Identifying the Alamo defenders began immediately after the 1836 battle. Tejanos (Mexicans born in Texas) and American colonists held off the Mexican army for two weeks before the March 6 siege brought death to all combatants inside. Of the 256 known defenders, one previously escaped and 43 were either out scouting or left several days earlier by taking advantage of General Santa Anna's amnesty offer to Tejanos inside the mission. The bodies, including William B. Travis, James Bowie and Davy Crockett, were cremated on pyres and abandoned. Alamo scout Juan Seguín was on a run that day, and a year later officiated at the collection and burial of those ashes at a site later forgotten. Remains thought to be those of the Alamo defenders were discovered at the Cathedral of San Fernando during the Texas 1936 centennial and re-interred in a marble sarcophagus. (Full list...)