THE FALL OFTHE ALAMO ~ page 15
was being stormed. An irrigating canal ran below the embrasure, and his aim may have been to break the shock of his leap by landing in the mud of that waterless ditch and then try to escape, or he may have thought that so striking an act would plead for his life; but the shower of bullets which greeted him told how vain was the hope. The authenticity of this highly dramatic incident has been questioned, but it was asserted from the first, and was related to me by an eyewitness engaged in the assault. l
It was asserted on the authority of one of the women, that while the church was being stormed, Major Evans, the Master of Ordinance, rushed with a torch or burning match towards the magazine of the fort to fire it, when he was shot down before his object was accomplished. It may seem unlikely that any of the women would be in a position to witness such an incident, but they may have been put into the magazine as a place most sheltered from the enemies shots. The powder was probably stored in the little vaulted room on the north of the chapel, which I have just referred to. 2
There were two officers of the name just mentioned in the garrison of the Alamo, Major Robert Evans, Master of Ordinance, an Irishman, and Captain J. B. Evans, of Texas, a nephew of General Jacob Brown, who formerly commanded the United States army.
I must now endeavor to approximate as nearly as can be done by inference, for I have no direct data, to the number of troops engaged in the assault and the amount of their loss; matters which have been the subject of absurd perversion on both sides. The old popular tale of Texas that the Alamo was stormed by ten thousand men, of whom a thousand or more were killed, shows how rapidly legend may grow up even in this age, and the belief which has been given to it is worthy of an era when miracles were considered frequent. The entire force with which Santa Ana invaded Texas in 1836, and which after his defeat he rated at 6,000 men, probably amounted to 7,500 or 8,500, as it consisted of seventeen corps, viz.; three regiments of horse and fourteen battalions of foot. It is proper here to observe that the Mexicans apply the term regiment only to cavalry corps; a Colonel's command of infantry being always called a battalion. The nominal complement of a regiment or battalion is 1,500; but I never heard of one that was full, and seldom saw one during my long residence in Mexico that contained as much as a third of that number. I doubt if it is considered convenient ever to swell one to over 500 men; for the host of officers who have sufficient influence to obtain commands can be supplied only by keeping up the,