October 21, 2008
Texian, Texican, Texonian, Tejano, Texasin—before 1850 [like for The Battle of the Alamo, 1836], inhabitants of Texas were known differently; we’ll still call them Texan even if it’s wrong.
There have been at least 30 movies about The Battle of the Alamo, the most famous being the 1960 pic starring John Wayne as Colonel Davy Crockett [“They stood firing until they could stand no longer...156 men against a raging army of 7000!”] [Admit it. Who remembers “There’s no basement in the Alamo!” from Pee Wee's Big Adventure in 1985?]
At about the same time as The Battle of the Alamo, there was also the Goliad Campaign/ the Goliad massacre/”Remember Goliad!”[where around 400 American POWs were executed] that’s kinda been forgotten [but John Wayne never made a film about it—guess all that death and dying doesn’t really scream out to be a “feel-good” movie, now, does it?]
The actual Battle of the Alamo was fought in February and March 1836 in San Antonio, Texas. It seems that Mexican President [dictator] Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna was ticked-off that all Mexican troops had been run out of Texas in 1835.
From Tuesday, February 23 until March 6 [(inclusive) twelve days], 1836, Mexican cannons advanced slowly to positions nearer the Alamo walls, then Mexican troops overwhelmed and killed the vastly outnumbered defenders of the Alamo Mission. Three of the survivors—Alamo co-commander William Travis's slave, Joe, Susanna Dickinson, and her daughter Angelina—were sent to inform the Texas settlers of the Alamo's fall and to deliver a warning to the remainder of the Texan forces that the Mexican army was unbeatable.
Soon comes Goliad, the “Runaway Scrape” [a mass departure of Texas citizens and its government towards the east (ahead of the Mexican army)]; last is the Battle of San Jacinto, where Santa Anna is captured by General Sam Houston (wounded in battle) and the Texas Army as they overwhelmingly defeat the Mexican forces in an 18 minute battle.
She was born a free black in New Haven, Connecticut. She contracted to work as housekeeper at the New Washington Association's hotel, Morgan's Point, Texas and was taken from there by Santa Anna’s army.
It probably joins some other great quotes and stories that are a cold wet slap in the face when you learn what happened next or more info comes to light, like “Don’t give up the ship” (Captain James Lawrence’s ‘last words’ [in command of the USS Chesapeake, when engaging the British frigate HMS Shannon] at Boston Harbor in 1813 during The War of 1812; Lawrence died and the USS Chesapeake was surrendered to the British);
“Damn the torpedoes! Full speed ahead!” [Admiral David Farragut had secretly dispatched the Civil War equivalent of the modern-day Navy Seals to disarm most of the torpedoes prior to The Battle of Mobile Bay];
The Star Spangled Banner, with words by Georgetown area lawyer Francis Scott Key, has become a treasure near and dear to generations of Americans. It is often politely stated that the tune used was “popular” at the time. Guess it would seem inappropriate to state a song’s melody was lifted from a drinking song in pubs ([To] Anacreon in Heaven, penned by a Brit [John Stafford Smith]) Frequently, people question, “Why is it so difficult to sing?” Frankly, drunks, no matter the nationality, didn’t especially care what they sounded like.
All over the web, there are undated quotes and incorrect “facts” [like Thomas Crapper invented the flush commode—even Yahoo pushes that one. Well, somebody sure better tell Albert Giblin!] Just Google “Always be sincere, even if you don’t mean it.” Almost every site credits President Harry Truman. Well, that’s swell and it sure enough sounds like something Harry would have said but he didn’t; Mortimer Snerd probably did.
“He’s higher than a Georgia pine.”
Warning to hurry,
“You’d better git on the stick!”
Cantankerous/Mean,
“She’s meaner than chicken shit”
(Have you ever smelled chicken shit?)
Requesting a kiss,
“Give me some sugar.”
The child next to the youngest child in the family,
“She’s the knee baby of the family.”
Lonely,
“I feel like the last pea at pea-time.”
Miserly,
“He wouldn't pay a dime to see a pissant pull a freight train.”
Threat,
"I'll knock you in the head and tell God you died."
Behave!,
“Act like you got some raisin’.”
or
"You better straighten up and fly right or I'll knock your teeth down your throat so far you'll spit 'em out in single file."
Resemblance (close),
“He’s the spitting image of his daddy.”
Preoccupied,
“She was busier than a cat covering-up on a tin roof.”
Well-dressed,
“He’s all duded up in his Sunday go-to-meetin' clothes.”
Response to someone’s rude remark,
“You must ha’ spit that baby.”
Confused,
"I don't know whether to scratch my watch or wind my ass."
or
“Can’t remember; did I find a rope or lose my horse?”
“I have known”,
“I been knowin’ her better ‘n forty year.”
Depressed,
“I'm feeling as low as a toad in a dry well."
Too-short skirt,
“Pull that down--we see the Promised Land!"
A sponge bath,
"Wash down as far as possible, wash up as far as possible, then wash possible.”
Archive
July
August
September
October 5
October 14
Links
Blue Mud home
Woodrow World
History--Help Me!
Blue Mud is now available at its author page at Booklocker (best customer service) and as a Print-on-Demand [POD] book online through Amazon as well as Barnes & Noble and Target.