Side of church.<BR>Mission San Antonio de Valero was founded in 1718 as the first Franciscan mission on the San Antonio river. Like other missions at the time, it was intended to convert the local population of Coahuiltecan Indians into Catholic, tax-paying citizens of New Spain. Abandoned in 1793, it was alternately used as a garrison and fort by both the Mexican army and Texan revolutionaries, culminating in the famous battle of March 6, 1836. The name Alamo was adopted after 1803 either because of its early occupation by Spanish soldiers from Alamo de Parras (modern-day Coahuila), or in reference to a nearby grove of cottonwood trees. Alamo is the Spanish word for cottonwood.