The Man from the Alamo

Download or read book The Man from the Alamo written by John Humphries and published by Pelican Publishing. This book was released on 2005-11-30 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John Rees, soldier and freedom fighter, was a shadowy figure who surfaced during two crucial nineteenth-century revolts and then disappeared from history. For the first time, author John Humphries reveals the fate of the man, first mentioned as a member of the New Orleans Greys, who fought for Texan Independence at the Alamo and narrowly escaped execution at the Goliad Mission. Later, Rees was one of the main agitators in the doomed Welsh Chartist movement. Twenty-two men died during the Chartist attack upon the Westgate Hotel when a detachment from the 45th Regiment of Foot, hidden behind the hotel's shuttered windows, discharged their muskets into the crowd. For waging war against the monarch, thirteen of the Chartist leaders were indicted for high treason in the last great show trial in British legal history, while Rees escaped back to the American West. Rees' spectacular journey from the bloodied sands of Texas to the last armed uprising on British soil is only one of the stories told in this book.