Building Fluency through Reader s Theater Remember the Alamo Harriet Isecke
Remember the Alamo Harriet Isecke
Associate Editor Torrey Maloof Editor Wendy Conklin, M.A. Editorial Director Dona Herweck Rice Editor-in-Chief Sharon Coan, M.S.Ed. Editorial Manager Gisela Lee, M.A. Creative Director Lee Aucoin Illustration Manager/Designer Timothy J. Bradley Cover Designer Lesley Palmer Cover Art The Granger Collection, New York SuperStock The Library of Congress Publisher Rachelle Cracchiolo, M.S.Ed. Remember the Alamo Story Summary Henry McArdle is an artist who wishes to paint a portrait representing the Battle of the Alamo. He meets with Santa Anna, the former president of Mexico, to learn more about what happened at the battle. Mrs. Dickinson, whose husband was killed at the Alamo, also meets with them. She wants to tell the American side of the battle. The story flashes back in time to the Battle of the Alamo. Santa Anna s troops raided the Alamo mission and killed many Texans, despite the brave defensive attempts of William Travis, James Bowie, and Davy Crockett. The story concludes with Mrs. Dickinson, Santa Anna, and Henry reflecting on the battle and whether it strengthened Texas s fight for freedom from Mexico. Teacher Created Materials, Inc. 5301 Oceanus Drive Huntington Beach, CA 92649 http://www.tcmpub.com ISBN 978-1-4333-0541-2 2010 Teacher Created Materials, Inc. Reprinted 2011 2 3
Tips for Performing Reader s Theater Tips for Performing Reader s Theater (cont.) Adapted from Aaron Shepard Don t let your script hide your face. If you can t see the audience, your script is too high. Look up often when you speak. Don t just look at your script. Talk slowly so the audience knows what you are saying. Talk loudly so everyone can hear you. Talk with feelings. If the character is sad, let your voice be sad. If the character is surprised, let your voice be surprised. Stand up straight. Keep your hands and feet still. Remember that even when you are not talking, you are still your character. If the audience laughs, wait for them to stop before you speak again. If someone in the audience talks, don t pay attention. If someone walks into the room, don t pay attention. If you make a mistake, pretend it was right. If you drop something, try to leave it where it is until the audience is looking somewhere else. If a reader forgets to read his or her part, see if you can read the part instead, make something up, or just skip over it. Don t whisper to the reader! 4 5
Remember the Alamo Characters Act 1 I want to thank both of you for meeting with me today. I know it was not an easy decision for either of you. Henry McArdle Santa Anna Mrs. Dickinson William Travis James Bowie Davy Crockett May I call you Henry? Yes, of course. Setting The story begins at Henry McArdle s house in 1874. From there, the scene flashes back in time to 1836 at the Battle of the Alamo. Texans at the Alamo desperately try to keep out the invading Mexican troops. The Texans cut holes in the walls of the rooms, so they can fire at the approaching soldiers. Many women and children hide in the chapel. After 13 days of fighting, Santa Anna s troops manage to break through the Alamo s walls. The reader s theater concludes at Henry McArdle s house. Frankly, Henry, I am pleased that you wanted to meet. I am glad that you have an open mind. I am working on an Alamo project, and I need to know what happened. I am glad that you want to know the truth about the Battle of the Alamo. Many of your countrymen avoid the truth. They just wish to believe the myths and lies. What do you mean? Why do you say that? 6 7
I was accused of being cruel and power hungry. That was a lie! I had the right to stop the rebellious Texans from seceding. Mexico could not be strong if the people in its provinces could do whatever they wanted. I see what you are saying. You were one country. Yes. And this one country needed one set of laws. Mr. Santa Anna, it is not as simple as that, and you know it! Your attack on the Alamo was vicious! What you did to the people there was brutal! Henry, I am glad you want to know what really happened. I am just wondering what your Alamo project is and why you need our help. I intend to paint a very important piece of art about the Battle of the Alamo. It is vital that I capture what really occurred. I want the people who view it to know the truth. I was there at the final battle of the Alamo. I was also there for the 13 days of carnage before it. I know that your forces, Mr. Santa Anna, were cruel, indeed. I watched as my husband, Captain Dickinson, was killed. I watched as you ordered the cold-blooded murder of all the men who survived the battle. Let me remind you, I am President Santa Anna. Show me some respect. Sir, your own people had you exiled. I do not wish to call you by your old title. Actually, I should call you Dictator! You claimed you were the dictator in 1835. Don t you remember? Please, both of you calm down. We will need to listen to each other. If we do not, we have no hope of learning the whole truth. Please Mrs. Dickinson, let s just both address President Santa Anna by his title, if that is what he wants. But more importantly, I would like both of you to talk about what happened. President Santa Anna, could you start? I am glad to explain all of the events. I will start at the beginning. The Texas rebels said they wanted freedom or they would secede from Mexico. 8 9
What did they mean by freedom? I see what you are saying. They wanted the freedom to own slaves. You know, as well as I do, that slavery was outlawed in Mexico just as it was in Europe. The Texans also wanted the freedom to give the United States more land. Getting Texas was just one more step in America s Westward Expansion. Texas had more Americans than Mexicans in it. Does that seem right to you? The Constitution of 1824 gave the provinces so much power that foreigners wanted to live there. That was not right! That is not true. It was your new harsh rein over the Texans that caused the problem. The Texans lived peacefully under the Mexican Constitution of 1824. As soon as you came into power as president, you revoked that constitution. The people were fine before that. It was your fault! But, I thought Mexico did this on purpose. The war with Spain in 1821 left your government almost broke. They wanted people to settle in the provinces. But, they could not protect them. So, they gave the settlers power. They wanted them to be able to protect themselves in case of an American Indian raid. That is what I heard. Isn t that right? That is what I had heard, as well, President Santa Anna. I was told that you felt that the Constitution gave the Texans too much power. I heard you wanted to control things yourself. As I have said before, Mexico is one country. I could not let the different provinces do whatever they wanted, and I could not let them make their own laws. That might have been true in the 1820s. But by 1830 we did not want all of the Americans there any more. We needed to control our own country. The Americans thought they could do whatever they wanted. I had to put a stop to it. That is why I revoked the Constitution. I knew the plans of the rebels and their friends. I heard about the War Party and the Peace Party. I heard what they did at the Mexican Consultation. 10 11
What do you mean, President? What did they do? These Texans met in November of 1835. They met to decide the goals of their revolution! The War Party wanted independence from Mexico. The so-called Peace Party would only agree to be part of Mexico if they could go back to the 1824 Constitution. And you felt that gave the Texans too much power. I disagree with you. I am proud of what I did! First of all, the Alamo was not just a mission. It was a very important fort. There were only two main roads that led into Texas from Mexico. The Alamo blocked one of them. The people there were influencing other Mexican provinces to secede, as well. I had to stop them quickly and with sufficient force! But isn t it true, President, that the people in the Alamo were poorly armed and had few supplies? You must have known that. Yes, you are correct. I could not accept either of these parties. I had no choice. I had to squelch them! I knew my best option was a surprise attack. So, I did it! That did not matter, Henry. They were determined to win. I just knew that they needed to be stopped before things got completely out of control. But, you did not have to be so brutal. The Alamo was just a mission house, and there were very few people there. Why did you have to send thousands of troops to kill the few Alamo defenders? You spared only the women, the children, and a few slaves. You should be ashamed! Even if you believe what you say is right, once you killed most of the fighters at the Alamo, why did you order the prisoners to be killed, as well? You can blame that on your own commander, William Travis. 12 13
What do you mean by that? Act 2 He was rude and insulting. Even when he was obviously losing the battle, he flatly refused to admit defeat. And besides, I did spare the women and children. Didn t I have you and your baby brought to a place where you could be safe? Didn t I even give you some money, Mrs. Dickinson? I certainly did not have to do that, you know. That is true. You did treat us with some kindness. But, I do not think you understood what was going on in the minds of the brave men who defended the Alamo. If you did, you would not have killed all of the prisoners because of William Travis. My husband and William were close friends. I would like to invite both of you to look back in time to examine the small group of men who were trying to save the Alamo. Then, you will see what really happened. That would be wonderful, Mrs. Dickinson. Maybe then we will know the whole truth. James, I know it has not been easy for us. But, I want you to know that I think it is a good thing that we are both commanding the troops here. The men need both of us to help them protect the Alamo. With you commanding the volunteers and me the regular army, perhaps we can hold off the Mexicans. We will do our best. But as you know, our supplies are dangerously low. We have almost no food or gunpowder left. And we certainly do not have enough men! That is true. When I arrived here on the eighth of February, I only added 12 men from Tennessee to the troops already here. And from what I understand, William, you brought only 30 men a few days earlier. Am I right? You are correct. I did wonder why there were not more men here when I arrived. I was surprised considering the danger here. The Alamo is important to Texas. We need to defend it. You got here first, James. What did you find? 14 15
It was quite grim here from the start. I remember when I first received word from Sam Houston that Santa Anna was leading a huge attack on the Alamo. There were only 104 men here. I arrived with 30 more. I knew it was not enough. I told Houston that. Did he offer to send more troops? To whom did you write letters, James? I wrote to Governor Smith, for one. I asked him to send money. I also asked for rifles and gunpowder. I told Smith that if we give up the Alamo, Santa Anna will just continue his conquests. I also told him that we would rather die here than give it up to the enemy. And I meant it! He did not! In fact he did just the opposite. He thought things were too bleak here. So, he refused to send more men. He heard that Santa Anna was moving toward the Alamo with 4,500 troops. He said we had no chance of saving the Alamo. He ordered me to remove all of our weapons and to destroy the Alamo ourselves. He did not want it to get into Mexican hands! What? He wants us to blow up the Alamo ourselves! He wants us to give up everything without a fight? That is ridiculous! If Santa Anna succeeds, Texas will be lost! That is certainly true for me. I believe in the cause of Texas. I think Texans have the right to be free, and I believe that the men here have the right to defend themselves. I am glad to be here with my men. I have heard about your bravery my whole life, Davy Crockett. There are some wild stories about you as a hunter. Your strength is renowned. I am glad you are here. I thought it might be difficult for you to come. Weren t you in the Tennessee Congress? Do not worry, William. I am not going to let that happen. First of all, I already told Houston that we do not have enough oxen to move the weapons to a safer place. Furthermore, I told him that we have to save the Alamo. I also wrote letters to others to get help. That is correct. I was tired of just being a hunter, but I was even more tired and fed up with politics. I had to come. This is the cause I want to defend! 16 17
I feel the same way. I know things are bad here, but I see a few hopeful signs. It was nothing short of a miracle yesterday when our men came back with enough corn and beef for a month. I m surprised they found so much! Stop! Listen! Do you hear that? It sounds like cannon fire just outside the fort. I can hear voices. James, you speak Spanish. Can you make out what any of them are saying? They said they got it from the abandoned houses. They also found some muskets. But they did not find much gunpowder for our cannon. We still have fewer than 200 men here. I think we are going to need a bigger miracle than finding food to make it out of here alive. We may not have many men, but the ones we have are determined. They will fight to the end. James, do you think the Mexican troops will be here soon? I think that might be Santa Anna s voice. Let s be very quiet. I must listen. Men of Texas, hear me now. You must surrender! If you refuse, we will take the fort, and I will make sure that every one of your men is killed. We have thousands of troops arriving by foot, and you have absolutely no chance of winning this battle. Our weapons are fierce, and you can no longer hold out. I repeat, you must surrender immediately! I do. And there is no doubt about it; we are in grave danger. Some of the men have brought their wives and children to the Alamo for safety. I heard that Almaron Dickinson fetched his wife, Mrs. Dickinson, and their new baby girl. They are both at the Alamo. My wife s cousins are there, too. I am worried about them. None of us are safe! (yelling) We will not! We will never surrender! William, what are you doing with that cannon? My words are not enough, so I will answer Santa Anna with a shot from our cannon! That will show him! Santa Anna, listen to this! We shall never surrender or retreat. Look at our flag. It is still waving proudly, and it will remain! 18 19
If we must die, at least it will be for a good cause! I don t think we will die. And, I hope we will not have to wait much longer for help to come. I have written a letter and addressed it to the people of Texas and all Americans in the world. I asked them for the men and the supplies we so desperately need. Captain Martin has promised to deliver the letter. I told them that we expect that three to four thousand Mexicans will arrive in the next few days. If they ignore us, I will continue the fight as long as possible. Then, I will die like a soldier. I will never forget my honor or my duty. It will be victory, or it will be death! I don t know exactly what is wrong. But, I know I cannot sit here for even another minute. I must lie down, but you have my promise. I will command my troops from my bed as long as I am able. Put my bed in the main square because I want my men to see me, so I can encourage and command them. Poem: To the People of Texas and All Americans in the World I am with you William. What about you, James? I m determined, but I am not feeling well. You are not looking well. What is the matter? 20 21
Act 3 My husband has told me that all is lost. Those were his last words. Could it be true? I m afraid so, Mrs. Dickinson. Look over there beyond the walls. Santa Anna has raised a blood-red flag. Men, there are so few of us. And, there are so many Mexicans. But even so, you have been brave and valiant. I know that we have not gotten much sleep in the last 13 days. The enemy has tormented our ears each night with their bands playing that music. The buglers with their constant call of el deguello, or slit throat, have been without mercy. But, you have all shown the strength of mind to see this through. What does that mean? Unfortunately, his intentions are all too clear. He will not let any of us survive. Once his men are inside, that will be it. He won t even let us surrender. Mrs. Dickinson, William and James are addressing the men. Let s listen to what they are saying. Men, this will be our final battle. The Mexicans have been bombarding the Alamo for the past 13 days. They have done this without stopping. Thousands of them are just beyond these walls. We do not have much longer, I am afraid. I want you to know that you are the bravest and most patriotic men I have ever met. I am very proud to have served with you. I want to commend James Bowie in front of all of you. He has not let his own grave illness stop him. He has been with us every minute. I am sure I speak for all of us when I tell him how thankful we are. It has been a challenge to command you from my sick bed. But, it has also been a privilege to command such brave men. From what we can see, the Mexicans have continued to attack the Alamo on all four sides. They have four different columns of men. Furthermore, they have closed off our escape routes. Our north wall is very weak. I think they will break through soon now. 22 23
We do not have enough men to defend both the walls of the Alamo and to fight the invading Mexicans when they get through. Do what you can, men. Good-bye, my friend. I will fight to the end. Good-bye, William. I will think of the cause with every last breath I take. And bless you for your courage. Davy, I am more frightened than ever. Why didn t we get more help? Don t the Americans know how desperate we are? Maybe now there are troops on their way to help us. We sent letters requesting help. But, there has been a great problem. What kind of problem? Mexican troops, I am your president. Listen carefully. You must follow my orders closely. Do not leave any man alive. We will not take prisoners in this war. Every one of our enemies will die here today. I hope that is understood! I see there is a man with a gun aimed at me. But, he will not kill me. Not before I fire one last shot at him! Oh, no! My husband was right. All is lost. The women and children here are helpless. What will become of us? I understand that Santa Anna has many troops patrolling the countryside. Their job is to stop us from escaping. They also have prevented any new troops from coming to help us. Wait! Listen! Do you hear that crashing sound? We are not finished here until all of the men have been killed! But, do not kill any of the women and children. We will take them to safety when our work here is complete. Oh, no, here they come! But, what will happen to us? We have no money and no place to go! Our babies will die of hunger. Please, someone help us! 24 25
Act 4 That was incredible! I certainly have a lot to think about before I attempt the painting, but I also have some questions. Was the last battle a long one? The whole battle took only 90 minutes. But, it was a very bloody one. Even though there were only 189 Texans and thousands of Mexicans, the Texans fought until the very end. Seven American defenders survived the bloody battle, and Davy Crockett was one of them. They were brought in front of Santa Anna. I told William that if he did not surrender on the first day, all of the men would be killed. He made that choice. I was just true to my word, Mrs. Dickinson. That s what great leaders do. Tell me what happened. What happened to James Bowie and Davy Crockett? James Bowie was too sick to rise from his bed. But the Mexicans showed no pity. They slaughtered him in his bed with their bayonets. The most awful was the death of Davy Crockett. Why? What happened to him? The general who brought Davy Crockett to you, President Santa Anna, asked that he and the other six men be spared. But you did not care and ordered their execution on the spot. At first, your commanders would not even follow your orders. It was the officers standing next to you that did the evil deed. They lunged forward with their swords in hand. They killed these defenseless men. Even though these men were slaughtered like prey, they died without complaining. Is this true, President Santa Anna? 26 27
It is true, but as I said before, I am proud of what we did. The Alamo was part of Mexico. We had the right to fight off the Americans. You seem to forget that the Texans wanted slaves, and they were trying to grab our land for America. Just because America is bigger than Mexico does not mean that they can take over our land. The Texans fought us fiercely. Many of our men died, as well. You could have avoided all of this, President Santa Anna. And you know it. All you had to do was let us Texans have some rights. This battle made us more determined than ever to secede from Mexico. I think it was this resolve that helped us win at San Jacinto just a month later. The courage of our men will not be forgotten. The words Remember the Alamo! have energized us ever since. And, I am sure they will continue to do so forever! In the end, Mexico did lose Texas. Do you think the Battle of the Alamo helped the American cause? Song: Texas, Our Texas I do. Even though we lost all of our men who were defending the Alamo, their sacrifices were not in vain. It was a proud day in Texas history. Proud indeed! I do not think trying to grab land from another country should make you proud! 28 29
To the People of Texas and All Americans in the World adapted from a letter by William B. Travis Fellow citizens and compatriots, I am besieged by more than a thousand soldiers under Santa Anna. I have been continually bombarded for 24 hours, But have not lost a man. The enemy has demanded a surrender, Otherwise, we are to be put to the sword if the fort is taken. I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, And our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of liberty, of patriotism, And everything dear to the American character, To come to our aid, with all dispatch. The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily And will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in a few days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible And die like a soldier who never forgets What is due to his own honor and that of his country. Victory or Death. This poem has been adapted from a letter written by Lt. Col. William Barret Travis on February 24, 1836, during General Santa Anna s final siege of the Alamo. Texas, Our Texas by William J. Marsh and Gladys Yoakum Wright Texas, our Texas! All hail the mighty State! Texas, our Texas! So wonderful so great! Boldest and grandest, withstanding ev ry test O Empire wide and glorious, you stand supremely blest. Chorus: God bless you Texas! And keep you brave and strong, That you may grow in power and worth, Thro out the ages long. Texas, dear Texas! From tyrant grip now free, Shines forth in splendor, your star of destiny! Mother of heroes! We come your children true, Proclaiming our allegiance, our faith, our love for you. Chorus This is an abridged version of the complete song. 30 31
Glossary Battle of the Alamo the 13-day battle and siege at the Alamo Mission in San Antonio, Texas, that began on February 23, 1836 and ended on March 6, 1836 bayonets blades made to attach to the end of rifles carnage very bloody slaughter on the battlefield dictator a controlling ruler who takes complete power over his or her country Mexican Consultation a meeting of the Texas colonists in which they discussed their pre-revolutionary quarrel with Mexico Peace Party representatives at the Mexican Consultation who wanted Texas to remain part of Mexico, but under the 1824 Constitution of Mexico provinces small areas of land, usually away from the mainland of a country, that belong to that country, but that often have some level of self-rule rebellious wanting to act against those in charge revoked cancelled, stopped, or repealed seceding the act of breaking ties with a country, organization, or union valiant brave and courageous War Party representatives at the Mexican Consultation who wanted Texas to be independent from Mexico 32
Henry McArdle: C h a r a c t e r s artist Mrs. Dickinson: president of Mexico Texan commander of the Texan army commander of the volunteers Tennessee frontiersman TCM 11541