Mica­jah Autry [1. From The Hand­book of Texas Online.]had made his choice. Once he’d entered the Alamo his fate had pretty much been sealed. Out­num­bered and out­gunned, he and the band of rebels that occu­pied the mis­sion were wait­ing for the inevitable attack they knew would come.

He had vol­un­teered for mili­tia duty dur­ing the War of 1812 and, fol­low­ing the war, had prac­ticed law in Jack­son, Tenn. While on a busi­ness trip to New York City and Philadel­phia he heard about land oppor­tu­ni­ties in the new ter­ri­tory of Texas. Deter­mined to make an even bet­ter life for his wife and chil­dren he set off in 1835 aboard a steam­boat from Nashville.

Once there he joined up with the rebels fight­ing the forces of Anto­nio López de Santa Anna. On Jan­u­ary 13, 1836 while in Nacog­doches he enlisted in the Vol­un­teer Aux­il­iary Corps of Texas under the com­mand of Capt. William B. Har­ri­son. He and oth­ers, includ­ing Davy Crock­ett, set out for Washington-on-the-Brazos. He arrived in San Anto­nio de Bexar (soon to be San Anto­nio) with his com­pany on Feb­ru­ary 9 and joined the Alamo gar­ri­son under the com­mand of Lt. Col. William Bar­rett Travis.

But one thing made Autry stand out; he was an expert marks­man. Because of his skill with a long rifle he was cho­sen by his com­pany to attempt to elim­i­nate Santa Anna, who often walked out in the open across the grounds near the Mex­i­can bat­tle lines. Whether out of arro­gance or clue­less­ness he didn’t seem to under­stand that a sniper might try to take a shot at him.

Dur­ing one such walk by the Mex­i­can dic­ta­tor, Autry raised his long rifle and took aim as his com­pa­tri­ots looked on, and fired. In that moment, the his­tory of Texas and Mex­ico might have been changed, but either because of ner­vous ten­sion or the great dis­tance to the tar­get, Autry’s bul­let went wild and Santa Anna scram­bled for cover. After a siege last­ing 13 days, Autry fell with his com­rades at the stock­ade near the chapel, over­whelmed by the Mex­i­can troops.