You’ve probably heard of the Alamo. Everyone has. But most people don’t realize that the famous 1836 battle wasn't the first time blood was spilled over that old mission. Months before Santa Anna arrived with his massive army, there was a gritty, house-to-house urban brawl known as the Siege of Bexar. It was messy. It was desperate. Honestly, it’s the only reason the Texans were even inside the Alamo in the first place when the Mexican army returned in the spring.
The story starts in late 1835. Texas was a powder keg. While we often think of the Texas Revolution as a clean-cut war for independence, back then, it was more of a civil war within Mexico. Many Texans—and some local Tejanos—were actually fighting to restore the Mexican Constitution of 1824, which General Antonio López de Santa Anna had basically tossed in the trash.
San Antonio de Béxar was the strategic heart of the region. If you controlled Bexar, you controlled the gateway to the Texas settlements. By October, Mexican General Martín Perfecto de Cos (who happened to be Santa Anna’s brother-in-law) had fortified the town with about 1,200 soldiers. Outside the walls, a ragtag bunch of Texan volunteers started to gather. They didn't have uniforms. Most didn't have bayonets. They just had long rifles and a stubborn refusal to leave.
A Siege That Almost Failed
For weeks, the Texans just sat there. It was boring. Cold weather started to set in, and the volunteers were getting restless. They weren't soldiers; they were farmers and adventurers who had crops to tend to back home. Stephen F. Austin, the "Father of Texas," was initially in charge, but he left for the United States to seek support. Command fell to Edward Burleson.
💡 You might also like: Tauranga Weather Forecast: Why the Bay of Plenty Often Defies the Models
The plan was simple: starve them out. But the Texans were the ones starving. Desertion was rampant. By early December, the Texan leaders were actually ready to pack it up and retreat to winter quarters. They thought the Mexican defenses were too strong.
Then everything changed because of a few brave individuals and a lot of guts.
A Mexican officer deserted and brought news that morale inside the town was bottoming out. Even then, the Texan high command hesitated. That’s when Benjamin Milam stepped up. Legend has it he made a famous plea: "Who will go with old Ben Milam into San Antonio?"
It worked. About 300 men stepped forward. They weren't going to wait for a formal surrender anymore. They were going in.
Brutal House-to-House Fighting
The Siege of Bexar wasn't a grand Napoleonic battle on an open field. It was a nightmare of urban warfare. On the morning of December 5, 1835, the Texans split into two columns. One was led by Milam, the other by Frank W. Johnson.
They didn't just charge down the streets. That would have been suicide against Mexican cannons and sharpshooters positioned on the rooftops. Instead, the Texans used "mouse-holing." They broke into a house, fought for the room, then literally hacked holes through the adobe walls to get into the next house.
It was slow. Brutal.
The smell of black powder smoke filled the narrow streets. You have to imagine the sound—the constant crack of Kentucky long rifles versus the heavy boom of the Mexican Brown Bess muskets. The Texans had an advantage in marksmanship, but the Mexican troops had the high ground and the fortifications.
On the third day, the Texans suffered a massive blow. Ben Milam was shot in the head by a Mexican sniper while crossing between the Veramendi and Garza houses. He died instantly. Usually, losing a leader like that breaks a volunteer force. But this time, it just made them angry.
The Texans pushed harder. They eventually captured a strategic spot known as the "Priest’s House," which gave them a clear line of fire into the main plaza. By December 9, General Cos realized his position was untenable. His troops were exhausted, and a group of reinforcements that arrived were more of a liability than a help because they brought more mouths to feed but no supplies.
The Surrender and the Aftermath
General Cos hoisted the white flag from the Alamo mission, which he had been using as a final fallback point.
The terms of the surrender were surprisingly generous. Burleson allowed Cos and his men to leave with their sidearms and one private piece of property each, provided they promised never to fight against the Constitution of 1824 again. (Spoiler: Santa Anna didn't care about that promise).
The Texans took the town. They took the cannons. They took the Alamo.
This is the part that most history books gloss over. The victory at the Siege of Bexar gave the Texans a false sense of security. They thought the war was over. Most of the volunteers went home, leaving only a tiny skeleton crew behind to garrison the town. They didn't realize that Santa Anna was already marching north with thousands of men, fueled by a desire for revenge for his brother-in-law's humiliation.
Why the Siege of Bexar Still Matters Today
If you visit San Antonio today, you can still walk the path of this battle. While the Alamo gets all the glory, the streets around Main Plaza and Military Plaza are where the real grit of the revolution happened.
The siege proved that the Texan "citizen-soldier" could stand up to a professional army in a prolonged engagement. It also highlighted the deep involvement of the Tejano population. Men like Juan Seguín were vital to the Texan cause, acting as scouts and fighters. This wasn't just an "American" vs. "Mexican" fight; it was a complex struggle for regional autonomy.
The Siege of Bexar also left the Texans with a massive logistical problem: they were now responsible for defending a sprawling, crumbling mission (the Alamo) with almost no resources. The victory in December 1835 directly set the stage for the tragedy in March 1836.
How to Explore the History Yourself
If you’re a history buff traveling to San Antonio, don't just stand in the line at the Alamo and call it a day. To really understand the siege, you need to see the town layout.
- Visit the Spanish Governor’s Palace: It’s one of the few original structures left and gives you a sense of the adobe architecture the men were fighting through.
- The Veramendi House Site: Look for the historical markers on Soledad Street. This is where Ben Milam was killed. It puts the scale of the "mouse-holing" tactics into perspective.
- Main Plaza (Plaza de las Islas): This was the heart of the Mexican defense. Stand there and imagine cannons placed at the corners, sweeping the streets.
- The Bexar County Courthouse: Right nearby, you can find more markers detailing the movements of the Texan columns.
Moving Forward with Texas History
Understanding the Siege of Bexar changes how you view the entire Texas Revolution. It wasn't a sudden explosion of violence; it was a grinding, political, and physical struggle.
To dig deeper, your next step should be looking into the primary accounts from the period. Reading the letters of Stephen F. Austin or the journals of the volunteers provides a much more human perspective than a textbook ever could. You start to see the doubt, the hunger, and the sheer luck that played into the Texan victory.
Check out the archives at the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library or the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA) Handbook for digitized records of the men who fought there. Seeing the actual muster rolls makes the "300 men" feel a lot more like real people and less like a legend.
👉 See also: Giant Buddha Leshan China: Why It’s Still The World's Most Insane Engineering Feat
The San Antonio of today is built right on top of these old battlefields. When you walk down the Riverwalk or grab a taco near the cathedral, you're literally walking over the ground where the Texas Republic was born—not in 1836, but in the cold December of 1835.
Actionable Insights for History Enthusiasts:
- Read the Surrender Documents: Look up the "Capitulation of General Cos." It’s fascinating to see the formal language used between two "civilized" armies right before the war turned into a "no quarter" conflict.
- Map the Columns: Get a map of San Antonio from 1835 and overlay it with a modern Google Map. You’ll see that the distance the Texans covered was incredibly small, making the four days of fighting seem even more intense.
- Explore the Tejano Perspective: Research the role of the Bexar residents. Many were caught in the middle, their homes literally being destroyed by both sides as they tunneled through walls.
The Siege of Bexar was the necessary prologue to everything that followed. Without it, there is no Alamo, no San Jacinto, and no Texas as we know it today.