The Alamo Remembered: Tejano Accounts and Perspectives
Timothy M. Matovina
As Mexican soldiers fought the mostly Anglo-American colonists and volunteers at the Alamo in 1836, San Antonio's Tejano population was caught in the crossfire, both literally and symbolically. Though their origins were in Mexico, the Tejanos had put down lasting roots in Texas and did not automatically identify with the Mexican cause. Indeed, as the accounts in this new collection demonstrate, their strongest allegiance was to their fellow San Antonians, with whom they shared a common history and a common plight as war raged in their hometown.
Timothy M. Matovina here gathers all known Tejano accounts of the Battle of the Alamo. These accounts consist of first reports of the battle, including Juan N. Seguín's funeral oration at the interment ceremony of the Alamo defenders, conversations with local Tejanos, unpublished petitions and depositions, and published accounts from newspapers and other sources. This communal response to the legendary battle deepens our understanding of the formation of Mexican American consciousness and identity.
Product Details
About Timothy M. Matovina
Reviews for The Alamo Remembered: Tejano Accounts and Perspectives
Review of Texas Books
Matovina's message is that historians who concentrate on the question of which side [Tejanos] joined or did not join miss the larger point: for the Tejanos themselves, the choice of sides during the revolt was not the overriding issue of their lives, nor was it the touchstone of their identity. What the Tejano accounts of the Alamo show, Matovina argues, is that the divisions engendered by the revolution failed to destroy what remained 'an amazingly cohesive community' in which families, friends, and neighbors split apart by the war reunited in harmony in its aftermath.
Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Matovina's collection of Tejano memories of the Alamo not only proves essential in shedding light on the battle and its aftermath but, more importantly, contributes to an understanding of an understudied culture and that culture's effect on the most romanticized story of Texas history.
Journal of the American Studies Association of Texas
A valuable addition to the already abundant [Alamo] literature. . . . Ordinarily, the battle of the Alamo is considered in a traditional adversarial manner—Santa Anna and his troops against the band of defenders. But there were many other people in the area, primarily Tejano citizens of San Antonio. These accounts both directly and indirectly deal with what was inevitably an ambivalent and uncertain dilemma of these people who were caught in circumstances beyond their control. It is an aspect of the battle of the Alamo too long ignored.
Journal of the West