Vicinity of the Storming of Bexar

The attack nearly did not happen. With winter coming and supplies short, Edward Burleson considered pulling back to Goliad, and fear that the Mexicans knew the plan nearly broke up the army. When a Mexican officer deserted with word of falling morale, Ben Milam and William Gordon Cooke rallied more than 300 volunteers, while James C. Neill shelled the Alamo before dawn on December 5 as a diversion. Milam was killed by a sharpshooter on the 7th. Ugartechea arrived on the 8th with about 600 men, most of them untrained conscripts, and four companies of Cos's cavalry rode away.

What the plaque says

Vicinity of the Storming of Bexar (December 5-9, 1835) First of four major engagements of the War for Texas Independence, this sanguinary battle ended a siege of six weeks. The assault began at dawn, Dec. 5. 300 volunteers (Texans, Mexicans,and Americans) under Cols. Frank W. Johnson and Benjamin R. Milam attacked 1,200 Mexican troops commanded by Gen. Martin P. de Cos defending San Antonio, then known as Bexar. Two columns advanced into the strongly fortified town along Acequia (now Main) and Soledad streets guided by townsmen John W. Smith (first mayor of San Antonio), Hendrick Arnold (famous scout and free Negro), "Deaf" Smith (who helped destroy Vince's Bridge at Battle of San Jacinto), and Samuel A. Maverick (a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence). The Texans gained the "priest's house" Dec. 8 after bitter house-to-house fighting. This Mexican strong point dominated Main Plaza. Covered by a fusillade of musketry, the Mexicans retired to the Alamo and sent a white flag to the Plaza the following day. An honorable truce with a brave enemy was signed on Dec. 10 in the "Cos House" in historic La Villita. Later engagements--fall of the Alamo and massacre at Goliad--were followed by final victory and Texas Independence at San Jacinto, April 21, 1836. (1971)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• San Fernando Cathedral — steps away
  The Canary Islanders' parish church on Main Plaza, where Bowie married and Santa Anna raised a red flag, rebuilt in Gothic Revival around the walls of the 1750s church.
• Spanish Governor's Palace — steps away
  The last visible piece of the Presidio San Antonio de Béxar: a presidio captain's house with a 1749 keystone, a century as shops and saloons, and a romantic 1930 restoration.
• Casa Navarro State Historic Site — 0.3 mi
  The adobe and caliche-block home of José Antonio Navarro, a native-born signer of the 1836 declaration, and the last remnant of the Tejano neighborhood called Laredito.
• San Antonio River Walk — 0.3 mi
  A Depression-era park one level below downtown, built because San Antonio refused to pave its river after the 1921 flood, and designed by an architect the project later fired.

More markers nearby

• San Antonio Mutual Aid Association — steps away
• The Canary Islanders — steps away
• The Casas Reales — steps away
• T. C. Frost and the Frost Bank — steps away