THE FALL OFTHE ALAMO ~ page 7
the fort, but were restored to activity on the following night. On the 24th another body of Mexican troops, a regiment of cavalry and three battalions of infantry arrived; and then the fort was invested and a regular siege commenced, which, counting from that day till the morning of the 6th of March, occupied eleven days. By the 27th seen more besieging batteries were planted, most of them on the east side of the river, and bearing on the northwest, southwest and south of the fort; but there were none on the east. As that was the only direction in which the garrison would be likely to attempt retreat, Santa Anna wished to leave a temptation to such flitting, while he prepared to intercept it by forming his cavalry camp on what is now called the Powder House Hill, east of the Alamo.
During the first few days occasional sallies were made by the garrison to obstruct the enemy's movements and burn houses which might over them. The operations of the siege, which, omitting the final assault, are probably given correctly in Yoakum's History of Texas, consisted of an active but rather ineffective cannonade and bombardment, with occasional skirmishing by day and frequent harassing alarms at night, designed to wear out the garrison with want of sleep. No assault was attempted, though it has been so asserted, till the final storming took place. The enemy had no siege train, but only light field pieces and howitzers, yet a breach was opened in the northern barrier, Q, near the northeast angle, and the chapel as the only building that withstood the cannonade firmly, as the balls often went clean through the walls of the others. Yet when I saw them unrepaired five years later, they seemed less battered than might have been expected.
The stern resistance which had sprung up m the demoralized band within, and the comparative unity and order which must have come with it, were ushered in by a scene which promised no such outcome. The first sight of the enemy created as much confusion with as little panic at the Alamo as might be expected among men who had known as little of discipline as they did of fear Mr. Lewis, of San Antonio, informed me that he took refuge for a few hours in the fort when the invaders appeared, and the disorder of the post beggared description. Bowie with a detachment was engaged in breaking open deserted houses in the neighborhood and gathering corn, while another squad was driving cattle into the inclosure east of the long barrack. Some of the volunteers, who had sold their rifles to obtain the means of dissipation, were clamoring for guns of any kind; and the rest, though in arms, appeared to be mostly without orders or a capacity for obedience. No "army in Flanders " ever swore harder. He saw but one officer who