Excerpt from Origin and Fall of the Alamo: March 6, 1836 In treating of the Alamo it is due to the people of Texas to give, at least, a short account of the settlement of Americans in Texas, and of the causes lending to the revolution of 1835 and 1836. There were Americans in Texas previous to the advent of Moses Austin, December, 1820. Anterior to this period of time Americans had entered Texas with a view of assisting the revolutionists in the war they were waging against the King of Spain. They effected good service on several occasions. In the interior portions of Mexico Americans rendered considerable aid to the Mexicans. The United States in throwing off the yoke of England was an example many States in America endeavored to imitate. The effect of these causes gave to Americans a distinguished consideration. It was, no doubt, one of the main inducements causing a favorable answer to be made to Moses Austin when he applied for authority to introduce settlers into Texas. This authority was granted in 1821. It must be remembered that La Salle had entered Texas in 1685, and had made a settlement of Frenchmen, and had built Fort St. Louis, on the Lavacca river. This fact, with others of a later date, induced the Viceroy of Mexico, the Duke of Linares, to take steps for the permanent occupation of Texas. He sent Don Domingo Ramon with troops, and a party of Franciscan friars to civilize and christianize Indians. This occurred in 1715. Ramon established some forts and missions. He located a fort, or presidio as the Spaniards call them, on San Pedro creek, three-fourths of a mile from the public square of the city of San Antonio. The name given to this presidio was San Antonio de Valero. In 1718 the Franciscans established a mission at this place. It was removed on more than one occasion, and was located on what is now the Military plaza of San Antonio. From there it was removed, in 1718, to its present site, the east bank of the San Antonio river, and is known as the church of the Alamo. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.