[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 39 (Tuesday, March 6, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H1381]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        THE ALAMO--MARCH 6, 1836

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, in the early morning hours it was 
cold, damp, and dark in the old, beat-up Spanish mission.
  It was the Alamo.
  It was March 6, 1836.
  It was a battle for Texas independence.
  The volunteers were from most of the States and several foreign 
countries, including Mexico.
  The small band of 186 Texians and Tejanos, led by defiant Colonel 
William Barrett Travis, had already repelled two attempts by Dictator 
Santa Anna and his army of thousands to take the garrison.
  But on this morning, after a fierce battle, the enemy overwhelmed the 
volunteers and killed them all. Survivors were murdered.
  However, Travis wrote in a letter on March 3 that ``a victory by the 
enemy will cost Santa Anna more than defeat.''
  He was right. The enemy losses were staggering.
  The Alamo volunteers gave General Sam Houston time to organize 
another army. So, on April 21, Houston and his troops vanquished and 
routed the enemy and secured Texas independence.
  Then Texas was a republic for 9 years.
  Independence was successful because the valiant, relentless Alamo 
defenders believed death was preferable to tyranny. Today we honor 
their sacrifice on the altar of liberty.
  And that is just the way it is.

                          ____________________