The long-accepted roster of Alamo defenders may be far from complete, according to new historical research that is reshaping the story of the 1836 battle.
For decades, the official list maintained by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas has included 189 names. That number has been the standard reference for historians, descendants, and visitors to the San Antonio shrine.
Now, fresh scholarship suggests the true number of defenders could be significantly higher, possibly reaching 257. The revised Handbook of Texas, published by the Texas State Historical Association, cites current research indicating the actual count may have been much larger than previously believed.
Stephen L. Hardin, a historian at Victoria College who wrote about the Alamo for the revised Handbook, said the new findings challenge long-held assumptions.
"The Alamo problem, as in all of history, is that we think what happened in the past is static," Hardin said. "When evidence to the contrary pops up, it shakes up things and we deny the new because it challenges long-held beliefs."
Hardin noted that reliable accounts from Mexican soldiers at the time of the battle consistently point to a higher number of defenders.
"We keep coming up with a number of bodies at 250 to 257 from what appears to be reliable accounts by Mexican soldiers from the time of the battle," he said.
The only written records left by the defenders were messages sent out by Commander William Barrett Travis before the siege ended. Later testimony from survivors and Mexican army members was contradictory, leaving the facts clouded by myth.
Tom Lindley, a former military criminal investigator turned amateur historian, has also been digging into the archives. He found a Spanish translation of a letter from Texas revolutionary Major R. M. "Three-Legged Willie" Williamson, taken from Travis's body and sent to Mexico.
The dispatch indicated that reinforcements for the Alamo were on their way. Lindley also found evidence that Texian settlers from the Austin region tried to reach the Alamo but were turned away by Mexican soldiers on the outskirts of the mission.
"Almost all things written about the Alamo have been from the inside looking out," Lindley said. "But my research shows what was going on outside, that people were trying to reinforce the Alamo garrison. They just didn't have time."
Both researchers acknowledge their work is speculative given the incompleteness of historical records. Still, they say the evidence has the ring of truth.
Hardin explained that when Travis reported having 150 troops in one of his final letters, he was likely referring to effectives, those present and able-bodied. Survivor accounts mention ill and injured defenders, which would increase the total number inside the mission.
Lindley found one man on the Alamo dead list who also appeared on Colonel James W. Fannin's list of soldiers at Goliad, 70 miles away. "The only way he could have gotten on the Alamo list is if he went there," Hardin said.
Lindley's research tentatively adds 10 new defenders to the Alamo roster: I. L. K. Harrison, Conrad Egenauer, A. Anderson, James Holloway, T. P. Hutchinson, John Mormon, William Spratt, George Washington, William George, and Jacob Roth.
He also lists 11 possible defenders: John Kelly, Francis H. Gray, William Herrell, J. H. Sanders, Alexander E. Patton, James R. Munson, Moses Butler, Philip Roches, B. F. Shaw, Charles C. Haskell, and H. H. Kirk.
At the same time, Lindley would remove six names from the traditional list. Johnny Kellogg died at Harrisburg months after the battle. Jose Maria Guerrero fought at the Siege of Béxar in 1835 and lived to old age. Isaac Robinson was killed by Indians in Bastrop County in 1838, and Jerry Day lived well past March 6th, 1836.
Reports of Alamo martyrdom for Jesse Bowman and Jesse Thompson were simply in error, according to Lindley.
"We'll never probably know everyone who fought at the Alamo," he said. "The record is too incomplete."
The Daughters of the Republic of Texas, long the guardians of the Alamo shrine, welcome the effort to correct the record. Virginia Nicholas, chairman of the group's Alamo Committee, said the organization has invited both researchers to speak at its forums.
"The more research done that gets us to the truth benefits everyone," she said. "If they can prove there are more defenders, we'll be excited to add them or take out those who shouldn't be there."
The group is updating its Alamo brochure to indicate that more defenders may have been inside the walls when the shrine fell.
Lee Spencer, president of the Alamo Defenders Descendants Association, said her group is working closely with historians on the new findings.
"We're pretty excited about this and we are working closely with the historians to see what new names can be added to the Alamo list," Spencer said. "It may be painful to some to have their ancestors subtracted, but the truth has to come first."
Much of the blame for misidentifications falls on Amelia Williams, a University of Texas historian whose 1930s doctoral thesis became the standard for identifying Alamo heroes. Hardin said her research was "largely botched" and "flawed at the core."
Lindley said Williams listed people not at the Alamo among the dead while ignoring those who were there. He said she altered dates, changed the wording of documents, and ignored or manipulated evidence.
Doug Barnett, managing editor of the Handbook of Texas, said the new details will add immeasurably to the mosaic of Texas history. He also noted that Williams's work was groundbreaking in opening up Alamo research.
The historians say their goal is not to tear down the legend but to honor the truth.
"We're not here to take down the myth," Hardin said. "But if we are to run the place as a shrine, it behooves us to identify the dead and to know who they were."
"The myth doesn't overshadow the humanity of those people who in 1836 assembled in the Alamo and did something rather remarkable that cost them their lives," he added. "They didn't go there to die, but they did die there. They gave up their lives. We don't really need to embellish on that."