by Barbara J. Wood
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DR. JOHN SUTHERLAND

Dr. John Sutherland

Let us not forget our Texas Irish ...  who are full of life and are no strangers to the battle field. traveled into Mexico on business and worked through dinner with Irish descendants and as well here in the US, adding we hit it off well. Ricardo Rodriguez writes, " My ancestors worked with the children of Alamo Scout Dr. John Sutherland (founder of Sutherland Springs Wilson County Texas) as they worked to build the Methodist Churches all over Texas and only praise was shared with me about his son Rev. Alejandro Sutherland. Where ever l hear drums and bagpipes playing, as with many of you, l will be there cheering them on. "
 
"Truth: my dna 2017 kit showed 74% European. 
Spanish, French, German and as l looked twice, 
yes Irish. Nothing new out there...the dna of a Texan, as we are all connected with a great story. All my ancestors did a GTT from Mexico, since it is faster. Tell the Irish ya love'um...cause they deserve it."
 
The Fighting Irish....
 
The Irish at the Alamo
 
In memorium
 
Samuel E. Burns 
Andrew Duvalt 
Robert Evans 
Joseph M. Hawkins 
William Daniel Jackson 
James McGee 
Robert McKinney 
James Nowlan 
Jackson J. Rusk 
Burke Trammel 
William B. Ward
Issac Ryan
Thomas Jackson
(Please comment if a Irish Defender is not listed)
 
"...The largest proportion of defenders were foreign immigrants from the United Kingdom."
 
From the 1800 Act of Union, the United Kingdom comprised: England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. Of the men that fought and died at the Alamo, 29 are known to be from the United Kingdom.
 
It has not been possible to trace the place of origin of 19 defenders. This suggests that they did not own land or have families in the United States, probably because they were new immigrants. I would suggest that there is more than fair chance that a high proportion, say 30%, of these 19 defenders were from the United Kingdom.
 
The Napoleonic Wars cost the United Kingdom dear, in 1815 unemployment and poverty were rife in Great Britain. The Treaty of Ghent in 1815 ended the War of 1812, between the United Kingdom and the United States, and opened the United States for immigration from the United Kingdom. However, the Irish potato famine did not start until, say, 1841 and did not cause mass emigration until 1845.
 
With this in mind, the proportion of Alamo defenders from the United Kingdom can probably be increased. Excluding: the 7 Tejanos, 2 Germans, 1 Dutchman, and John the black freedman; probably as much as 20% of the remaining 130 were new immigrants from the United Kingdom. Thus, men from the United Kingdom comprised at least 15% and may be 33%.of the defenders of the Alamo.
Submitted by Martin Smith, U.K. (Alamo Forum, November 1997)
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COURTESY / Ricardo Rodriguez " Alamo Legacy & Missions Assoc.