{"id":5261,"date":"2026-03-06T15:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T21:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/?p=5261"},"modified":"2026-03-23T09:14:56","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T14:14:56","slug":"3-alamo-survivors-inspire-strength-for-your-disaster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/3-alamo-survivors-inspire-strength-for-your-disaster\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Great Alamo Survivors Who Inspire Strength In Your Biggest Disaster"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
The Alamo survivors often overlooked with the most powerful lessons for encouragement are women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Much is made of the legendary defenders \u2014 William Barrett Travis, James Bowie, and Davy Crockett.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, how about the women?<\/p>\n\n\n
\nThe San Jacinto victory followed the fall of the Alamo. Photo: State Preservation Board, Austin, TX<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
Three women who survived the Alamo show us how to face disaster with courage and resilience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
The Forgotten Courage of the Alamo Survivors<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Cold days and nights are distinctive in Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nothing to block the wind, which is what the Alamo volunteers suffered the night of March 5, 1836, when Davy Crockett serenaded raw nerves with his violin right before Mexican troops stormed the walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Right after the siege, the survivors, all women and some children, asked to search for the bodies of their loved ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Santa Anna denied that request, and they were marched through a sea of blood to the home of Don Ramon Musquiz, an official who owned a boarding house on the main plaza of San Antonio.<\/p>\n\n\n
\nSusanna Dickinson historic marker on Commerce Street in San Antonio.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
How did they overcome?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Susanna Dickinson: Courage After Catastrophe<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Susanna Dickinson knew that adaptability was critical for her survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After the massacre,<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
She journeys on horseback with her daughter and two slaves to give Sam Houston the tragic news and Santa Anna\u2019s threat.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
She flees to East Texas in the \u201cRunaway Scrape.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
She moves to Houston and works in boarding houses.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
She ultimately moves to Austin and marries a German businessman.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
The best survivors let go of the way things used to be and adapt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Susanna finished her life in a mansion on a farm at today’s 32nd<\/sup> and Duval Street in Austin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe took life as it came, lived it on the best terms she could get, and achieved a measure of contentment.\u201d\u00a0<\/em> \u2014 James L Haley, Guest Curator, Dickinson Museum<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many folks refuse to recognize circumstances they can\u2019t control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But not Susanna Dickinson.\u00a0 She recognized that life has its ups and downs and adjusted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ana Salazar Castro Esparza: Survival in the Chaos<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Ana Salazar Castro Esparza emerged from the slaughter with determination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She was willing to die in the battle and expected this fate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Her son, Enrique Esparza, told San Antonio journalists in a series of interviews from 1901-1911 that his mother survived the 13-day siege but became sick with pneumonia shortly after. And then she worked through hard financial times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAfter the president (Santa Anna) had given my mother her two dollars and a blanket, he told her she was free to go where she liked.\u00a0 We gathered what belongings we could together and went to our cousin\u2019s place on North Flores Street.\u201d <\/em> \u2014 Enrique Esparza<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After Ana died in 1849, the Esparza brothers became successful farmers and developed a lucrative freighting business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An African proverb describes women like Ana Esparza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe wind does not break a tree that bends.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n
She picked herself up and passed a legacy of resilience to her sons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/mark>Andrea Casta\u00f1\u00f3n de Villanueva: The Nurse of the Alamo<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
On April 13, 1891, the Texas legislature awarded Andrea Casta\u00f1\u00f3n de Villanueva a government pension of $120 a year for her nursing services to the sick and wounded during the siege.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She confirmed her nursing role in many interviews, including care for Jim Bowie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Andrea navigated the split allegiance of her family because her father was loyal to Mexico and General Santa Anna, while her uncles sided with the Texas patriots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The word \u201ctenacity\u201d comes from the Latin \u201ctenacitas,\u201d the act of holding fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Tenacity was Andrea\u2019s superglue in tough times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She persisted when others let go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, life hurts everyone, but tenacity absorbs pain and suffering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Andrea had an indomitable spirit. In her life after the Alamo, she . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n
nursed the sick during smallpox epidemics<\/li>\n\n\n\n
raised 22 orphan children<\/li>\n\n\n\n
gave money to stranded travelers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Yes, life hurts everyone, but tenacity absorbs pain and suffering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the spring of 1901, President William McKinley visited San Antonio by train, where he was presented with a fresh painting by famed artist Vernor Moore White.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was the Alamo with the image of\u00a0Andrea Casta\u00f1eda de Villanueva.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n1901 Alamo with the image of Andrea Castanon de Villanueva\/Vernor White<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n
How fitting that a painting with a brave Hispanic nurse hung in McKinley’s White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"San](\"https:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/San-Jacinto-battle-flag-blo-1024x935.jpg\")
![\"Susanna](\"https:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/Muzquiz-residence-site-blog.jpg\")
![\"Alamo](\"http:\/\/blog.steveblaising.com\/content\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/1901-Alamo-painting-by-Vern-1.jpg\")