Excerpts from Books and Wikipedia
"Mexico responded to the demand with military force, and an army of some 6000 commanded by General Santa Anna besieged around 200 Texans in the Alamo, a derelict mission station turned fortress at St. Antonio. . . . Mexico's capture of the Alamo proved a Pyrrhic victory, however, winning time for the leader of the Texan rebels, General Sam Houston, to gather troops in preparation for his later victory over Mexico at the battle of San Jacinto. The 'Lone Star' state thus established its independence, but soon joined the United States." [Furtado: 1001 Days] "The Mexican government had made a major mistake when, soon after independence, it allowed slave-holding US southerners to settle in Texas. When Mexican centralists tried to limit Texas autonomy, these settlers, eventually outnumbering Mexicans, rebelled and, in 1836, declared Texas an independent republic. They were determined to preserve slavery, which Mexico had formally abolished in 1829. Although defeated at the famous battle of the Alamo, the Anglo-Texans won the war and remained independent for almost a decade." [Born in Blood & Fire: A Concise History of Latin America, 4th Ed., p. 158-9]