Charles Zanco, defender of the Alamo, son of Frederick Zanco, was born at Randers, Denmark, in 1808. Zanco and his father emigrated to America in 1834 after the death of Charles’s mother. They settled in Harris County, Texas. The Zancos were farmers, and Charles was also a painter by trade. In the fall of 1835 Zanco joined the first volunteers at Lynchburg for service in the Texas Revolution. He helped design the company’s flag, which featured a painted star and the controversial legend, “Independence.” Zanco may have been the first person ever to paint a Lone Star on a Texan flag. He took part in the siege of Bexar as a member of the Texan artillery. He remained in Bexar as part of the garrison under Lt. Col. James C. Neill. He was promoted to lieutenant and served as an assistant to the garrison’s ordnance chief. Zanco entered the Alamo on February 23, 1836, at the approach of the Mexican Army. He died in the battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836.

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William Linn, Alamo defender, was at one time a resident of Boston, Massachusetts. He traveled to Texas from New Orleans as a member of Capt. Thomas H. Breece’s company of New Orleans Greys, took part in the Siege of Bexar, and is listed on the roster of Lt. Col. James C. Neill’s Bexar garrison as having been taken prisoner. It is possible that Neill wrote this list earlier than February 1836 and that Linn had been taken prisoner during the Siege of Bexar and then released after the Mexican capitulation. It is believed that Linn served in the Alamo garrison as a member of Capt. William Blazeby’s infantry company, and that he died in the battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836.

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Antonio Fuentes, Alamo defender, was born at San Antonio de Béxar, Texas, in 1813. He was one of a group of native Texans recruited by Juan N. Seguín for six months’ service during the Texas Revolution. He took part in the Siege of Bexar as a member of Seguín’s company. Fuentes figured in the rift that occurred between William B. Travis and James Bowie just before the siege of the Alamo. He had been found guilty of theft by a jury that included both Travis and Bowie and had been sentenced to jail by Seguín, who acted as judge. When Bowie was elected commander of the volunteers among the troops at Bexar, he got drunk and freed the prisoners. Fuentes was ordered back to jail by Seguín, but at the arrival of the Mexican troops on February 23, 1836, he entered the Alamo with the rest of Seguín’s command. He died in the battle of the Alamo on March 6, 1836.

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Jacob Walker, Alamo defender, was born in Rockridge County, Tennessee, in May 1799. Walker was a resident of Nacogdoches. He took part in the Siege of Bexar and afterwards remained in Bexar as a member of Capt. William R. Carey’s artillery company. Susanna W. Dickinson recalled that, during the siege of the Alamo, Walker often spoke to her about his children. She also recalled that during the battle, Walker rushed into her room pursued by Mexican soldiers who shot and bayonetted him to death as she looked on. Walker was the cousin of fellow Alamo defender Asa Walker and brother of the famous mountain man Joseph R. Walker.

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