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By JOHN T. TOLER
Rappahannock New* Staff Writer
The Fall of the Alamo 150 years ago today, on March 6, 1836, is remembered as an American epic, an event in our history that has formed a part of our national identity. Even those with only a casual interest in the history of our nation share the image of the Alamo and the familiar story it recalls.
'Die drama began a little over a month earlier, on February 25, 1836 when Lt. Col. William Barrett Travis’ Texas Cavalry, led a bedraggled troop of thirty men into San Antonio de Bexar on orders from provisional Governor Henry Smith to guard the Texas border.
It was known that the Mexican army, personally led by the president, Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, was moving northward to crush the rebellion.
Seeds of Rebellion
Events leading up to the secession of Texas had been comparatively swift. By 1830, when the Mexican government closed Texas to immigration, more than three-fourths of the provincial population was American.
Living under benign rule administered by far-off Mexico City, provincial Texans were able to maintain the customs and independent outlook that they brought with them from the north.
But after a series of crackdowns - actually no more than the enforcement of existing laws that the Texans had been ignoring - tension began to mount. In 1832, Gen. Santa Anna came to power; considered at first to be more liberal in his dealings with the Texans than the man he deposed, pressure for seeking independence from Mexico temporarily abated.
Concessions to the Texans’ demands were considered by Santa Anna, but were quickly withdrawn when Steven Austin, a Texan who had come to Mexico City to present petitions and a proposed constitu
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