USA > Texas > History of Texas : from 1685 to 1892, volume 1 > Part 43
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47
" EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON, March 2nd, 1836.
"FELLOW-CITIZENS OF TEXAS : The enemy are upon us. A strong force surrounds the walls of the Alamo, and threaten that garrison with the sword. Our country imperiously de- mands the service of every patriotic arm ; and longer to con- tinue in a state of apathy will be criminal. Citizens of Texas, descendants of Washington, awake! Arouse yourselves !
" The question is now to be decided, are we now to con- tinue free men or bow beneath the rod of military despotism? Shall we, without a struggle, sacrifice our fortunes, our liber- ties and our lives, or shall we imitate the example of our forefathers and hurl destruction on the heads of our oppres- sors? The eyes of the world are upon us. All friends of liberty and the rights of men are anxious spectators of our
563
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
conflict, or are enlisted in our cause. Shall we disappoint their hopes and expectations ? No ! Let us at once fly to arms, march to the battle-field, meet the foe, and give renewed evidence to the world that the arms of freemen, uplifted in defense of liberty and right, are irresistible. Now is the day, and now is the hour, when Texas expects every man to do his duty. Let us show ourselves worthy to be free and we shall be free.
" HENRY SMITH, Governor."
The remnant of the council continued to meet daily without a quorum till March 11th, on which day the secretary of the plenary convention presented to them the following resolutions introduced by Gen. Thomas J. Rusk, and adopted by that body :
" Resolved, That the late Governor Henry Smith, the late Lieutenant-Governor James W. Robinson, and the late council, the late treasurer, the late auditor and controller of public accounts be requested to deliver to this house, all the books, papers, journals, correspondence, contracts, laws and all other papers connected with or relating to their several offices.
" Resolved, That the secretary of this house make and hand forthwith to each of the aforementioned individuals a copy of this resolution, and request of them the books and papers referred to.
"H. S. KIMBALL, Secretary."
Governor Smith joyfully surrendered his authority to the representatives of the people, exhilarated in the highest degree by his triumphant vindication : -
1st. By the unanimous Declaration of Independence.
2d. By the unanimous re-election of General Sam Houston as commander-in-chief of the armies of Texas.
3rd. By the election to the convention in almost, if not in
1
564
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
every instance, where they were candidates, of men who had sustained him against the illegal usurpations of a minority of the council.
4th. By the fact that not one of the extreme and persistent participants in those usurpations held a seat in the convention ; while a number of gentlemen who had sat in the council dur- ing other portions of its session, were now members of that body.
It will be seen that the convention distinctly recognized Henry Smith as the Governor up to the last moment and Rob- inson only as Lieutenant-Governor, and from this conclusive action of the plenary body which declared Texas an independ- ent republic history can make no appeal. It must also be borne in mind that on the assemblage of the convention, neither the committee of the council appointed for that pur- pose nor any member of that body, ventured to present to the newly elected representatives of the people their charges against Governor Smith, or in any manner ask his trial. The letters of Cols. Wm. Ward and Wm. G. Hill to them and the general tone of public sentiment, seem to have been sufficient admonition to them to avoid the humiliation awaiting such a movement.
James Powell
CHAPTER XLIX.
THE FALL OF THE ALAMO.
Arrival of Mexican Troops - Strength of the Force under Travis - First and Second Dispatches sent out by the Texian Commander - Captain Albert Martin and Thirty-two Men, from Gonzales, enter the walls of the Alamo - Captain Reuben M. Potter's Graphic Account of the Siege and final Assault - Plans of the Alamo - Letter of Travis to the President of the Convention at Washington - Note to a Friend in Washington County relative to his Son, Charles E. Travis - Career of Captain Charles E. Travis.
Although the first dispatch of Travis to Andrew Ponton at Gonzales of February 23d, would leave the impression that the advance of the Mexicans had arrived that day, such is not the fact. The dragoon regiment of Dolores and one or two battalions, arrived in the vicinity of San Antonio on the 21st. On the 23d Santa Anna arrived with the second division, and a regular siege began. At that time there were under Travis in the Alamo 145 men effective for duty. There is some con- fusion as to the number, for on March 3d, Travis says : " with 145 men I have held this place ten days," etc. He referred to his original and not his then number, and to his effective and not his actual force, which was 149, to which add the gal- lant James Butler Bonham, who returned at 11 a. m. March 3d, alone, from his mission to Fannin at Goliad and Gonzales and we have 150. At dawn on the first of March, Capt. Albert Martin, with 32 men (himself included) from Gonzales' and De Witt's colony, passed the lines of Santa Anna and entered the walls of the Alamo, never more to leave them. These men, chiefly husbands and fathers, owning their own homes, voluntarily organized and passed through the lines of an enemy four to six thousand strong, to join 150 of their
(565)
566
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
countrymen and neighbors, in a fortress doomed to destruc- tion. Does American history, or any history, ancient or modern, furnish a parallel to such heroism? They had seen and were inspired by the letter written to Andrew Patton by Travis on the first appearance of the enemy, in which he said : " We are determined to defend the Alamo to the last; " and, before leaving home, they had seen his second message to the people of Texas, saying : " I shall never surrender nor retreat ! Victory or death !"
They willingly entered the beleaguered walls of the Alamo, to swell the little band under Travis, resolved " never to sur- render or retreat." In after years it was my privilege to personally know and live near many of their widows and lit- tle ones and to see the latter grow into sterling manhood and pure womanhood. I never met or passed one without invol- untarily asking upon him or her the blessings of that God who gave the final victory to Texas. Besides these thirty-two there were already in the Alamo a considerable number of men from De Witt's colony, among whom were Lieut. Wm. Almer- ion Dickinson, his wife, an infant daughter (the historic " Babe of the Alamo " ), also William, a youthful son of Capt. George Sutherland of the Navidad; Green B. Jameson of the Brazos ; F. R. Evans, of the Colorado, and others. 1
On the 24th Travis sent forth a second dispatch as follows:
" COMMANDANCY OF ALAMO BEXAR, February 24th, 1836.
" FELLOW-CITIZENS AND COMPATRIOTS: I am besieged by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna. I have
1 The following are a part of the thirty-two men from De Witt's colony: Albert Martin, captain; George W. Cottle, Jacob C. Darst, William Dear- duff, William Fishbaugh, James George, John E. Garwin, Thomas Jackson, George C. Kimble, Andrew Kent, William P. King, Thomas R. Miller, Jesse McCoy, Isaac Millsap, Isaac Baker, John E. Gastin, Amos Pollard, George Tumlinson, Claiborne Wright, John Cane, Chas. Despalier, Dolfin Floyd, Galby Fuqua, and Robert White.
567
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
sustained a continued bombardment for twenty-four hours, and have not lost a man. The enemy have demanded a sur- render at discretion; otherwise the garrison is to be put to the sword, if the place is taken. I have answered the summons with cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender nor retreat. Then I call on you, in the name of liberty, of patriotism, and of everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid with all dispatch. The enemy are receiving re-inforcements daily, and will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. Though this call may be neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible, and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor or that of his country. Victory or death!
" WM. BARRETT TRAVIS, " Lt .- Col. Commanding.
"P. S. The Lord is on our side. When the enemy appeared in sight, we had not three bushels of corn. We have since found, in deserted houses, eighty or ninety bushels, and got into the walls twenty or thirty head of beeves.
" TRAVIS."
The question must naturally arise in the mind of the reader : Why these declarations by Travis, " I shall never surrender nor retreat!" " Victory or death!"
It is easily answered. He well knew that the council had created a spirit of insubordination on the one hand, and de- layed the creation of an army by the commander-in-chief on the other; and that if he retreated from the walls of the Alamo there was nothing to prevent the march of Santa Anna directly by Gonzales into the colonies. He hoped for re- inforcements almost to the last, and unquestionably believed that with two or three hundred additional men, he could suc- cessfully defend the Alamo and hold Santa Anna in check
568
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
until Gen. Houston, under the auspices of the new convention, could rally a force with which to achieve a signal victory. His heroic struggle and glorious death demonstrate the fact that he considered it a solemn duty to his country, in any event, to fight to the last and to die, if need be, in order that he might hold the enemy in check until his countrymen could organize a force with which to oppose the invading army. His name deserves a place beside that of Leonidas, Winklereid and the immortals who, since the dawn of history, have im- molated themselves upon the altar of their country. From Dimmitt's Point, at the mouth of the Lavaca, on the night of February 28th, Captain Philip Dimmitt wrote to Major James Kerr and a committee on the Lavaca saying :
" I have this moment, 8 p. m., arrived from Bexar. On the 23d, I was requested by Colonel Travis to take Lieutenant Nobles and reconnoitre the enemy. Some distance out I met a Mexican who informed me that the town had been invested. After a short time a messenger overtook me, saying he had been sent by a friend of my wife (Mrs. Dimmitt was a Mexi- can lady ) to let me know that it would be impossible for me to return, as two large bodies of Mexican troops were already around the town. I then proceeded to the Rovia and re- mained till 10 p. m., on the 25th. On the 24th there was heavy cannonading, particularly at the close of the evening. I left the Rovia at 10 p. m., on the 25th, and heard no more firing, from which I concluded the Alamo had been taken by storm. On the night of the 24th, I was informed that there were from four to six thousand Mexicans in and around. Bexar. Urrea was at Carisota, on the Matamoros road, marching for Goliad. If immediate steps are not taken to defend Guadalupe Victoria, the Mexicans will soon be upon our families."
The most complete and reliable account of the siege and fall of the Alamo was written in 1860, at San Antonio, on the spot where the tragic scenes occurred, by the venerable Cap-
569
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
tain Reuben M. Potter, a retired officer of the United States army, now residing in Brooklyn, New York. His opportun- ities for learning the facts were, under his peculiar environ- ments, greater than those of any other American. He had lived in Mexico a number of years and spoke the Spanish language fluently, and at the time of the siege was a resident of Matamoros. He was a man of talent and literary attain- ments and of undoubted truthfulness - a keen observer, and, though he had never been in the interior of the country prior to the siege his sympathies were all with the people of Texas and their cause. He saw the Mexican troops and counted some of their battalions on their return to the Rio Grande; conversed with many of their officers and received their ver- sion of the scenes through which they had passed and reduced their statements to writing in the form of copious notes. It was at this time he wrote the " Hymn of the Alamo," a poem so dear to every Texian heart. A little later in 1836, he became, and for ten or twelve years remained, a citizen of Texas. In 1841 he carefully examined the Alamo and its surroundings and again examined it in 1860, when his valuable narrative was written. I extract largely from his account, omitting immaterial . portions. His estimate places Santa Anna's entire force at about 7,500 men, which is believed to be two thousand under the actual number:
" The main army," says he, " commanded by Santa Anna in person, moved from Laredo upon San Antonio in four success- ive divisions. This was rendered necessary by the scarcity of pasture and water in certain portions of the route. The lower division, commanded by Brigadier-General Urrea, moved from Matamoros upon Goliad in one body. It consisted of the cav- alry regiment of Cuatla, the infantry battalion of Yucatan, and some companies of permanent militia. The aforesaid battal- ion, which I counted, numbered 350 odd men. The regiment
1
570
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
of dragoons was of about the same size, and the whole made 900 or 1,000.1
" The advance detachment from Laredo, consisting of the dragoon regiment of Dolores, and one or two battalions, ar- rived at San Antonio in the latter part of February, I think on the 21st. The Alamo was at that time garrisoned by one hundred and fifty-six men, under Lieutenant-Colonel Travis. James Bowie was, I think, considered his second in command. David Crockett, of Tennessee, also belonged to this garrison, having joined it a few weeks before ; but whether he had any command or not I have never heard. One of the most esti- mable and chivalrous men attached to it was James Butler Bonham, of South Carolina, who had recently come to volun- teer in the service of Texas; but what his position was in the fortress, I am unable to say .
" No regular scouting service seems to have been kept up from Travis' post ; for, though the enemy was expected, his near approach was not known till his advance dragoons were seen descending the slope west of the San Pedro. The guard in town is said to have retired in good order to the fort, yet so complete was the surprise of the place that one or more American residents, engaged in mercantile business, fled to the Alamo, leaving their stores open. After the enemy entered the place, a cannon shot from the Alamo was an- swered by a shell from the invaders, and, I think, little more was done in the way of hostilities that day. The fortress was not immediately invested, and the few citizens who had taken refuge in it succeeded in leaving it that night.
" On the 23d, Santa Anna, with the second division, arrived, and on the same day a regular siege was commenced. Its operations, which lasted eleven days, are, I think, correctly given in Yoakum's history of Texas, though he did not succeed
1 This was the force, leaving out two small detachments, which overtook Fannin at Coleto; but was re-inforced before the surrender by two battal- ions from San Antonio, and by others a few days after.
571
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
in getting a true account of the assault. Several batteries were opened, on successive days, on the north, south, and east of the Alamo, where there were then no houses to inter- fere with the operations. The enemy, however, had no siege train, but only light field pieces and howitzers. A breach was opened in the northern barrier at the point marked (q) on the diagram ; but the buildings seem not to have been severely battered. The operations of the siege consisted of an active though not very effective cannonade and bombardment, with occasional skirmishing by day, and frequent harassing alarms at night, designed to wear out the garrison for want of sleep. No assault was attempted, as has often been asserted, till the final storming of the place. Neither was the investment so close as to prevent the passage of couriers and the entrance of one small re-inforcement; for, on the night of the 1st of March, a company of 32 men from Gonzales made its way through the enemy's lines and entered the Alamo, never again to leave it. This raised the force of the garrison to 188 men [really 182], as none of the original number had yet fallen. There could have been no great loss on either side till the final assault.
" Santa Anna, after calling a council of war on the 4th of March, fixed upon the morning of Sunday, the 6th, as the time of the final assault. Before narrating it, however, I must describe the Alamo as it then existed. It had been founded soon after the first settlement of the vicinity, and being originally built as a place of safety for the settlers and their property in case of Indian hostilities, with sufficient room for that purpose, it had neither the strength nor compactness, nor the arrangement of dominant points, which belong to a regular fortification.1
" As its area contained between two and three acres, a
1 The front of the Alamo Chapel bears the date of 1757; but the other works must have been built earlier.
572
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
thousand men would barely have sufficed to man its defenses, and before a heavy siege-train its defenses would soon have crumbled.1
" From recollection of the locality, as viewed in 1841, I can trace the extent of the outer walls, which were demolished thirteen years ago; and the accompanying diagram is made from actual measurement.
" (A) represents the chapel of the fortress, which is seventy-five feet long, sixty-two wide, and twenty-two and a half feet high, the wall, of solid masonry, being four feet thick. It was originally in one story, but had upper windows, under which platforms were erected for mounting cannon in those openings. (B) designates one of those upper windows which I will have occasion to mention, and (c) the front door of the church. (D) is a wall 50 feet long, connecting this church with the long barrack (E E). The latter is a stone house, 186 feet long, 18 wide and 18 high, being of two
stories. (F) is a low stone barrack, 114 feet long and 17 wide. Those houses, or at least their original walls, which
(except those of the church ), are about 30 inches thick, are still standing. They had at the time flat terraced roofs of beams and plank, covered with a thick coat of cement. The present roofs and the adjoining sheds and other woodwork have been added since the place was converted into a quarter- master's depot. (G H I and K) were rooms built against the west barrier, and were demolished with it. The (Ls) desig- nate a barrier wall, from six to eight feet high and two and three-fourths thick, inclosing an area of 154 yards long and 54 wide, which the long barrack fronted on the east and the low barrack (F) on the south. (M) designates the gate of the area and the (Ns) locate the doors of the several houses which opened upon it. Most of those doors had within them
1 Yoakum is entirely mistaken as to the measurement of the place. He seems to confound the length of the large area with that of the long barrack.
573
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
a semi-circular barricade or parapet, composed of a double- curtain of hides upheld by stakes and filled in by earth. From behind these the garrison could fire front or oblique through the doors. Some of the rooms were also loop-holed. (O O) describes a wall from five to six feet high and two, three and four feet thick, which inclosed a smaller area east of the long barrack and north of the church, 63 yards by 34. (P) locates an upper room in the southeast angle of said barrack, (Q) a breach in the north barrier, and (R) an in- trenchment running from the southwest angle of the chapel to the gate. This work was not manned against the assault. According to Santa Anna's report, 21 guns of various calibre were planted in different parts of the works. Yoakum, in his description of the armament, mentions but fourteen. Which- ever number be correct, however, has but little bearing upon the merits of the final defense, in which the cannon had little to do. They were in the hands of men unskilled in their use, and, owing to the construction of the fort, each had a limited range, which the enemy, in moving up, seem in a measure to have avoided.
" It was resolved by Santa Anna that the assault should take place at early dawn. The order for the attack, which I have read, but have no copy of, was full and precise in its details, and was signed by Brigadier-General Amador, as the head of the staff. The besieging force consisted of the bat- talions of Toluca, Jimenes, Matamoros, Los Zapadores (or sappers ), and another, which I think was that of Guerrero, and the dragoon regiment of Dolores. The infantry were directed at a certain hour, between midnight and dawn, to form at a convenient distance from the fort in four columns of attack and a reserve. This disposition was not made by battalions; for the light companies of all of them were in- corporated with the Zapadores to form the reserve, and some other transpositions may have been made. A certain number of scaling ladders and axes were to be borne with particular
574
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
columns. The cavalry were to be stationed at different points around the fortress to cut off fugitives. From what I have learned from men engaged in the action, it seems that these dispositions were changed on the eve of attack, so far as to combine the five bodies of infantry into three columns of attack. This included the troops designated in the order as the reserve, and the only actual reserve that remained was the cavalry.
" The immediate command of the assault was intrusted to General Castrillon, a Spaniard by birth and a brilliant soldier. Santa Anna took his station with a part of his staff and all the regimental bands at a battery south of the Alamo and near the old bridge, from which the signal was to be given by a bugle note for the columns to move simultaneously at double- quick time against different points of the fortress. One, com- posed mainly of the battalion of Toluca, was to enter the north breach - the other two to move against the southern side : one to attack the gate of the large area - the other to storm the chapel. By the timing of the signal it was calcu- lated the columns would reach the foot of the wall just as it became light enough to operate.
" When the hour came, the batteries and music were alike silent, and a single blast of the bugle was at first followed by no sound save the rushing tramp of soldiers. The guns of the fortress soon opened upon them, and then the bands at the south battery struck up the assassin note deguello.1 But a few and not very effective discharges from the works could be made before the enemy was under them ; and it is thought that the worn and weary garrison was not till then fully mustered. The Toluca column arrived first at the foot of the wall, but was not the first to enter the area. A large piece of cannon at the northwest angle of the area probably com-
1 No quarter., A sergeant of the Zapadores told me that the column he belonged to encountered but one discharge of grape in moving up, and that passed mostly over the men's heads.
575
HISTORY OF TEXAS.
manded the breach. Either this or the deadly fire of the riflemen at that point where Travis commanded in person, brought the column to a disordered halt, and its leader, Colonel Duque, fell dangerously wounded. But, while this was occurring, one of the other columns entered the area by the gate or by escalade near it. The defense of the outer walls had now to be abandoned; and the garrison took refuge in the buildings already described. It was probably while the enemy were pouring in through the breach that Travis fell at his post, for his body was found beside the gun just referred to. All this passed within a few minutes after the bugle sounded. The early loss of the outer barrier, so thinly manned, was inevitable; and it was not till the garrison became more concentrated and covered in the inner works, that the main struggle commenced. They were more concen- trated as to space, not as to unity ; for there was no commu- nication between buildings, nor in all cases between rooms. There was now no retreating from point to point: each group of defenders had to fight and die in the den where it was brought to bay. From the doors, windows and loopholes of the several rooms around the area, the crack of the rifle and hiss of the bullet came thick and fast - so fast the enemy fell and recoiled in his first efforts to charge. The gun beside which Travis lay was now turned against the buildings, as were also some others; and shot after shot in quick succes- sion was sent crashing through the doors and barricades of the several rooms. Each ball was followed by a storm of muske- try and a charge and thus room after room was carried at the point of the bayonet, when all within them died fighting to the last. The struggle was made up of a number of separate and desperate combats, often hand to hand, between squads of the garrison and bodies of the enemy. The bloodiest spot about the fortress was the long barrack and the ground in front of it, where the enemy fell in heaps.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.