Note 2 — Group II. BIRTH OF THE AMERICAN IDEA. (continued 2)

The Alamo (Spanish for poplar-tree), was a chapel used in connection with the Mission San Antonio de Valero. Here one hundred and forty-four Texan revolutionists, under W. Barrett Travis, were besieged (1836) by superior Mexican forces under Santa Anna. The insurgents held out ten days, when the Alamo was stormed, and all of its brave defenders put to death. David Crockett of Tennessee was among the slain. The event has been commemorated by a shaft bearing the legend: "Thermopylæ had its messenger of defeat, the Alamo had none."