USA > Texas > Border fights & fighters; stories of the pioneers between the Alleghenies and the Mississippi and in the Texan republic > Part 21
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About four o'clock on Sunday morning, March the sixth, the notes of a bugle calling the Mexican troops to arms rang over the quiet plain, across which the first gray light, precursor of the dawn, was already stealing. Bu- gles all about caught up the shrill refrain, lights appeared in the circling camps, the trampling feet of hurrying men, the commands of the officers, the rattling of arms, the neighing of the horses, all apprised the weary garrison that the moment they had expected was at hand. They were instantly assembled.
What happened as they fell in on the plaza before they went to their several stations? Tradition has it that Trav- is paraded them, briefly addressed them, pointed out their certain fate, as he had sworn never to surrender, and bade any who desired to do so to leave him freely and escape while there was yet time. Not a man availed himself of the permission. "We will stay and die with you," they
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cried unanimously as they repaired to their stations on the outer wall.
Cool, calm, and resolute, they waited the breaking of the battle storm; undaunted by the prospect, unshaken by the fearful odds before them. America has produced no better soldiers! Even the dozen sick men in the long room of the hospital with Bowie were provided with arms, of which, fortunately, they had a good supply, and they, too, shared the same heroic resolution. Ill and well were equally determined.
It was early morning when all the dispositions were made on both sides, and the day was breaking clear, cool and beautiful, a sweet day indeed in which to die for home and country and liberty, in the great cause of human free- dom-so they may have thought as they looked toward the eastward light for the last time. The quiet watchers on the walls presently detected movements in the dark rank of the besiegers. They were coming, then! Music, too, was there. All the bands of the Mexican army sta- tioned with Santa Anna on the battery in front of the plaza were playing a ghastly air called " Deguello "- cut-throat !- that and the red flag speaking of no quar- ter pointed out a deadly purpose. Well, the Texans needed none of these things to nerve their arms. Rifles were lifted and sighted, the lock-strings of the carefully pointed cannon were tightened; they could not afford to throw away any shots, there was no hurry, no confusion.
The Mexicans were nearer now. The bugles rang charge, the close ordered ranks broke into a run. From the east, the west, the north, they came, cheering and yell- ing madly ! A shot burst from the plaza, the crack of the rifles broke on the air, a fusillade ran along the walls on . every side. The cannon roared out, hurling into the
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faces of the Mexicans bags filled with hideous missiles. The advancing lines hesitated, paused, halted, fled! The first assault was beaten off, the ground was covered with dead and wounded; comparative stillness supervened. Well done, brave Texans, look to your arms again, snatch a cup of water, enjoy your moment of respite, they are coming again !
The east and west columns had been driven to the north. Colonel Duque, gallant soul, re-formed them on his own brigade; there was a small breach in the north wall; he hurled the mass at it, himself in the lead. The Americans ran to the point threatened; again the wither- ing rifle fire. Duque fell, desperately wounded; mortal man could not face that deadly discharge; the soldiers gave way once more-repulsed a second time; would they dare come on again ?
Far off on the east side the roar of battle still surged around the redoubt covering the convent yard. How went the battle there, thought the triumphant defenders of the plaza as they gazed on their flying foemen? It was a critical moment for the Mexicans. Santa Anna recog- nized it, and galloped on the field leading a re-enforce- ment. He noted that the west wall had been denuded of most of its defenders, and with soldierly decision threw his fresh troops against it, leading them in person, some accounts say. Oh, for a thousand brave hearts and true to man the long lines! The hundred and eighty could not be everywhere, the few at the point of impact died, and the Mexicans entered the plaza, at last.
At the same time the officers drove the men up to the third assault on the north wall. Under the eye of Santa Anna they advanced for a last desperate attempt. Honor to those Mexicans for their bravery too. In this attack a
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bullet pierces Travis' brain-the little boy has only the heritage of honored and heroic name then-he falls dead on the trail of a cannon. Bonham is killed serving a gun, the north wall is taken, the redoubt to the east is gained, the stockade is attacked, other soldiers swarm up to the south wall, break through the gate-they come in on every side. The Texans are surrounded by fire and steel. Some of them run back while there is yet time and rally in the convent where Bowie lies. Others follow Crock- ett, now in chief command, to the church to die with him there. The whole Mexican army is upon them now, the nine score against the five thousand at last.
The old convent is divided into little cell-like rooms, each with a door opening into the yard or plaza, but with no connection between the rooms. A few Texans hold each chamber, and into each smoke-filled enclosure the infuriated troops pour their gun fire and then rush the rooms, to writhe and struggle over the bloody pavements until all the defenders are killed. No quarter indeed !
What of the invalids in the hospital fighting from their beds? Forty Mexicans fall dead before the door of the long room before they think to bring a cannon and blow the defenders into eternity. Bowie lies alone in his room waiting with grim resolution for what is coming, pain from injuries forgotten, fevered pulse beating higher; his bed is covered with pistols and near his hand lies his trusty knife. A brown fierce face peers in the door, another and another, the room is filled with smoke; yells and curses and groans rise from the floor where a trail of stricken soldiers reaches from the door to the bedside. And one bolder than his fellows lies on Bowie's breast with that awful American knife buried deep in his heart and Bowie has died as he had lived-sword in hand!
" So he makes a fine end !"
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The only fight left now is in the churchyard. A little handful, bloody, powder-stained, desperate, are backed up against the wall. It is hand-to-hand work now on both sides, no time to reload, bayonet thrust against rifle- butt in berserker fury. Hope is lost, but they are dying in high fashion, faces to the foe, striking while they have a heart-beat left. "Fire the magazine," says Crockett to Major Evans, the only remaining officer. The man runs toward the church where the powder is stored and is stricken down on the threshold. The Mexicans rush upon Crockett and his remnant. The keen death-dealing "Betsy " has spoken for the last time, the old frontiers- man has clasped it by the barrel now. Swinging this iron war-club he stands at bay, disdaining surrender. The Mexicans are piled before him in heaps, but numbers tell; they swarm about him, they leap upon him like hounds upon a great stag, they pull him down, bury their bayo- nets in his great heart, spurn him, trample upon him, spit upon him-so he makes a fine end !
It is over. Gunner Walker, the last man in arms, is shot and stabbed, tossed aloft on bayonets in fact. The flag is down. No one is left to defend it longer. Five wounded, helpless prisoners are dragged before Santa Anna and at his command butchered where they lie, or stand, some of the Mexicans officers-to their credit be it said-vainly protesting. Six people who were in the fort at the beginning were left alive by the Mexicans, two women, two children, and two servants, one a negro slave, the other a Mexican.
One hour! One short hour filled with such sublime struggle as has not been witnessed often in the brief com- pass of sixty minutes. The sun is shining. The plaza is filled with light, the light of morning, the light of heroic
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death, of self-sacrifice absolute; and the day breaks, a day of eternal remembrance. Wherever men live to love the hero, these will not be forgotten. By the defence of that old deserted Spanish House of Prayer, it was consecrated anew to the service of God, through the sufferings of men. Their sacrifice had not been in vain, for the cry that swept Texas to freedom, that drove the Mexican beyond the Rio Grande was
Remember the Alamo!
One scene remains of the splendid story. By Santa Anna's orders the dead Texans, to the number of one hundred and eighty-two, were gathered together and arranged in a huge pyramid, a layer of wood, a layer of dead, and so on, and the torch applied. A not unfitting end. As the dead demigod of Homeric days was laid upon his funeral pyre, as the dead Viking of later time was burned with his ship, so these modern heroes. The wind scattered their ashes on the spot their defence had immortalized and made it forever hallowed ground.
The hundred and eighty had done well, each one had accounted for more than four of the enemy, for the Span- ish casualties are estimated as between six hundred and a thousand. And most was in hand-to-hand fighting. The Texan-Americans had done their best and given their all. Honor to their valor and their courage!
On the monument erected at the state capitol at Aus- tin, to commemorate their unparalleled achievement, is graven this significant line :
"THERMOPYLA HAD ITS MESSENGER OF DEFEAT, THE ALAMO HAD NONE."
PART VI TEXAS
II The Worst of Santa Anna's Misdeeds
THE WORST OF SANTA ANNA'S MISDEEDS
I. The Delay at Fort Defiance
T HERE are thousands who have read of the siege and defence of the Alamo. The tale of the heroic resistance put forth by the little band of Ameri- cans under Travis, Crockett, Bowie and Bonham, who fought until they were exterminated without exception, when Santa Anna stormed the old Mission in San An- tonio, is a familiar one. Without in the least measure condoning the action of the Mexicans, there was some degree of justification for it, in that the Americans refused to surrender, and when the place was taken by storm they were naturally put to death by the infuriated soldiery, es- pecially as they disdained to ask for quarter. To ask mercy would have been useless anyway, for other events showed that it would not have been granted. But for the massacre of the men of Fannin's command at La Bahia, or Goliad, there is not the shadow of justification. And their story is not often told outside of Texas and is prac- tically forgotten by the general reader.
In the spring of 1836 the bulk of the Texan forces was stationed at the town of Goliad, or the old Spanish Mis- sion of La Bahia, on the San Antonio River, in the south- western portion of the present state, under the command of Colonel J. W. Fannin, a brave, enthusiastic young
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southerner, a soldier of fortune in fact, who had proffered his services to the Texans to assist them to gain that in- dependence of Mexico for which they were struggling. Fannin's command comprised nearly five hundred men, all Americans, less than a score being Texans. The men were all volunteers who had come principally from the southern United States, although the recruits were by no means confined to that section; among them were sev- eral from Illinois. Texas had spread appeals broadcast throughout the Union, and the response had been prompt.
Old Sam Houston, the commander-in-chief of the Tex- an army, unfortunately was not allowed to have his way, and differences between him, the President, and the Vice- President, and other authorities, produced the inevitable results of divided counsels and many heads; successive failures. The loss of the Alamo need never have oc- curred, and the fearful fate meted out to Fannin and his men, as we shall see, was more unendurable to think of because unnecessary.
The Mexicans invaded the country in force. Instead of concentrating the Texan troops and the volunteers, who were men of a very high class indeed, the Texan forces were scattered. Consequently they were beaten in detail and it was not until Houston's masterly strategy had drawn Santa Anna, the Dictator, far into the country, where his force was annihilated and he was captured at San Jacinto, that success attended the American efforts for freedom.
A column of Mexican troops under General Urrea, marching up the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, had over- whelmed several small detachments of Fannin's com- mand, the main body of which was concentrated at Goliad for the purpose, utterly futile, of invading Mexico with
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a view to capturing Matamoras. Urrea's success with the detachments was complete, though not won without a heavy cost in life, for the Texans resisted manfully and never gave up as a rule until their ammunition was ex- hausted and they were left without means of defence.
The Mexican Republic had decreed that any foreign- ers-that is, Americans-captured under arms, or found bearing arms against Mexico, should suffer instant death. Urrea, like all the other Mexican commanders, invariably executed the members of the detachments as fast as he captured them. Once in a while one or two from the dif- ferent little garrisons escaped to tell the story, but that was all.
When the Alamo was captured and its defenders slaughtered, Houston sent peremptory orders to Fannin to retire to Victoria, where he would be in position to join forces with the commander-in-chief. He instructed him to bury his heavy artillery and destroy or conceal such stores as would impede his rapid movement, and to start immediately.
Some twenty-five miles south of Fannin's post, which he called Fort Defiance, was a little station called Refu- gio. Learning that there were some unprotected fami- lies there, Fannin had despatched Captain King with his company of some twenty-eight men to bring them off. King marched to Refugio and got there just before Urrea, who immediately assaulted him with his advance. The Texans seized the Mission church and defended it gallantly, so that Urrea's efforts to storm were success- fully withstood at great cost to the Mexicans.
Meanwhile Fannin waited, delaying his departure and postponing obedience to Houston's orders, for tidings of King. Finally on the arrival of a messenger from Refu-
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gio asking for help, he sent Lieutenant-Colonel Ward, his second in command, with one hundred and seventy- five men to Refugio to bring off King and his party. Ward reached the Mission in safety.
Fannin's force was divided into two battalions, a Geor- gia battalion, of which Ward was the immediate com- mander, and the Lafayette battalion. King, belonging to the other battalion, foolishly refused to acknowledge Ward's seniority and in the face of the enemy there was a difference between the two commanders, which resulted in King's leaving Refugio with his own men and a few of Ward's.
They were pursued, captured, and shot dead to a man. Ward with the remainder of his command, now defending the Mission, fought off the Mexicans, who, whatever may be said against them, certainly showed dauntless gallantry in assaulting so often and so unsuccessfully fortified po- sitions defended by men whose ability as marksmen had been proven over and over again; but the ammunition of the Americans at last grew low, and finding that he had but a few rounds left, Ward broke through the besieging line in the night, and by keeping closely in the timber and marshes, thus avoiding the effective Mexican cavalry, he made good his escape for the time.
He headed for Victoria, where he supposed he would find Fannin and possibly Houston. Meanwhile Fannin, having weakened his force by some two hundred men, was still waiting at Goliad. Six days actually passed after he received the order to move immediately before he com- plied with it. He was moved to delay, first, by a desire to help the people at Refugio, and then by his unwillingness to sacrifice King's command, and then by the necessity of hearing from Ward's expedition, so that for the sake of a
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few families, whom he eventually failed to save, he threw away the precious days and finally involved the whole command in overwhelming disaster. An eye-witness tes- tifies that the order to retreat was received just before the march of Ward's battalion. Fannin's excuse was, of course, his chivalric reluctance to abandon King.
The military exigency was so great that he should have started without a moment's hesitation in obedience to his positive orders. He held the command of by far the most efficient body of men in Texas; if lost they could scarcely be replaced. He was not a professional soldier, however. His military experience had been confined to the battle of Concepcion late in the previous year, in which he had distinguished himself for courage and daring, of which in- deed he manifested no lack at this juncture. Finally he received information from one Captain Frazier, who had volunteered to procure it, which convinced him of the folly and futility of waiting any longer for tidings from Refugio and, after wasting Friday in some useless scout- ing, on the morning of Saturday, the nineteenth day of March, 1836, he moved out from Fort Defiance, first dis- mantling it, and started to march to Victoria.
Even then he lingered, although the Mexican troops had been reported the day before. Instead of discarding everything but absolute necessities he took with him a great train of artillery and supplies drawn by oxen. The party now numbered about three hundred and fifty men. The day was damp and foggy. Although they started very early in the morning they did not succeed in getting across the ford of the river until after ten o'clock. Then they moved slowly over the open prairie until about noon, when they halted in a little depression of the country which had been burned over and in which, perhaps be-
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cause it was low and received the drainage, there was an outcrop of fresh grass. They rested here an hour to give the cattle time for a mouthful.
II. The Battle of the Coleta
Fannin now sent his only horsemen, some thirty troop- ers, under the command of Colonel Horton, ahead to re- connoitre. This little band was prevented from rejoining the main body and so escaped capture. Early in the after- noon the oxen were yoked to the wagons and the party started forward again, hoping to reach the heavily wood- ed banks of a little river, the Coleta, where they would find shelter and water and could make camp for the night. They were about four miles from the river when a body of horse galloped out from the cover of the trees and approached them from the flank.
At first they imagined that the horsemen were their own cavalry, but they were soon undeceived. The troop- ers were accompanied by infantry, and easily got between them and the river. On either side the Americans the tree clumps extended for some distance, and as they halt- ed and opened fire with a six-pounder on the Mexican cavalry, other troops broke from the woodland referred to and debouched upon the open prairie. A glance back- ward revealed additional troops following upon their trail. It took but a moment to discover to them that they were fairly surrounded upon an open prairie without wood, or water, or protection.
They happened at the time to be in a depression some six feet below the normal level of the prairie; some little distance off there was a slight elevation raised as many feet above the level. Fannin at once put his force in mo-
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tion to reach the knoll, but the breaking down of his am- munition wagons forced him to stay where he was. He drew up the three hundred men in a hollow square in the shape of a parallelogram, with the oxen and wagons in the middle, with a few women and children whom he had brought with him. He placed a small piece of artillery, a four or six-pounder, at each corner of the square and then resolutely awaited the attack.
The flag carried by the Georgia battalion, a white field with a single blue star with the words, "Liberty or Death!" was then unfurled. Fortunately the Texans possessed an abundant supply of arms and ammunition. There were two or three weapons to each man, rifles, muskets, and pistols.
The Mexicans made no haste to approach, and Fannin very deliberately completed his preparations, cautioning his men by no means to fire until he gave the word. Be- tween two and three o'clock Urrea, who was in command of the Mexican forces, began the battle. His troops, converging upon the square from all sides, opened fire as they came within range, and under cover of the smoke tried to rush the Americans with the bayonet.
Reserving their fire until the Mexicans were close at hand, the Texans poured in volley after volley, which did frightful execution, and as the Mexicans turned and fled, leaving numbers of dead and dying upon the field, the six- pounders opened fire upon them with good effect.
The Mexicans had no artillery with which to make re- ply, but with remarkable courage-considering the popu- lar idea of their quality-they re-formed out of range and came on once more, only to be whirled back in another disastrous repulse. Finally Urrea in person led a dash- ing cavalry charge on the front of the square, at the same
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time making a demonstration with his infantry on the other sides to prevent Fannin from detaching men to meet the onset of the horse.
The attack was gallantly made, but was no more suc- cessful than the first two had been. Although the can- non through rapid firing had become by this time so clogged and so hot as to put them out of action, there be- ing no water in the square with which to sponge them, the Texans managed by quick and hard fighting to beat back for the third time the Mexicans, who outnumbered them three to one. An eye-witness gives the following account of the field after their first repulse :
" The scene was now dreadful to behold. Killed and maimed men and horses were strewn over the plain; the wounded were rending the air with their distressing moans; while a great number of horses without riders were rushing to and fro back upon the enemy's lines, in- creasing the confusion among them; they thus became so entangled, the one with the other, that their retreat re- sembled the headlong flight of a herd of buffaloes, rather than the retreat of a well-drilled, regular army, as they were."
The casualties in the little band had been by no means light, and there were already many wounded in the square. Instances of heroism were many. One young lad named Ripley, who was shot in the thigh, especially distinguished himself. Unable to stand, he was lifted up on a cart, and with a woman to assist him in making a rest for his gun, he watched his opportunity and killed four of the Mexicans in succession by accurate shooting before he was hit a second time in the arm and was unable to take further part in the action.
During the whole of the battle most of the men re-
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mained lying down until the successive assaulting columns had nearly reached them, when they would rise and deliv- er their fire. Fannin and his officers, however, persisted in standing, as the artillerists of necessity had done. Many of them were wounded, including Fannin quite severely in the thigh.
As evening drew on, numbers of Indians, allies to the Mexicans, crept forward through the tall grass, skilfully masking their progress and successfully concealing them- selves, until they were close enough to take pot shots at the Texans, who suffered more from this attack than from the previous efforts of the Mexicans.
When it grew dark enough, however, for the Texans to see the flashes of the Indians' guns, their skilful marks- manship drove the savages out of range. It was as much as a man's life was worth to fire his gun, a Texan bullet always found the flash and the man back of it, so that when darkness came the enemy drew out of range. Out of the three hundred men sixty-seven had been killed or wounded, most of the wounded being seriously hurt.
Their situation was critical. They were surrounded by an overwhelming force of Mexicans. There was no water in the square, and they found by some oversight that no food had been brought along, or the wagons con- taining it had been abandoned. It was possible for the survivors, staking everything on the attempt, to break through the Mexican lines in an endeavor to reach the river, but to do it they would have to abandon some sixty wounded comrades to the mercy of the conquerors, which was not to be thought of. The matter was de- bated furiously early in the evening, and it was unani- mously decided to stay together.
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