Col Juan Seguin2

Today in Texas History Alamo Defenders Final Resting Place On February 25, 1837, Juan Seguín led a formal military burial detail to inter the ashes and bone fragments of those who died at the Alamo, after Mexican president and General Antonio López de Santa Anna had the bodies burned on funeral pyres. What follows are Seguín’s remarks that day, as they appeared in the Columbia (Houston) Telegraph and Texas Register on April 4, 1837. Seguín speaks from one of the reputed spots where the bodies were incinerated. ✭ Companions in Arms!! These remains which we have the honor of carrying on our shoulders are those of the valiant heroes who died in the Alamo. Yes, my friends, they preferred to die a thousand times rather than submit themselves to the tyrant’s yoke. What a brilliant example! Deserving of being noted in the pages of history. The spirit of liberty appears to be looking out from its elevated throne with its pleasing mien and point to us saying: “There are your brothers, Travis, Bowie, Crockett, and others whose valor places them in the rank of my heroes.” Yes soldiers and fellow citizens, these are the worthy beings who, by the twists of fate, during the present campaign delivered their bodies to the ferocity of their enemies; who, barbarously treated as beasts, were bound by their feet and dragged to this spot, where they were reduced to ashes. The venerable remains of our worth companions as witnesses, I invite you to declare to the entire world, “Texas shall be free and independent or we shall perish in glorious combat.” Colonel Juan N. Seguín Commandant San Antonio, Bexar, Texas Army of the Republic of Texas ✭ † The actual location(s) of the final resting place(s) of the Alamo defenders’ ashes and bone fragments is difficult to determine with any accuracy or certainty. Within the nave of the San Fernando Cathedral, a few blocks west of the Alamo, sits a sarcophagus. A plaque claims the sarcophagus hold the remains of the Alamo dead. Some sources maintain that the remains are buried at the Odd Fellows cemetery in East San Antonio. All we can say for certain is that the bodies were burned on funeral pyres just south of the Alamo. Bones not scattered by animals or ashes blown away in the intervening year of 1836 and 1837 were gathered and buried somewhere in San Antonio. Probably some (if not all) are interred within the walls of the San Fernando Cathedral. Portrait: Juan N. Seguín; Photo: San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio