The Battle of the Alamo occurred from 23 February to 6 March 1836 when an army of 1,800-6,000 Mexican Army troops under President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and his brother-in-law Martin Perfecto de Cos besieged a small Texian Army garrison of 185-260 troops under William B. Travis and James Bowie at the Alamo mission in San Antonio de Bexar (present-day San Antonio, USA). The defenders of the Alamo had been ordered to burn the mission and retreat to join Sam Houston's main army, but Travis wanted to fight to the death rather than turn and run, and all of the defenders of the Alamo decided to die with him. The defenders were besieged for one month, but they were massacred after a 90-minute assault on the mission on 6 March 1836. The deaths of all of the Texan defenders made them martyrs, and the Texian Army would use the rallying cry, "Remember the Alamo!" whenever they were faced with the opportunity to capture Mexican troops; they took no prisoners, just as the Mexicans had done.
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