James Bowie and the Alamo
https://highered.nbclearn.com/portal/site/HigherEd/browse/?cuecard=69326
General Information
Source:
NBC Learn
Resource Type:
Creator:
N/A
Copyright:
Event Date:
Air/Publish Date:
1796 - 03/06/1836
05/20/2014
Copyright Date:
Clip Length
Video MiniDocumentary
NBCUniversal Media,
LLC.
2014
00:05:51
Description
In 1836, James Bowie helped lead an army of volunteers to defend their Texas settlement against an
attack by the Mexican army. The battle culminated in the siege of an old Spanish mission known as the
Alamo and resulted in the death of the defenders, including Bowie. This story is produced by NBC Learn
in partnership with Pearson.
Keywords
Alamo, Jim Bowie, James Bowie, David Crockett, Davy Crockett, William Barret Travis, Texas, San
Antonio, Republic of Texas, Mexico, Antonio López de Santa Anna, Battle, Fight, Attack, Defeat, Siege,
Rights, Texas Revolution, Bruce Winders, Chris Stewart, Colonists, Volunteers, Citizens, Tejanos,
Statehood, Territory, Toribio Losoya, James C. Neill, Sam Houston, Commander, Leadership,
Independence, University of Texas at San Antonio, UTSA, Memorial, Dead, Killed
Citation
© 2008-2017 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Page 1 of 3
MLA
"James Bowie and the Alamo." NBC Learn. NBCUniversal Media. 20 May 2014. NBC Learn. Web. 6
May 2017
APA
2014, May 20. James Bowie and the Alamo. [Television series episode]. NBC Learn. Retrieved from
https://highered.nbclearn.com/portal/site/HigherEd/browse/?cuecard=69326
CHICAGO MANUAL OF STYLE
"James Bowie and the Alamo" NBC Learn, New York, NY: NBC Universal, 05/20/2014. Accessed Sat
May 6 2017 from NBC Learn:
https://highered.nbclearn.com/portal/site/HigherEd/browse/?cuecard=69326
Transcript
James Bowie and the Alamo
CHRIS STEWART: Hi, I am Chris Stewart. I'm a student at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
Today I'm here at the Alamo to talk about the heroes and the history of the Alamo. You've got Davy
Crockett, you've got William Barret Travis, you know, these sort of larger than life figures. My personal
favorite is Jim Bowie because he takes fighting to the last to a whole new level. The Alamo, to me, means
that sort of idea of fighting for something and fighting to the last. And, you know, there were 188 men
who fought in the Alamo and every single one of them perished.
Dr. BRUCE WINDERS (Historian, Alamo): Hi.
STEWART: Chris Stewart.
WINDERS: Bruce Winders.
STEWART: Very nice to meet you.
WINDERS: Well, it’s good to meet you.
My name is Bruce Winders and I am the curator and historian at the Alamo.
Now, there's an archway that would have been here, we'd have gone through the archway, then we'd be in
the main plaza. But, on the way we would have passed a room in which James Bowie had his quarters.
STEWART: What was he doing before he ever came to the Alamo?
WINDERS: He's born in Kentucky, his family moves to Louisiana where he grows up. James Bowie
becomes involved in some-- some kind of shady land deals where he's selling land that he doesn't really
own. He gets caught then he comes to Texas more or less to reinvent himself. From where we are, in
1835, 1836, we could look across the river and we’d see his house. So that's how much it sort of is a local
affair for him. And he becomes involved in Texas politics, in business, so he really is an important person
by the time of the Texas Revolution. And that's why people turn to him for answers. Bowie's at the Alamo
because he had been sent here by Sam Houston to survey the situation.
STEWART: So, who were the people at the people at the Alamo? I mean, where did they come from?
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What was the sort of demographic, you know-WINDERS: Who were the people that were actually inside the Alamo?
STEWART: Who were the defenders? Yes.
WINDERS: So you've got these American colonists, citizens of Mexico, American volunteers, citizens of
the United States, but now citizens of the Republic of Texas. But then you've got a number of Tejanos
who are here. The Tejanos, or the native-born Mexicans living in Texas. They have to make a choice. Are
they going to support the revolution if it goes beyond what they wanted it to go, for statehood?
STEWART: Right.
WINDERS: Are they going to support that next step for independence? And so it becomes a different
question for them, than it does the colonists that were here and the American volunteers. Once that Santa
Anna comes into town, they come in to the Alamo to fight on the side of the rebels as well. In fact, the
house that's behind us belonged to a member of the garrison's family, his name was Toribio Losoya. He
says, “I was born in the Alamo,” and then he says, “I will die in the Alamo.” And he does.
STEWART: Was Bowie actually appointed commander of the Alamo? Or was he, I mean, who was sort
of the head guy? Because that's always been something kind of a-WINDERS: It's a strange situation. The actual commander is James C. Neill, but he leaves. And he’s
going to come back, he says, “I'll be back in twenty days.” So when he leaves, he puts William Barret
Travis in charge. And the volunteers, because Travis is a regular soldier, object. And so they have their
own election and they elect James Bowie. So you have two commanders. You have William Barret
Travis, you have James Bowie. Things don't work out very well. And they finally come up to an
agreement where we will share command. And if you speak to military people, they'll laugh at that
because there has to be one commander. And for the Alamo, that one commander becomes William Barret
Travis when Bowie becomes too sick to carry on.
STEWART: What was sort of his situation during the battle and all that because I know that's one of the
really famous parts of his story?
WINDERS: Second day of the battle, he drops out of the picture. He supposedly becomes very ill to the
point where he has to be put to bed. And by the end of the siege, he's really sick. So we've got two
different versions of his death. One is that possibly he's already dead by the end of the battle, the Mexican
soldiers come in and find him, he's already dead. But the more traditional one is that he is very, very sick.
Mexican soldiers come into the room, he's still able to put up some sort of a fight from his bed, whether
it’s with pistols, but he is bayoneted and killed.
STEWART: I think that is the quintessential story of fighting until you can fight no more. They believed
in this idea of liberty and in the idea of independence and so I think that sort of describes a lot of what
Texas is about. That sort of independence and not giving up. It's our frontier spirit, and that's all
represented in the Alamo, in the battle, in the history, and the people who fought here.
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