SAN ANTONIO -- There's a new battle under way for control of the Alamo -- and just like the Texas legend, neither side shows any sign of surrender.
For more than a century, the Daughters of the Republic of Texas -- nearly 7,000 women who trace their pedigrees back to the origins of the Texas Republic -- have had total control of the Alamo, the state's most revered historic site. They maintain what's left of the old mission, manage its historic exhibits and run the gift shop. They don't charge admission, and the site doesn't cost the state government a penny.
Erin Bowman, a Daughter of the Republic of Texas, formed a splinter group, and says the organization doesn't 'understand how to do business.'
.Now a small group of renegade Daughters has broken away, saying the Daughters' outmoded traditions and iron grip on the "Shrine of Texas Liberty" are holding back progress and preventing much-needed preservation work from moving ahead. They liken their declaration of independence to Texas's own split from Mexico in 1836.
"We're still fighting for the same things," says Erin Bowman, the 60-year-old leader of the breakaway group, called Friends of the Alamo. Ms. Bowman's family has owned the same ranch in Independence, Texas, since the days of the Republic more than 150 years ago.
The Alamo has long inspired passion among Texans. Built in the 18th century by Spanish missionaries looking to convert the local Indians, the Alamo gained its place in Texas history in 1836, when about 200 Texas settlers died trying to defend the fort from Mexican forces. Among the dead: soldier Davy Crockett, famed knife-fighter Jim Bowie and Lt. Col. William Travis, who promised never to surrender or retreat. The battle cry, "Remember the Alamo!" helped inspire Texans to defeat the Mexican army a month later, securing Texas's independence.
But Texans haven't always agreed on what, exactly, the Alamo stands for. It has been used as a symbol of patriotism by the U.S. military, the Confederacy and modern-day Texas secessionists. The stone plaza outside the mission in the heart of San Antonio has attracted antiwar rallies, antitax protests and white-supremacist gatherings. Rocker Ozzy Osbourne famously urinated on a monument outside the shrine in 1982 for reasons that remain unclear. The site has been enshrined in the American consciousness through movies like John Wayne's 1960 "The Alamo," and it draws some 2.5 million visitors every year from around the world.
Remembering the Alamo
1724 - Spanish missionaries begin construction of the Mission San Antonio de Valero, later known as the Alamo.
1793 - The Spanish government turns the Alamo and other San Antonio missions over to the local Indian populations.
Early 1800s - Spanish troops are stationed at the mission, which they call the Alamo after their hometown, Alamo de Parras.
December 1835 - Texas settlers led by Ben Milam take control of San Antonio from Mexican troops and establish a base at the Alamo.
MPI/Getty Images
The Texan defenders of the Alamo fought Mexican soldiers.
.February - March 1836 - Mexican forces led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna lay siege to the Alamo, which is defended by about 200 Texas troops.
March 6, 1836 - Gen. Santa Anna's forces attack the Alamo, killing its defenders.
April 21, 1836 - Texan forces led by Sam Houston defeat Gen. Santa Anna at San Jacinto, leading to Texas's independence.
December 1845 - Texas is admitted to the United States.
1883 - The state of Texas buys the Alamo chapel from the Catholic church.
1891 - Daughters of the Republic of Texas is founded.
1905 - The Texas legislature names the Daughters as the official custodians of the Alamo.
Everett Collection
.1955 - Walt Disney television series "Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier" helps bring the Alamo legend to public attention, despite historical inaccuracies.
Everett Collection
.1960 - John Wayne stars in "The Alamo"
1982 - Ozzy Osbourne is arrested for urinating on a monument outside the Alamo; he later apologizes.
1994 - State Rep. Ron Wilson introduces a bill to turn control of the Alamo over to the state. The bill fails.
Eric Gay/Associated Press
Members of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas celebrated the 100th anniversary of custodianship of the Alamo on Oct. 5, 2006.
.May 2007 - The Daughters vote to launch a $60 million capital campaign and appoint Erin Bowman to lead it.
May 2008 - The Daughters fire Ms. Bowman from her volunteer position
April 15, 2009 - Thousands of protestors fill the plaza in front of the Alamo for an anti-tax "tea party."
July 2009 - Ms. Bowman founds Friends of the Alamo.
.As its official caretakers, the Daughters have been roiled by their own disagreements since the Texas legislature handed over the keys in 1905. In 1908, one Daughter barricaded herself inside the complex during a battle with other group members over plans for the site. (A local sheriff finally threw her out a week later.)
Their spats -- over parking spaces, new exhibitions, officer elections -- have become the stuff of local legend. "It's almost automatic. Every four years, they have a fight," says Marco Barros, president of the San Antonio Area Tourism Council.
The Daughters say their reputation for infighting is exaggerated. Both sides deny they are waging a battle even now. "There is no feud. There's not two sides," says Madge Roberts, who served as president-general of the Daughters until May. A fourth-generation Daughter, Ms. Roberts traces her lineage back to Sam Houston, the first president of the Texas Republic. She dismisses Ms. Bowman and her group as just "unhappy women."
The crux of the current dispute is money. Both sides agree the Alamo needs to raise millions to fund a preservation and expansion program, including a new library. But they disagree over how to go about doing it.
The site has professional staff of about 85 tour guides, security guards, groundskeepers and store clerks, but little gets done without the Daughters' say-so. No check can go out without a Daughter's signature, and even minor decisions require a vote by the Daughters' 24-member board.
The system, along with the internal battles, makes it difficult to get things done, says former director David Stewart, who resigned in May after seven years on the job. "It's a real trip to work for 6,700 women," Mr. Stewart said. The Daughters say they weren't aware of his complaints until after Mr. Stewart left.
The group has shunned traditional tools of nonprofits; ideas like a "friends" program to encourage big donors, an annual fund and an official logo never got off the ground, say former insiders. Instead, they have relied on sales of souvenir coonskin caps modeled on the one supposedly worn by Mr. Crockett, toy "Bowie" knives and pistol-shaped shot glasses in their own Alamo gift shop to provide more than 90% of the site's roughly $5 million annual budget.
In 2007, though, the Daughters realized they needed a huge injection of money to finance plans for Alamo preservation and expansion, and voted to launch an unprecedented $60 million fund-raising campaign. The group appointed Ms. Bowman to lead the effort.
She tackled the job in a way the group says it didn't expect. For example, she met with potential donors without telling Ms. Roberts, then still the president-general. In a break from the Daughters' do-it-yourself style, she brought in an outside fund-raising firm. She brushed aside offers by local Daughters' chapters to hold bake sales or other small fund-raisers.
"They are very nice people. They just don't understand how to do business," Ms. Bowman says of the Daughters.
Ms. Bowman secured a $1 million gift and several smaller donations in seed money for the campaign. But relations with the Daughters' leadership deteriorated as they fought over how much autonomy Ms. Bowman should have.
In May 2008, the Daughters ousted Ms. Bowman from her volunteer position, citing various violations, including submitting grant applications without getting Ms. Roberts's signature as president-general.
"She's very attractive. Very personable...I think she lost track of the fact that she was not above the rules," Ms. Roberts says.
In the months since, Ms. Bowman has been undeterred. Though technically still a Daughter, she formed Friends of the Alamo and continued raising money. She set up a Facebook page for her group and keeps her supporters updated on Twitter.
"We are looking to the future," Ms. Bowman says, adding that the Daughters have been "completely focused on, 'We've been great for 105 years.' "
Last week, three members of the Daughters' board sent a letter to Ms. Bowman saying they were seeking to expel her and one of her supporters from the group. "It would be sheer idiocy for the DRT to tolerate members who seek to torpedo the DRT's legitimate fund-raising efforts," the letter read. Ms. Bowman says she will hire a lawyer to fight the expulsion. Ms. Roberts says she hadn't seen the letter but that it was sent in accordance with the Daughters' bylaws.
With the Alamo roof leaking and major preservation work needed, the Daughters say they'll still accept any money Ms. Bowman raises. But Ms. Bowman has other plans. She wants the Texas Historical Commission to spearhead Alamo projects, and says she'll steer her money there, effectively cutting the Daughters out of the process. The commission says it has no plans to take a larger role in the Alamo's management.
The Daughters group, meanwhile, is plowing ahead, too. Members have formed their own fund-raising membership program, and the group is planning to launch a drive to collect small change at local schools. They recently received a donation of $1,624.80 that had been raised by children in the tiny East Texas town of Center. Says Ms. Roberts: "Those thousand dollars mount up eventually."
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