![]() Davis's monumental triple biography of Crockett, Travis and James Bowie, "Three Roads to the Alamo," and Stephen Harrington's "The Gates of the Alamo."Īllen Barra's next book, "Mickey and Willie, The Parallel Lives of Baseball's Golden Age," is due out this fall. Those making their entrance into Alamo lore for the first time are well advised to begin with "The Blood of Heroes." It belongs on the shelf of any enthusiast along with William C. Best of all for the true romantic, Colonel William Travis's "line in the sand" and legendary speech did, in fact, happen. "Total casualties likely comprised about 75 killed during the battle and approximately 300 wounded" and, according to the best evidence, David Crockett did, indeed, die fighting. Mexican casualties were far lower than has always been assumed. But the massacre by Santa Anna of some 400 Texians who had surrendered near Goliad was not. He contends that, given the circumstances of the rebellion and the conditions under which the battle was fought, the death of every defender at the Alamo - probably close to 200 men -and the execution of a few prisoners, was defensible. ![]() With the skill of a historical detective Donovan pieces together the most plausible account of what happened over the next 13 days, from February 23 to March 6, 1836, when the Mexican army finally stormed the walls in an all-out assault in the pre-dawn darkness, rockets and cannon fire illuminating the cold Texas night. The Alamo's defenders, eight of whom were native-born Tejanos, quickly retreated into the compound and began fortifying it the women of San Antonio wept and cried, "You will all be killed what shall we do?" After the surrender of the Alamo, "soldiers of both armies were mingling, some playing cards together," Donovan writes.įaster than any of the Texians had calculated, faster even than rebel leader Sam Houston could train an army of resistance, Mexican dictator General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna force-marched an army of several thousand soldados, many raw recruits - "Indians, peasants, vagabonds, prisoners, and the poor of the larger cities and towns" - to San Antonio to take back the Alamo. When Frank lands with everyone they see the ground has turned fluid and is roiling underneath everyones feet. Will and Nico realize that they can re-position the onagers in such a way that they will destroy themselves. The early Texas army was "little more than a well-intentioned mob " still, it managed to capture the Mexican garrison at San Antonio de Bexar with relatively little bloodletting. A large battle ensues and Percys blood, in the form of a single drop, hits the ground. Some, Donovan writes, "were for independence some for the constitution of 1824 and some for anything, just so it was a row."Īt least the third group got their wish. The motives of the new settlers were mixed. "Fans will find plenty to cheer about as Percy and his allies move slowly toward fulfilling the mysterious Prophecy of Seven.Little Brown, 512 pp., $29.99. "Should pacing and wit continue unabated into the third volume, whose foretold European setting promises further freshness, fans will eagerly await numbers four and five."- Kirkus "With a true storyteller’s sense of pacing, Riordan creates another compelling adventure, right down to the cliff-hanger at the end. ![]() ![]() With appealing new characters within a familiar framework, this spin-off will satisfy the demand for more."- Booklist Flashes of humor lighten the mood at times, but a tone of urgency and imminent danger seems as integral to this series as the last. "Readers longing for a return to Camp Half-Blood will get their wish.the action scenes come frequently as the three heroic teens fight monstrous enemies in North American locales.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |