The Fall of the Alamo ~ page 16

Near the picket wall reaching from the corner of the barracks to the southwest corner of the church, lay in one promiscuous heap, disfigured in their mingled gore, twenty-five of the enemy and David Crockett, with his twelve "Tennessee boys." They had bravely defended their position during the whole siege.

Captain Dickinson commanded a gun which bore from the small window in the east end of the church. It was in the second story and there being no floor overhead, he erected a scaffold for the gun to stand upon. It was in the church that he fell. The story that he killed himself and child by springing from the window of the church is a romance. I know what part of the house his wife occupied at the time. She told me, however, that he fell as stated. They had but one child, who is still living. Some time ago a donation was made to her by our Legislature as "The Child of the Alamo."

Captain Dickinson was a brave, noble man, well worthy the distinction shown him in electing him to command of the Artillery in the absence of Colonel Neill who had been the principal officer in that department.

With regard to the number of persons who were found alive after the action, I have never learned that there were more than eight, Mrs. Dickinson and child, the man who was shot by order of the Commander-in-chief, Travis’ boy, two Mexican women and their children. One of these was Mrs. Doctor Alsbury of San Antonio. These persons were all treated with civility by the victors, except those who vainly trusted to the grace of one who knew but little of such a virtue.

The number of Texians who fell in the Alamo was one hundred and eighty-five, John W. Smith having gone out on the third. This agrees with Ruiz’s account, which says that the number burned was one hundred and eighty-two, of course exclusive of the Mexicans who fell with them.

Though the number of the Texians is thus easily ascertained, with regard to the loss of the enemy, at their hands, unfortunately there is some discrepancy. Mr. Yoakum records it at five hundred and twenty-one killed with a like number wounded; Mr. Potter, about five hundred killed and wounded. Mr. Ruiz says it was estimated at sixteen hundred. Indeed it excites no surprise that the authorities differ so widely about a matter which it seems ought to be free from all doubt. We know not why, and perhaps will never know. Yet, it is, nevertheless, a satisfaction to know that the question may yet be settled.

The messenger who was sent by the Navarro family at San Antonio to Colonel Seguin at Gonzales four days after the fall, reported the enemy’s loss to have been about fifteen hundred. Mrs. Dickinson and Travis’ boy, on their arrival at Gonzales, six days after the fall, reported the same. But there is another witness whose statement, I think is more conclusive still, since his information is of an official character and more definite. I allude to the private secretary of General Santa Anna, whose name I do not remember. During my interview with this man on the Brazos, I requested Captain Patton to ask him how many men they had brought to San Antonio, and what was their loss there. He did so, and I received substantially these words in reply: "We brought to San Antonio five thousand men and lost during the siege fifteen hundred and forty-four of the the best of them. The Texians fought more like devils than men." Santa Anna and Almonte both were present at the time. If the statement had deviated far from the truth, it certainly derogated sufficiently from their soldierly qualifications for them to have denied it, without scrupling to question the validity of their fellow.