Synopses & Reviews
The discovery of an additional week's worth of entries in the diary of Josand#233; Enrique de la Peand#241;a has opened another chapter in the longstanding controversy over the authenticity of the Mexican officerand#8217;s account of the Battle of the Alamo.
In this expanded edition of With Santa Anna in Texas, Texas Revolution scholar James E. Crisp, who discovered the new diary entries in an untranslated manuscript version of the journal, discusses the history of the de la Peand#241;a diary controversy and presents new evidence in the matter. With the and#147;missing weekand#8221; and the perspective Crisp provides, the diary should prompt a new round of debate over what really happened at the Alamo.
When it was first translated and published in English in 1975 by Carmen Perry, With Santa Anna in Texas unleashed a fury of emotion and an enduring chasm between some scholars and Texans. The journal of de la Peand#241;a, an officer on Santa Anna's staff, reported the capture and execution of Davy Crockett and several others and also stated the reason behind Santa Anna's order to make the final assault on Travis and his men. Whether or not scholars agree with de la Peand#241;a's assertions, his journal remains one of the most revealing accounts of the Texas Revolution ever to come to light.
Review
andldquo;. . . an indispensable book, especially for readers trying to understand the revolution from the point of view of the Mexican army.andrdquo;andmdash;Stephen Harrigan, author of Gates of the Alamo
About the Author
Carmen Perry served as director of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library at the Alamo and as an archive translator and cataloger for the University of Texas at San Antonio.James E. Crisp is an associate professor of history at North Carolina State University at Raleigh.