Fronteras: 'There's Another Battle At The Alamo' And It's Over A Cemetery

By Norma Martinez,

Lauren Terrazas

Published August 2, 2019 at 4:00 AM CDT

Ramon Vasquez gathers with protestors outside the Alamo at a event held by the Tāp Pīlam Coahuiltecan Nation in 2019.

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Ramón Vásquez gathers with protestors outside the Alamo at an event held by the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation.";

Vanessa Velazquez

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Ramón Vásquez gathers with protestors outside the Alamo at an event held by the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation.";

Vanessa Velazquez

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Protestors gathered outside the Alamo at an event held by the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation.

Vanessa Velazquez

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Protestors gathered outside the Alamo at an event held by the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation.

Vanessa Velazquez

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Ramón Vásquez prepares to read statements at a press conference held by the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation.";

Vanessa Velazquez

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Ramón Vásquez prepares to read statements at a press conference held by the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation.";

Vanessa Velazquez

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Jo Anne Gonzalez Murphy, president and founder of 1718 San Antonio Founding Families and Descendents, and Ramón Vásquez address protestors outside the Alamo at an event held by the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation.";

Vanessa Velazquez

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Vanessa Velazquez

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Jo Anne Gonzalez Murphy and Ramón Vásquez";

Vanessa Velazquez

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Jo Anne Gonzalez Murphy and Ramón Vásquez";

Vanessa Velazquez

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Alamo cemetery map obtained from the application to the Texas Historical Commission for Historic Texas Cemetery Designation, submitted by the San Antonio Missions Cemetery Association.

Ramón Juan Vásquez / AIT

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Alamo cemetery map obtained from the application to the Texas Historical Commission for Historic Texas Cemetery Designation, submitted by the San Antonio Missions Cemetery Association.

Ramón Juan Vásquez / AIT

The Texas Historical Commission designated the Alamo a “Historic Texas Cemetery” in 2019, but local indigenous peoples and descendants of early settlers want to go a step further with an “unverified cemetery” designation.

Ramón Juan Vásquez, executive director of the American Indians in Texas, said members of the Coahuiltecan Nation and descendents of early settlers have fought for recognition of the cemetery for 24 years.

Ramón Vásquez is executive director of the American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions and a member of the Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation.

TheValero Book of Burials reports more than 1,300 early settlers and indigenous peoples were interred on Alamo grounds between 1703 and 1885. Ramón Juan Vásquez, a member of theTap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation, said the unverified cemetery designation would likely result in protections on the historic grounds and that could hinder current renovation work at the Alamo.

The Texas General Land Office and the city of San Antonio partnered to create the Alamo Master Plan and assembled an archaeology committee in conjunction with federally-recognized tribes not from the region. The Tap Pilam Coahuiltecan Nation is a non-federally recognized tribe, whose ancestry can be traced back thousands of years in the South Texas region. They were not invited to be part of the committee.

Next week, the Fronteras team will talk with a representative from the General Land Office about the cemetery controversy, and we’ll get the latest on the restorations at the Alamo.

Norma Martinez can be reached at norma@tpr.or and on Twitter @NormDog1 and Lauren Terrazas can be reached at lauren@tpr.org and on Twitter @terrazas_lauren.