Battleground Bexar

The famous siege and fall of the Alamo in 1836 is the stuff of legends. What is often missing from most discussion of that battle is why the Texian defenders were in the Alamo in the first place! Richard L. Curilla's pathbreaking book, Battleground Béxar, shows how the famous compound that has become such a Texas icon was just a small piece of the strategic real estate that now composes downtown San Antonio. In 1835, Mexican Centralist soldados faced a deteriorating political situation in the region and the very real threat of an insurgent attack by the Texian Federalist Army of the People. They fortified the main plazas in the frontier town of Béxar to meet the attack they knew must certainly come. Today, where traffic and pedestrians compete for the right of way, once stood cannon, earthworks, and barricades that transformed streets and blocks of downtown San Antonio into a stronghold. >This book made possible in part by a grant from Summerfield G. Roberts Foundation.