to the Alamo and
San Jacinto" (Selected Letters 345). Perhaps the slow-paced life which
Frost had alluded to in an earlier letter to Payne (January 1925) was
partly responsible for his return to San Antonio during 1936-1937. Coming
to San Antonio with the idea of enjoying greater solitude than wintering
grounds such as Florida and Southern California and of escaping the ice
and snow in New England, Frost happily reported, "I am deep in Texas history
and dont want to be bothered by any but the ghosts of Goliad and the Alamo"
(Selected Letters 437).
Acequia located on Alamo grounds
Alamo grounds at the rear of the shrine
SANDRA CISNEROS:
In her collection of short fiction,Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories
(1991), Sandra Cisneros has included a short story called "Remember the
Alamo." The ironic title, which echoes the avenging battle cry of the
Texas patriots at San Jacinto in 1836, has nothing to do with the historic
events which occurred in either place but rather introduces a deluded
male dancer who describes himself in the following terms:
This juxtaposition of the patriotic expression, "Remember the Alamo," with
the ambivalent narrator Rudy-Tristán and the name of the night club, "The
Travisty," suggests a bit of postmodernist satire directed at one of Texas'
most sacred shrines from a Latina perspective. As such, it forms quite a contrast to earlier, more earnest depictions of the famous landmark.
But I'm not Rudy when I perform. I mean, I'm not Rudy Cantú from Falfurrias
anymore. I'm Tristán. Every Thursday night at the Travisty. Behind the
Alamo, you can't miss it. One-man show, girl. Flamenco, salsa, tango,
fandango, merengue, cumbia, cha-cha-chá. Don't forget. The Travisty. Remember
the Alamo. (63)