The Fall of the Alamo ~ page 14

Santa Anna having his position below the Alamo as mentioned, immediately set about making preparations for the assault. New batteries were erected, which opened heavily upon the Alamo, whilst his men were plainly seen from the church making ladders for storming the walls. All the necessary arrangements being made, the main part of the division rested from the fatigue of their march, awaiting the time of attack which was, probably, not yet determined. The siege was continued with great violence, harrassing the Texians constantly on every side, while the heavy batteries, lately erected, thickened "the showers of bombs and cannon balls which had been continually pouncing amongst them." The Texians replied vigorously with rifle and cannon, and made great slaughter amongst the enemy.

About ten o’clock on Saturday night all firing ceased. The besieging forces were withdrawn and the batteries hushed. The thunder of artillery was now succeeded by a universal stillness which reigned throughout the Citadel. Not even the trail of a sentinel around the walls broke upon the waiting senses of the little band within. Silence, darkness reigned within and without the Alamo. The moon had retired from the heavens, whilst the dim light of the stars was now shut out by the vail of smoke and mist which settled above. A gloomy pall now enwrapped the walls of the Alamo, fit emblem of the melancholy which hung above the inmates.

This cessation was not without its intended effect. In no great while after it took place the hitherto vigilant eyes of the Texians were closed in sleep. For more than eleven days and nights they had been constantly at their posts, partaking of food only at such intervals as were allowed them. A few cooked the corn and beef for the rest who took it from their hands at the wall. Coffee would have been indeed a boon to them, yet they had no stimulant. However, coffee could not have sustained them long for their physical strength began to fail for the want of rest, and artifice could have resisted the power of nature only a short time. Their number having been too small for a part to sustain the defense while the remainder were at rest, they had seldom enjoyed it, and an opportunity being now offered, it is not surprising that their energies yielded, and the drooping spirit sought repose. Yet they did not leave their posts but lay near the walls with their arms beside them. The rough ground upon which they had stood for nearly two weeks, was to their wearied limbs as an easy couch. They lay unconscious of aught that pertained to life, relieved of the recollections of the post, the anxieties of the present, and the mingled forebodings of the future. The heavings of their slumbering spirits was the only sound that broke upon the gloom and darkness of the scene, whilst none were disturbed from their repose save perhaps a dreamer, pierced by a visionary gleam of that future which awaited him.