Using recently discovered Mexican accounts of the battle, the historian wrote that the defenders of the Alamo in the war for Texan independence did not die defending their garrison under brilliant sunlight.

Instead, the Mexicans launched a surprise pre-dawn attack, climbing the walls under cover of darkness and causing mayhem in the fort while most of its defenders were still asleep.

Bowie is rumoured to have been bayoneted in his bed.

According to a diary kept by Colonel Jose Enrique de la Pena, an officer in Santa Anna’s army, Crocket was captured with a handful of others and executed.