SOUTHERN PACIFIC LINES 67 
a mission was moved from the Rio Grande and renamed San Antonio 
de Valero in honor of the Viceroy of New Spain. In 1730 a presidio 
was erected here, and early in 1731 a colony of 16 Spanish families 
from the Canary Islands sent out by the King of Spain came through 
Mexico and established themselves with a few local people at the 
springs of the San Antonio River under the name San Fernando. 
This was finally merged into the presidio of San Antonio de Bexar 
and for many years called simply Bexar. Three years later this settle- 
ment was made the seat of government for the general region. In 
1821 it passed into the possession of Mexico when she became an 
independent nation. In 1835-36, in the revolt against Mexico, San 
Antonio was a center of strife, culminating in the siege of the Alamo in 
February of that year. Many of the old-time buildings remain, includ- 
ing the Alamo, the 200-year-old palace of the Spanish governor on the 
west side of Military Plaza (pl. 7, B), San Fernando Cathedral, and 
several old missions. There is a large Mexican population, part of 
it in an extensive Mexican quarter south and west of the old plaza. 
San Antonio was an important station on the old Camino Real from 
Monclova, Mexico, which crossed the Rio Grande below Eagle Pass. 
The mission San Francisco de la Espada, just south of the town, was 
built on this road. From San Antonio it led north and east to the 
vicinity of Natchitoches and thence to New Orleans. 
The most notable feature in San Antonio is the famous Alamo 
(pl. 7, A), where 182 heroes, nearly all of them volunteers from differ- 
ent parts of the United States, chose to die rather than to surrender 
to twenty times their number of Mexican soldiers under General Santa 
Ana. At that time San Antonio was on the southeastern bank of the 
San Antonio River and consisted of well-fortified houses in a rectangle; 
on the opposite bank was the walled inclosure of the Alamo. The 
assaults lasted from February 23 to March 6, 1836, when the Mexicans 
overwhelmed the defenders, all of whom were killed. Now the Alamo 
is a museum exhibiting many relics of the glorious past of Texas and 
bearing this stirring inscription: ‘Thermopylae had its messenger of 
defeat—the Alamo had none.” It was the war ery ‘‘Remember the 
Alamo” that spurred the Texans to victory at San Jacinto afew weeks 
later. (See p. 44.) Tablets near by mark the sites of the funeral 
pyres of the Alamo heroes. Though later used as a military post, the 
Alamo* was apparently first a chapel (established on a new site in 
1744) of the mission of San Antonio de Valero (17 18), the first of sev- 
eral missions established by Franciscan friars in the general vicinity. 
Mission San José de Aguayo, founded in 1720 by Padre Antonio 
Margil and named in honor of the Marquis Miguel de Aguayo, 
6 The word dlamo is Spanish for cot- | after its occupation by a company of 
tonwood tree, but it is considered likely | Mexican troops known as the ‘Alamo 
that the name was applied to the chapel | de Parras,”’ : 
