The very first battle, which the mighty United States Army faced after the Mexican-American War was the Battle of the Eight Mile Plain, where the first Native American warriors defeated the greatest military force ever to enter the New World. In the event, most of the Indians were routed and hundreds of thousands of men were taken prisoner and as such depended upon eight mile plain doctors.
For the United States, the Battle of the Alamo showed the best example of a general and tactical retreat from battle, but in this case it was only one battle in a war that involved several other battles and regions. “We were still a country at war,” said general Lea, who was in command of the Texan forces in San Antonio at the time.
The main reason for the nature’s remoteness was due to the conditions of the terrain. Nature, especially the terrain, could be brutal when it came to handling the rigors of war.
To the south of the city, low, high, rugged ground covered the mountains, while to the north, the high, pine-covered mountains provided the range from which the Texans held their position. Both sides were supplied by the Rio Grande.
The Texas Rangers, as the troops were known, had to climb two-foot high walls to gain their objective. The hard, rocky terrain often caused painful shivers when troops broke through. It also made it extremely difficult to reach the more vital areas of the battle.
General Lee did not have any detailed, two- or three-page battle reports prepared for his men, so he improvised with general plans of an attack. Because of the stiff Spanish resistance, he knew the battle was lost the minute the British troops arrived on the field.
“The generals took no interest in the finer points of the general plan, as to timing or order of attack,” wrote George Bassett, who was in command of the troops in San Antonio at the time. Instead, he preferred to follow orders and follow the battle, “as most of the latter concerned the pursuit of fugitives from the Garrison.”
Lea’s men, however, were not content to get back to their homes and take time off. They marched back to the city on a horseback column, destroying bridges and roads to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of the chaos.