Back in 1836 on March 6th, a few ‘Texians’ were waiting to be killed by the Mexican army. The actual assault took little over an hour by some accounts after which virtually all the defenders had been killed… many brutally. The siege and battle held up the army of Santa Anna long enough for Sam Houston to gather sufficient troops to be able to defeat the Mexicans a few weeks later at San Jacinto on April 20th. After San Jacinto, almost a million square miles of territory were ‘released’ and eventually absorbed into the USA.
The cry “Remember the Alamo” was used as a rallying point, especially at San Jacinto, and helped in the push for the subsequent creation of Texas as a sovereign state.
Most of what I know about the battle came from the John Wayne film which was destroyed by critics but still gave a reasonable picture of events. However it brushed over the ‘private lives’ of those most famous people who were killed, such as Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie.
For example, until the events of the Alamo, Bowie had a quite amazing and charmed life and his short Wikipedia entry is well worth reading!
The Eclectic Interweb 