Welcome to the oldfashioned Masonic podcast where we talk all things Free Masons while drinking in oldfashioned I’m Brian and I’m Russ if you guys are watching wondering what the hell are these idiots wearing hats for and I don’t really know why he’s a good follower so today because the anniversary of the
Alamo is coming up we are talking about Freemasons at the Alamo and giving you a little bit of a history lesson about the Alamo itself I Russ is our historian actually Dave Thomas is our resident Russ Russ likes history way more than I do so when we research we all often find
Out some things about he does a lot of research and then I go yeah or no and then yeah go try again yeah fair fair so let’s kind of give you a history of the alum for those who don’t know like like me of course we’re all oh Remember the
Alamo obviously there was a fight so in the early 19th century uh there was a small mission in Texas that actually would be later become the sight of this this epic battle that would arguably shape the history of the nation and at the time it was in Mexico right so what
Folks don’t know is where San Antonio is where the Alamo is that that was Mexico and we’re going to you’ll you’ll see a little bit of a a video we have after this which uh most of most of Texas yeah look at the map during that
Time it’s crazy it’s very crazy so the battle of the Alam was fought in 18 36 um it’s a crazy story of just bravery sacrifice and just like sheer will and determination yeah but there’s kind of another aspect um of this that often goes unnoticed and we’re going to talk about
The role of the Freemasons and what’s funny is if you go to the Alamo today um you can read about the Freemasons you can so I’m you’ve been to the Alamo I am the Alamo to me spoiler alert unimpressive I mean I expected it to be
More when I first went there well in 1836 it actually was and it was it was a massive thing in 1836 no just in 1836 that was a that was that was cool it been there for a long time and now it’s surrounded by hotels and modern and Ripley Believe It or Not
That’s across the street so it’s it’s sort of sad but it is sad so it is so in the early 19th centuries Freemasonry had really kind of take off taken off over the United States and even into that northern part of the Republic of Texas yes so Freemasonry was was just
Nuts so among those Freemasons who played kind of a pivotal role in the independence of Texas uh from Mexico were some some some Freemasons so the the Alamo was a former Spanish mission that they ended up turning into a fortress um and basically that’s where these these Texans took their uh their their
Stand against the Mexican forces um and just like masonry as they were kind of hunkered down behind those these walls they they kind of found themselves fighting for something just greater than just Freemasonry which that’s what we hope we all want to be part of something you know big bigger than ourselves so
Well I think they were fighting against a lot of things and ter and I don’t tell me what to do and don’t try to run me over and I yeah there’s a lot of a lot of that type of thought with all Freemasons we you know that’s true we’re
We’re we’re Libertines I think most of us by Nature so so there are a lot of freem mas we’re just going to talk about a few I mean so don’t say oh my gosh you missed this guy right we get it we get it so we’re going to talk about four
That right so we’re going to talk about botom James bonam uh James buoy uh daav Crockett and William Barrett Travis also we’re going to touch on Houston as well yeah and what’s funny is knowing just enough about history and I’ve read some things and whatnot so there’s an obvious three that that I
Know about and I could name when we were just talking about this I just pop these names off the one name is the first one you’re going to talk about is James Bond I don’t know who he is so so yeah let’s talk about that so we’re going to do a
Quick recap of these Masons before we kind of turn it over to a really cool quick video of of the the battle of the Alan really kind of what what went wrong so uh James bonam which you’ll see his name at the bottom of the screen he was
Raised a Master Mason in South Carolina he was the last known Messenger to leave and return to the Alamo so think think about this where we text her email he he was the he was the carrier pigeon he was the last known Messenger to leave and
Return to the Alamos so think about how critical that was with all the stuff that was going on leading up to that battle how many times he probably made some rides in Texas is not small no no no no it for sure just drive from San
Antonio to Houston or to yeah that’s two and a half hours and you’re just I mean the big triangle you can be in the state you can drive eight hours in the state yeah so for sure um another Freemason who fought in the Alamo was uh Lieutenant Colonel William Travis um
Skilled lawyer uh everyone kind of referred to him as a as a man of great conviction so Travis took over after James Neil Sam Houston had said Neil you’re gonna you’re going to be the commander but Neil left to take care of an aien family member I don’t know what
The world that was all about but William Travis was a member of Alabama lodge number three in the state of Alabama so when Neil leaves uh Sam Houston appoints uh Travis as the leader well James Bowie he was not having it he he got him a group said
Nah we’re not good with this so they put a vote together and they actually put James buing command buoy or Bowie buoy Bowie I don’t what do you what do you say I would say Bowie like the Bowie knife yeah bowi knife correct me Texas where I’m wrong that where the
B knife came from yeah yeah so they say you know we call it our Kansas here when it’s the Arkansas River so we’ve got all sorts of jacked up dialect yeah so so they get this coup together and said no Travis you’re not the commander my boy my boy James is
So there was factions of different groups clicks there we say yeah that that appeared there so so that next day there was a drunken altercation in the camp and after that they’re like [ __ ] I don’t know if James should be running it so they really had dual commanders which
That that is never good so Travis had a faction and and and and and buoy Bowie had a faction over here right so fast forward so now they’re running dual leaderships which is just I I got a problem with that so the Mexican president he he kind of found out that
The Texans weren’t backing down so he sent word and said dude we’re coming and when we get there we’re not going to spare any lives so who was the Mexican president Sant was he a Freemason oh man you think he was what do you think was he
There was I I think I’ve read something about maybe he had taken a degree I I don’t we’re going to have that information maybe we’ll do a tell you tell us we we didn’t research him because he he was he was anti us at the
Time so I don’t think I don’t think the guys there knew what kind of smoke was coming I think he knew that this General was going to send some people but I don’t think they had any idea what was coming you think that’s fair yeah and they really weren’t supposed to be there
Either enter Sam Houston so Sam Houston I think he realized what Santa Ana was was capable of it’s like boys we weren’t getting the help we needed from the president because we’re going to talk about that later he sent word to the President Andrew Jackson at the time so
He ordered buoy to get a group of men together go actually grab all the equipment leave and then burn down the AL yeah this wasn’t in the United States this was in Mexico you’re an occupied territory the president of United States didn’t just go hey we’re going to send
Stuff down there that that took a little more doing than that there’s a Canon involved there fight over a cannon you didn’t return this crap yeah so brother James found out that when he arrived he’s like man there’s a lot of stuff here we don’t have enough animals to get
This out of there by the way brother James Buie was a member of Holland Lodge number 36 so let’s talk about James Houston real or Brother Sam Houston also a mason in fact on December 20th 1837 Houston presided over the convention of Freemasons that formed the
Grand Lodge of the Republic of Texas now known as the Grand Lodge of Texas so e even that the guy that was overseeing everything um was a Mason next one we’re going to talk about and I was in you’ve asked me this i’ I’ve asked you this a couple times and
And uh I think Houston was buddies with President Jackson or there was they they were maybe drinking Pals potentially so I’m not sure about that but I think that there was a connection so let’s go there if he was why did Jackson not send help because it wasn’t the United States at
The time so but obviously his boy Sam Houston him enough Houston went to Texas to start start over because he had had some is may maybe he maybe he wasn’t welcome where he came from right so now let let’s talk about DAV Crockett everyone knows DAV Crockett they know
The songs I mean who doesn’t have that on their playlist Avid Outdoorsman um from Tennessee he served as a colonel in the Tennessee militia he uh was also elected to congress in 1826 um during that time uh he became a Master Mason initially he was the staun reporter uh I’m sorry supporter of
Andrew Jackson staunch and who was also a Freemason as we talked about Crockett soon came to oppose several of Jackson’s uh initiatives which eventually caused him to lose his seat because of the popularity of Jackson so it makes me wonder so Houston and Jackson may have
Been boys but did Jackson not send help help because well you know you got old Dave Crockett down there he’s a badass so you don’t need us did he maybe take that approach we hope not right but you you don’t know I mean you kind of dismiss that a little bit but
You just never know dudes and egos right y so so you still have your hat on have you ever ridden a horse I have I was on a dairy so yes I just my uncle had a Dairy Farmer used to go down work on the summer and it was big enough you know
The dairy farm in me Oklahoma we actually brought the the uh the cows in on Horseback okay very good so I might have ridden a horse since you’ve ridden a horse no when’s the last time you rode a horse I a year or two ago oh I haven’t
Rid one the last year or two yeah yeah so you got me there but I can I can handle my own on a horse boys so before we turn this over to our friends at uh weird history we’re going to it’s a really cool concise video about uh the Battle of the
Alamo okay so let’s head deep into the Heart of Texas when white Southern settlers began expanding further into Texas they brought with them the hope of owning their own property on which they could build cotton plantations the Mexican cotton industry was big business at the time and everyone wanted a piece of the
Action the Mexicans however had a couple of conditions they needed met before they would allow settlers to live on their land the first was that the settlers had to agree to become Catholic the second was that they had to become registered Mexican citizens once they were in business many of the settlers
Just ignored the conditions which didn’t EXA actly get things off on the right foot with their hosts exacerbating the situation was that most of the settlers brought slaves with them even though slavery had been abolished in Mexico in 1829 though we know it as a fort the
Alamo was originally built to be a mission which is a religious Outpost used by missionaries as a base for supplies and communication it was only later in response to attacks by Native Americans living in the area that the Mexican Army decided to convert the mission into a makeshift for
The repurposed Mission however was only intended to withstand attacks by native tribes it wasn’t designed to stand up against heavy artillery and it lacked firing ports for Riflemen catwalks were constructed that allowed Defenders to fire over the walls of the fort but they left the upper torso of the rifleman’s
Body exposed when he stood so they were less than ideal after the battle of Gonzalez many of the settlers who had come to help defeat the the Mexican troops went home they hadn’t come prepared for a long encampment and they simply didn’t have adequate Provisions as a result the once
Large army was quickly Whitted back down to less than 200 men that was far less Manpower and Firepower than would be needed to secure a building like the Alamo in December of 1835 Sam Houston who was commander-in-chief of the Texas army ordered James Neil to take command
Of the Alamo Neil obeyed but only a few months into his command he had to leave to care for his ill family command was transferred to Lieutenant Colonel William B Travis who was the highest ranking officer on the scene at the time when he got the news of Travis’s
Promotion Colonel James Bowie or buoy if you prefer namesake of the Bowie knife was less than pleased several of the other soldiers felt similarly and quickly voted Bowie into the commanding role under the belief that his Fierce reputation for fighting made him a better Commander that should have been
That but Bowie decided to celebrate his new command by getting extremely drunk and causing a stir in the camp he eventually agreed to share leadership with Travis with each passing day Mexican president Santa Anna grew increasingly furious with the Texas Revolution he felt that illegal immigrants had crossed
Into his country flaunted its culture values and laws and were now literally trying to steal a piece of it so he wasn’t happy Santa Ana demanded the rebels surrender or suffer the consequences the Texans ref refused and were officially declared traitors to Mexico as such the Mexican president
Swore that there would be no prisoners taken he sent a letter to this effect directly to US President Andrew Jackson but the letter wasn’t widely distributed and for whatever reason Jackson failed to notify the American recruits that Mexico wouldn’t be sparing their lives the commanders of the Elmo were under no
Illusions when it came to evaluating the preparedness for battle they knew they lacked both provisions and Manpower and they knew knew it would be a big problem when Mexican forces arrived Colonel James Neil wrote to General Sam Houston pleading their case but because Houston didn’t think he could spare the men
Necessary for the defense he refused the request instead he sent Colonel James Bowie and a small force of about 30 men to remove the fort’s artillery and then destroy the building when Bowie arrived he realized he didn’t have the animals necessary to transport the artillery he was quickly convinced the location held
Real strategic importance and decided to try and make the case directly to the Texas provisional government Boe argued that the fort needed more troops and more weapons if they were to withstand The Siege but it didn’t work the provisional government was in a state of complete disarray and couldn’t muster
Any support even if Houston or the Texas provisional government had agreed to help it’s not clear it would have made any difference both Bowie and Travis had badly overestimated how long they had until Santa Ana’s attack Santa Ana Siege to take the Alamo began on the 23rd of February
1836 rumors of the Army’s imminent arrival had residents of nearby beay fleeing Travis didn’t believe the reports but nonetheless had a lookout placed on the San Fernando church bell tower only a few hours later Scouts reported Mexican troops about a mile and a half outside the town the Texans were
Still struggling to put together the Manpower weapons and supplies they needed for an ongoing Siege they were far from ready when Santa Ana marched into San Antonio with an overwhelming force of approximately 1,500 troops by comparison the Alamo Mission Defenders were only 188 strong as if being greatly
Outnumbered wasn’t bad enough many of the Texan soldiers were merely volunteers who weren’t properly trained as soldiers nonetheless when Santa Ana raised the red flag that signified the Defenders would be given No Quarter The Defenders held their ground Travis responded by firing a cannon back at the Mexicans Bowie thought that provocation
Was a bad idea and sent an emissary to meet with Santa Anna Travis who resented Bowie’s interference sent his own Emissary both emissaries were received by the Mexican troops and told that any surrender would have to be unconditional once this news was delivered to Bowie and Travis they settled their
Differences and defiantly fired the Cannon Together the Defenders of the Alamo were ridicul ously outnumbered and outp powerered but at least they had a tough battle Harden leader like Colonel James Bowie to help them through right well no not really Bowie actually took ill on the second day of The Siege and wasn’t
Able to physically assist his men in the defense at all two doctors including the fort surgeon tried to diagnose him but neither could determine what was wrong the colonel was occasionally carried out to rally and encourage the troops but historians believe it likely had the opposite effect seeing their leader and
Ostensible MVP so sick was probably more demoralizing to the mostly inexperienced Squad than anything else finally In The Bleak remaining days of the Alamo Bowie transferred his half of the leadership to Travis Bowie would die with the rest of the Defenders of the Alamo but his
Family who were at the fort with him would live through the siege the siege of the Alamo ended on March 6th 1836 it lasted 13 days during which time all 188 Defenders were killed only women and children were spared though the loss was pretty decisive historians estimate the
Meager Force managed to wound or kill roughly 600 Mexican soldiers but more importantly the encounter triggered a fighting spirit in the Texans that would become a battlecry for the Revolution and ultimately lead to the state’s Independence today the Alamos still stands right next to a shopping mall times have
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