THE FALL OFTHE ALAMO ~ page 6
No regular scouting service seems to have been kept up from the post of Bowie and Travis, owing probably to division and weakness of authority, for though the enemy was expected, his immediate approach was not known to many of the inhabitants till the advance of his dragoons was seen descending the slope west of the San Pedro. A guard was kept in town with a sentinel on the top of the church, yet the surprise of the population was so nearly complete that one or more American residents engaged in trade fled to the Alamo, leaving their stores open. The garrison, however, received more timely notice, and the guard retired in good order to the fort. The confusion at the Alamo, which for the time being was great, did not impede prompt show of resistance. In the evening, soon after the enemy entered the town, a shot from the 18-pounder of the fort was answered by a shell from the invaders, and this was followed by a parley, of which different accounts have been given. According to Santa Anna's official report, after the shell was thrown, a white flag was sent out by the garrison with an offer to evacuate the fort if allowed to retire unmolested and in arms, to which reply was made that no terms would be admitted short of an unconditional surrender. Seguin, however, gave me a more reliable version of the affair. He related that after the firing a parley was sounded and a white flag raised by the invaders. Travis was not inclined to respond to it, but Bowie, without consulting him, and much to his displeasure, sent a flag of truce to demand what the enemy wanted. Their General, with his usual duplicity, denied having sounded a parley or raised a flag, and informed the messenger that the garrison could be recognized only as rebels, and be allowed no other terms than a surrender at discretion. When informed of this, Travis harangued his men and administered to them an oath that they would resist to the last.
The officers obtained a supply of corn, and added to their stock of beef after the enemy entered the town. On the same day a well, which a fatigue party had been digging within the walls, struck a fine vein of water. This was fortunate; for the irrigating canal, which flowed past the foot of the wall, was shortly after cut off by the enemy. The investment had not yet commenced, nor was the firing, I think, renewed that evening, and the few citizens who had then refuge in the fort succeeded in leaving it during the night if not earlier.
On the night of the 2d of February the enemy planted two batteries on the west side of the river, one bearing west and the other southwest from the Alamo, with a range which no houses then obstructed. They were the next day silenced by the fire of the 18-pounder of