Explore the Alamo Legends (Hdb

by Wallace O. Chariton

Book Overview

After years of researching all available Alamo records, including primary letters and accounts by participants, government documents from the period, newspaper articles, diary entries, and even receipts, Wallace O. Chariton has answered these and many more of the perplexing Alamo questions. No punches are pulled in this hard hitting investigation. Some of the answers presented may excite your patriotic yearnings: other more controversial answers may...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1556221320
• ISBN13: 9781556221323
• Release Date: January 1990
• Publisher: Wordware Publishing
• Length: 266 Pages
• Weight: 1.40 lbs.

Customer Reviews

This Exploration uncovers gold

Wallace O. Chariton wrote a first-rate piece of work. I have read a lot of fiction and non-fiction about this battle over the last 40 years and the author has explored many of the legends surrounding the battle. What became of Travis' papers and journal? Did Crockett go down swinging like portrayed in Disney and the Duke, or did he go out like Billy Bob? Wallace has the answer according to eye witness testimony. What happened to Mrs. Dickenson? Was the line in the sand fiction for movies? What about the Napoleonic War veteran, Louis Rose, real and did he really bug out just before the end? What became of him? All the answers are here.

Alamo Questions

Chariton explores a number of questions revolving around the tragedy of Alamo. Most of the questions he explores are, in fact, not legends but legitimate questions as to what did or did not happen in an around the time that the Alamo was attacked and the defenders slaughtered. Generally I agree with Chariton's deductions although I also believe that all testimony regarding the Zuber must regarded with extreme suspicion. Zuber claimed that he got his information from Louis Rose, the supposed only deserter from Alamo. In a manner resembling Thucidides, Zuber admitted embellishing [making up] Travis' final speech to the troops, including the famous 'line in the sand'. In my opinion, if Zuber lied about anything, then it should be rightfully assumed that he lied about everything. I think Zuber's testimony is an insult to all the men who died at Alamo. Their heroism stands by itself and required no second hand editorialism. I'll go even further than that to proclaim my own belief that Louis Rose--if he ever existed--never testified to Zuber. Zuber made up the entire story 'whole-cloth'. Ron

You Don't Know the Alamo Until You've Read This Book

How many men came with David Crockett to the Alamo? Did Crockett and some of his men surrender and were then executed when Santa Anna said, "I said take no prisoners"? Did a flag fly over the Alamo and what did it look like? Did Travis really draw a line in the sand and tell everyone that wanted to stay to step over it? Or did he say everyone that wanted to go to step over the line? These are just a few of the unanswered questions about the battle at the Alamo that Wallace Chariton tries to learn more about following years of research. And what makes this a special treat is that he tries to answer these and other questions with a sense of Texas humor. Not in a disrespectful way for these true patriots of Texas independence but in a manner that makes the reader want to turn the page and see what the next facts were that have been lost to the years. Chariton does a very balanced analysis on many portions of the legends of the Alamo that most people just take for granted. This book is a very enjoyable read for any person interested in Texas history...something in which every Texan should be interested.