Battle of the Alamo
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Although no one knows who first actually issued the rallying cry "Remember the Alamo" and facts about the siege continue to be debated, one thing is for sure: The Battle of the Alamo symbolizes courage and sacrifice for the cause of liberty.
Here, in 1836, a small band of Texans -- including Jim Bowie, renowned knife fighter, and David Crockett, famed frontiersman and former congressman from Tennessee -- held out for 13 days in a San Antonio mission against the Centralist Army. It was a heroic struggle against overwhelming odds.
The Alamo today is a 4-acre complex, including museums and gardens, located on Alamo Plaza in downtown San Antonio, just a short distance from the River Walk. More than 2.5 million people visit annually to see the Alamo church that has been designated a shrine by the state of Texas. (Since 1913, gentlemen visitors have been respectfully reminded by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas to remove their hats.)