The justification for the war was that it stated that the Mexican Army had attacked a military unit belonging to the United States within the borders of the United States. To provide some information about the war, many Americans had made trips to the upper territories of the Mexican Providences. Santa Fe, which as a disputed area claimed by Texas, became a hot spot for American business and eventually war. Thousands of Americans poured into this area, mostly Southerners who brought their slaves and cotton with them. By the 1830s the Mexican government saw that thousands of Americans were building homes here and claiming them as their own. The beginning of the problem was when Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna took political power and the main goal was to restore order in the Santa Anna area and surrounding areas. The Texans rebelled led by William B. Travis and took refuge in the Alamo. The Mexican government sent in waves of men and killed all 187 rebels. Later in the city of Goliad, the Mexicans found more rebels and executed them all. An American general named Sam Houston took his army and crushed by surprise Santa Anna's troops and the Texans they had created