With Santa Anna in Texas: A Personal Narrative of the Revolution [Paperback]

Jose Enrique de la Pena (Author), Carmen Perry (Translator), James E. Crisp (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The wartime diary of a Mexican army officer includes a description of the fall of the Alamo and of Davy Crockett's subsequent execution.

Copyright 1992 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Spanish

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Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: TAMU Press; Expanded edition (January 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0890965277
• ISBN-13: 978-0890965276
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #304,275 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read!, December 4, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: With Santa Anna in Texas: A Personal Narrative of the Revolution (Paperback)

The author's attitude is sumarized in his own words - "...one has been led to believe that only those in command have a right to think. It is taken for granted that men in high posts reason best, as if one did not know how these positions have been obtained up to now, pretending that the favoritism lavished on them could also endow them the talents..." Anyone interested in the history of Texas or Mexico will want to read more of the soldier who penned those thoughts.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very important Alamo document. Critiques often fantasy., November 20, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: With Santa Anna in Texas: A Personal Narrative of the Revolution (Paperback)

De La Pena presents a battle recollection not unlike many soldiers' accounts. Perhaps miscounting the numbers of burning corpses on a pyre, or the number of men killed and wounded, etc.,as many memoirs do, he nevertheless opens a window to the horrors and cruelties of the battle and its aftermath. Bayonets or no bayonets? Note that in a report of the inventories of arms and equipment in the town, the arsenal, and the Alamo itself, turned over to Col. F. W. Johnson by subordinates of General Cos in Dec, 1835, there were 257 carbines and muskets, 50 muskets with bayonets, two barrels containing 166 bayonets,thousands of musket cartridges, and hundreds of pounds of powder. The Texans had more ammunition and weaponry than they could use,plenty of bayonets included. There was more artillery in the fort (est 13 -21 guns) than in the Mexican army (10 guns). What the Texans lacked was manpower to use all that equipment. Maybe some of them did stack loaded weapons in ready. Flintlocks can be loaded, but not primed...it's the priming that usually dampens and causes misfires (personal experience). Some of the defenders were members of militia units and knew how to handle military weapons. De La Pena's views actually lean toward much that is verified elsewhere, but they often are contrary to many of the fanciful beliefs and various speculations associated with this battle. His description of the prisoner incident is a genuine attempt by a soldier to record a brutal event that he found to be distasteful and dishonorable...not unlike Crockett's own recollection of his disgust with the Creek War. This book should be carefully read and evaluated by any student of the Alamo. De La Pena is certainly more likely to have been an eyewitness, than any of his modern critics, regardless of whether or not he made errors.

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Controversial, but still worth reading, February 26, 2004

By 

Peter Stines (Anahuac, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: With Santa Anna in Texas: A Personal Narrative of the Revolution (Paperback)

Few books on the Texas Revolution have caused as much furor as this book, and it's primarily because of the brief description of David Crockett's death after the fall of the Alamo. With just a few short sentances, De La Pena earned the wrath of many modern day historians. To suggest that the imortal Davy cowered in fear and begged for his life was unthinkable, especially to "baby boomers". But, for all the nay-sayers out there, if you read this part of the text CAREFULLY, it makes NO SUCH CLAIM. And hero worship is hardly a reason to condemn the work. Taken as a whole, it's obvious that De La Pena was an observant, articulate and some would say a compassionate individual. What many scholars are unaware of, is that De La Pena dictated these pages while he was in prison for his opposition to the Santanista regime. He was deathly ill at the time, and it's very likely that De La Pena put more than a little of his anger towards "El Presidente" into the "diary" Some have suggested that the description of Crockett's death was exaggerated and was recorded as more fodder to use against Santa Anna. Only time will tell