15,697
edits
Changes
no edit summary
<dh-ad/>
==== Accounts of Death ==How did Bowie Die at the Alamo? ==
Andrea Castanon de Villanueva, more commonly known as Madam Candelaria, gave several different accounts as a witness to the siege at the Alamo. They all conflict as to the manner in which Bowie was killed but concur as to the symptoms of his illness. Descriptions of Bowie's condition by other witnesses concur with Candelaria's account of him having shortness of breath, a continued cough, rapid pulse and fever, and the loss of "considerable flesh."<ref>Maurice Elfer, ''Madam Candelaria: Unsung Heroine of the Alamo'' (Houston: Rein, 1933),9.</ref> It must be noted; however, that the credibility of Candelaria must be closely scrutinized as she had no medical or nursing background and often contradicted herself in interviews. In an 1890 interview she was convinced he was "very ill of typhoid fever," while in an interview from 1899, she stated that Bowie was "afflicted with consumption."<ref>Bill Groneman, ''[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1556228465/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1556228465&linkCode=as2&tag=dailyh0c-20&linkId=f25e7db795530fa1ef53bfc5b9faefc1 Eyewitness to the Alamo],'' (Plano: Taylor Trade Publishing, 1996), 107.</ref>
[[File:bowieinbed.jpg|thumbnail|200px|left|Depiction of Jim Bowie fighting at the Alamo from his death bed. Painting by Charles A. Stephens, 1898.]]</ref>
Generally, there are no respiratory symptoms associated with typhoid fever.</ref> <ref>Groneman, 122. Pulmonary consumption was a term used in the 19th century for what is currently known as tuberculosis.</ref> Henderson Yoakum, a prominent lawyer, historian, and congressional representative from Texas made a strong argument refuting Candelaria’s claim to having been Bowie’s nurse. In a letter dated January 8, 1870, to an unknown recipient, Yoakum argues that Juana Alsbury nursed Bowie at the Alamo and that Madam Candelaria was not even present at the time of the siege.<ref>Henderson Yoakum, “The McArdle Notebooks,” (Austin, Texas State Library), 29. Yoakum deduces that Mrs. Alsbury would have been the choice to nurse Bowie as she was the niece of former governor Veramendi and Bowie’s sister-in-law. The note claims that Alsbury was not aware of another woman nursing Bowie.</ref>
Conflicting evidence is not new to the story of the Alamo as myths and legends have been abundant since March 6, 1836, the day Santa Anna's troops toppled the Alamo and slaughtered its defenders. One that was once believed to be fact, which has since been refuted by historians, is that Bowie fell from a parapet resulting in an injury that caused his physical decline. Medically this was possible if his injury resulted in a pulmonary embolism. Emboli are often the result of a blood clot traveling from the leg to the lungs; however, they can also develop from a fatty deposit dislodging from a broken bone. If Bowie had fallen from such a height, a fracture of one of his ribs, or any bone, was highly probable. Untreated emboli are fatal and the symptoms, which include shortness of breath, chest pain, and a bloody cough, present themselves with sudden onset.<ref>Carter, Interview.</ref> All of these elements fit the description of Bowie’s illness, yet there has not been documentation found to substantiate him having fallen. The only documented and undisputed testimony is that Bowie was bed-ridden at the time of the assault on the Alamo.
All of Bowie's so-called nurses agreed that he was bedridden at the time of the siege, yet a soldier with Santa Anna's army denied seeing Bowie or anyone else in bed when the Mexican army stormed the compound. In his diary, ''With Santa Anna in Texas,'' Jose Enrique de la Pena vividly describes the scene on the morning of March 6, 1836, as one of blood bloody confusion and unfathomable carnage. According to de la Pena, Travis did not withdraw when the Mexican troops scaled the walls of the fortress; rather he died fighting. He described the others as "terrified defenders" who " withdrew" and "bolted and reinforced the doors."<ref>Jose Enrique de la Pena, ''With Santa Anna in Mexico,'' Carmen Perry, ed. and trans. (College Station: Texas A&M Press, 1975), 50-51.</ref>
====The Most Probable Cause ====
