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Republic of Texas

The untrained soldiers who fought at the Alamo believed freedom and the struggle for a better life were worth dying for.

Its peculiarly local exuberance is nourished by rare traditions and an untamed individualism.

This Is Texas. Improbable event, incredible success, unprofitable loyalty, colossal hardship, heart-breaking failure went into its making.
We marked the 150th anniversary of the Texas Revolution with two articles in our February issue.

None of its defenders survived, so that legends obscure their fate. But the facts do no dishonor to these beleaguered men, sworn to fight on until the end “at the peril of our lives, liberties and fortunes”

Both grimness and beauty touch this haunting fragment of America’s past

This is an old tale, and not a pretty one; it is a true tale, a real “Western,” although it wouldn’t go on TV. It sounds to me like a ballad—the ballad of Cynthia Ann.

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