American History: "Forget the Alamo: the Rise and Fall of an American Myth," Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson, Jason Stanford

HISTORY
'Forget The Alamo' Author Says We Have The Texas Origin Story All Wrong
June 16, 202112:30 PM ET

"Forget the Alamo."; 40 pages; 9624 words, some visuals

Disney had a curious way of molding the story. I idolized Fess Parker and had a coonskin cap that earned me detention in elementary school. I wore it to school and fought anyone who made fun of me!

Texas' version of The Lost Cause, the Big Lie.


Visitors walk around the outside of the Alamo in San Antonio.
Jill Torrance/Getty Images
Remember the Alamo? According to Texas lore, it's the site in San Antonio where, in 1836, about 180 Texan rebels died defending the state during Texas' war for independence from Mexico.
The siege of the Alamo was memorably depicted in a Walt Disney series and in a 1960 movie starring John Wayne. But three writers, all Texans, say the common narrative of the Texas revolt overlooks the fact that it was waged in part to ensure slavery would be preserved.
"Slavery was the undeniable linchpin of all of this," author Bryan Burrough says. "It was the thing that the two sides had been arguing about and shooting about for going on 15 years. And yet it still surprises me that slavery went unexamined for so long."
In their new book, Forget the Alamo, Burrough and co-writers Chris Tomlinson and Jason Stanford challenge common misconceptions surrounding the conflict — including the notion that Davy Crockett was a martyr who fought to the death rather than surrender.