Moses Rose - Presence in The Alamo

Presence in The Alamo

The evidence for Rose's cowardice at the Alamo is thin. It is known that Louis Rose of Nacogdoches testified on behalf of the estates of five men who may have been at the Alamo. In each of these cases he made statements similar to “left him in the Alimo 3 March 1836”. In none of his testimony did Rose explicitly state that he was a member of the Alamo garrison, or that he had entered the Alamo and later escaped. In at least one case, the man on whose behalf he testified had not been at the Alamo, although he had the same name as one of the known Alamo defenders; in a second case, the man (Henry Teal), was later proved to have died after the battle's conclusion.

Popular legend holds that Rose was a member of Colonel James Bowie's forces and had fought during the siege of Bexar, and that he then joined Bowie in reinforcing the Alamo Mission in San Antonio de Bexar in late January 1836. The available records do not permit historians to confirm these accounts. Rose's name is not found on any muster rolls for the siege of Bexar. Neither a Louis nor a Moses Rose is listed on the muster rolls that James C. Neill compiled for the Alamo garrison on December 31, 1835, or February 1, 1836, although Bowie was listed on the latter document.

On the other hand, a man named “Rose” from Nacogdoches was listed as an Alamo victim in the March 14, 1836, issue of the Telegraph and Texas Register. This first attempt to name the men at the Alamo was compiled by John William Smith, one of the last couriers to leave the Alamo, and Gerald Navan, who probably also left the Alamo as a courier. Alamo survivor Susanna Dickinson testified in 1853 and again in 1857 that the only man named “Rose” of whom she knew in the Alamo was James Rose, who accompanied Davy Crockett and who had died.

Historian Thomas Ricks Lindley speculates that Louis “Moses” Rose had intended to fight at the Alamo and had joined volunteers who attempted to reinforce the Alamo on March 4. According to Lindley, while fifty or so of the volunteers successfully entered the Alamo complex, the remainder were driven away by Mexican troops. Rose may have been in the group that was repulsed, and either had seen some of his comrades enter the Alamo, or assumed that they had successfully entered.