Ten Historic Sites Worth Visiting In The United States
3. Alamo Mission, San Antonio, Texas
The Alamo Mission in San Antonio, commonly called the Alamo, and originally known as the Mission San Antonio de Valero, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in San Antonio, Texas. Founded in the eighteenth century as a Roman Catholic mission and fortress compound, it was the site of the Battle of the Alamo in 1836. The Alamo is now a museum in the Alamo Plaza Historic District.
The compound was one of the early Spanish missions in Texas, built for the education of area Native Americans after their conversion to Christianity. In 1793, the mission was secularized and then abandoned. Ten years later, it became a fortress housing a military unit, the Second Flying Company of San Carlos de Parras, who likely gave the mission the name Alamo. During the Texas Revolution, Mexican General Martin Perfecto de Cos surrendered the fort to the Texian Army in December 1835, following the siege of Bexar. A small number of Texian soldiers then occupied the compound for several months. They fought heroically but were defeated at the Battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836. This episode was the turning point of the Texas Revolution as “Remember the Alamo” became the rallying cry in the war against Mexican forces.
