They should have escaped
senseless slaughter.
shareDavy Crockett's remark to one man he encountered on the way to the Alamo, "You can go to Hell and I will go to Texas", suggests he was aware of the possibility of not coming back alive. At least he knew it was not going to be a picnic.
I thought the American settlers were deliberately trying to stall the Mexican army, or at least, draw its attention away from other American settlements in an effort to give the U.S. military more time, which chose to engage war on Mexican forces at a later date.
~~/o/
If I'd been in Santa Anna's shoes with 7,000 men I'd have had say 1,500 surround the Alamo and sent the rest after Houston.
September 25, 2021 Saturday 9:40 PM ET
*EDITED (September 25, 2021 Saturday 9:50 PM ET)
Apologies for not responding to you sooner. I wanted to go a little more in-depth here:
It's hard to say, really, if that would have helped Santa Anna or not. It's my understanding Anna did not enjoy a feasible or realistic way of defeating the Americans [my fellow countrymen], one way or another. His troops were highly in need of having some sort of victory to ensure the battle morale of the soldiers under his command would not deplete. Any likely victory he could manage mattered, and the Alamo happened to be strategically important due to its location. It initially being a mission cannot be understated with the above implications about the forthcoming hostilities.
Anna deserves a more nuanced approach historically, in my opinion, being an underappreciated statesman, who is often portrayed as an elitist, aloof out-of-touch leader among some historians, depending on who you ask. For comparison's sake, imagine being in Imperial Japan's shoes going up against a recovering industrial juggernaut as typified by the United States during World War II, or juggling difficult logistics as the Confederate States attempting a perimeter of fortifications in the midst of the American Civil War, fighting the U.S., its sister; nothing but sure-fire loss due to prolonged fighting from attrition.
The previous American-centric visuals aside, as we can see, emotions can run high, continuing through generations regardless of the passage of time. It seems conflicts take a long time to heal from, even after peaceful resolutions and diplomacy between two or more groups have resumed following such events. A proverb among East Asians, for instance, bears in mind: [my own paraphrase] "To those who have brought harm to you and your loved ones; show them forgiveness and justice. To those who have shown you kindness, likewise, show them kindness." I take this to mean that because we live, life is to be respected with the utmost care.
~~/o/