Juana Navarro Alsbury

Juana Gertrudis Navarro Alsbury (1812 – July 23, 1888) was one of the few Texian survivors of the Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution in 1836. As Mexican forces entered her hometown, San Antonio de Bexar, on February 23, Alsbury's cousin by marriage, James Bowie, brought her with him to the Alamo Mission so that he could protect her. Bowie, the co-commander of the Texian forces, collapsed from illness on the second day of the siege; Alsbury nursed him throughout the remainder of the siege. On March 4, Texian co-commander William Barret Travis sent her as an emissary to Mexican commander Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna to negotiate an honorable surrender for the Texian forces. She made no headway, and her visit likely increased Santa Anna's impatience to end the siege in a spectacular fashion. Santa Anna launched an early-morning assault on the Alamo on March 6.

Most Texian troops were killed during the Battle of the Alamo. Two of them died in front of Alsbury. One Texian was killed trying to protect Alsbury, her sister Gertrudis, and her young son Alejo Perez Jr., from Mexican troops. The other was found hiding in her room. The women were rescued by a Mexican officer and interviewed by Santa Anna before being released.

Alsbury belonged to a prominent family within San Antonio de Bexar and was raised by her uncle Juan Martin de Veramendi, who briefly served as governor of Texas. She married three times. Her first husband died of cholera; the second, Dr. Horace Alsbury, was captured by Mexican forces during the Mexican–American War; after his death, she married a cousin of her first husband.

Early years Juana Gertrudis Navarro was born in San Antonio de Béxar (modern San Antonio, Texas) to José Ángel Navarro and Concepción Cervantes. Her exact birthdate was unrecorded, but she was baptized on December 28, 1812. The Navarro family was well known in Béxar; both Juana's father and his brother, José Antonio Navarro, held prominent positions in local government.

Juana was about 17 when her mother died on January 30, 1830. Juana's father remarried almost a year later in January 1831. She and her younger sister Gertrudis were adopted by their father's sister, Josefa Navarro, who was married to Juan Martín de Veramendi. Veramendi served as governor of Coahuila y Tejas from 1832 to 1833. Although Juana spoke little English, she and her family socialized with the prominent Anglo families in Béxar, including Samuel and Mary Maverick.

In 1832, Juana married Alejo Pérez Ramigio, Her husband died of the same disease in either 1834 Texians launched their own armed rebellion, known as the Texas Revolution, in October 1835. Over the next two months, Texians successfully removed all Mexican troops from the region. Their actions infuriated Mexican president Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who immediately began preparations to invade Texas. Most of the Navarro family supported the Texian cause. An exception was Juana's father, who joined Santa Anna's new Army of Operations in Texas as an officer.

In January 1836, Juana married again, to Dr. Horace Alsbury. The couple had known each other for some time; Alsbury had many meetings in Béxar with James Bowie, the widower of Juana's cousin Ursula. Alsbury left his family with Bowie, a colonel in the Texian militia.

At some point on the second day of the siege, Bowie collapsed from illness. He was confined to his bed and Juana acted as his nurse. Throughout the siege, the Mexican army kept up a continual bombardment, while the Texians were forced to conserve their ammunition and rarely respond. Conditions were difficult for the women and children in the fort. There was little food, and the constant noise made it difficult to sleep. The Texians were vastly outnumbered, although between 32 and 80 additional men were able to break through Mexican lines to join them in the Alamo, bringing Texian numbers to approximately 250.

The following evening (March 4), Travis sent Juana to negotiate an honorable surrender for the Alamo defenders. Fellow survivor Susanna Dickinson misinterpreted Juana's mission and, years later, accused her of deserting the Texians to provide information about their defenses to her father, who served on Santa Anna's staff. Historians place no credence in the theory that Juana spied for the Mexican army, but acknowledge that her visit likely increased Santa Anna's impatience to end the siege. As historian Timothy Todish noted, "there would have been little glory in a bloodless victory". The following morning, Santa Anna announced to his staff that the assault would take place early on March 6. During the battle, Juana and her son and sister hid in one of the rooms along the west wall. When Mexican soldiers threatened them, a Texian defender charged into the room to defend them; he was quickly killed, as was a young Tejano who took refuge in the room.

A Mexican officer entered the room and forbade the soldiers from harming the women and child. When the battle ended, almost all of the Texians were dead. Juana and her family were escorted out of the Alamo by her former brother-in-law, Manuel Pérez, who was a soldier in Santa Anna's army. Pérez took them to the home of her father. Each woman was given a blanket and two silver pesos. The survivors requested permission to find the bodies of their loved ones and give them a proper burial, but were denied by Santa Anna.

Juana and her sister were in an awkward situation. Many Anglos in Béxar considered all Mexicans traitors to the Texas Revolution. Many of those in Béxar still loyal to Mexico considered Juana and her sister traitors for being in the Alamo. The Mexican government refused to recognize the new Republic of Texas. In September 1842, Mexican general Adrian Woll invaded Texas and captured Béxar. He arrested several dozen Texians, including Horace Alsbury, and marched them into Mexico. Juana followed as far as Candela, Coahuila. She waited there for almost two years, until Horace Alsbury was released in 1844. The couple returned to Texas. or 1847. The interview took place over 50 years after the battle, and the resulting synopsis was written in the "romantic post-Civil War language of hyperbole that was fashionable in the 1880s". As one of only three accounts by Texian survivors, Juana's interview is "among the most relied upon sources about these non-combatant women and children." The interview was not published until 1995, when it appeared in historian Timothy Matovina's book The Alamo Remembered: Tejano Accounts and Perspectives.