The question however arises, did he mean that fifteen hundred and fourty-four men were lost to the service, some killed and some permanently wounded, or did he allude to the latter! Mr. Ruiz says, "Santa Anna's loss was estimated at 1600 men," which would have left us in the dark, had he not indicated plainly from another remark that he meant the killed only. Speaking of one charge made by the Toluca battalion, he says: "They commenced to scale the walls and suffered severely. Out of 800 men, 130 only were left alive." By this remark the former is relieved of mystery, showing that he meant to say that sixteen hundred was about the number killed; for if 670 men fell out of one battalion in one assault, the number slain during the entire siege must have been fully in proportion.This clears the matter of all doubt, for if Ruiz came by estimate so near to the number as ascertained by actual count, it at once shows that Santa Anna's secretary did not allude to the wounded, but meant that fifteen hundred and forty-four was the actual number slain. Now his statement being thus definite and corroborated by those of Mrs. Dickinson, Travis' boy, the messenger to Colonel Seguin, and also by Ruiz, who buried the dead, it is no longer a matter of doubt that he spoke truthfully, and we must accept fifteen hundred and forty-four as the number slain.I never learned how many of the enemy were wounded. Dr. Jack Shackleford, who was taken prisoner at Goliad, when Fannin surrendered, and afterwards was sent to Bexar to administer to their necessities, told me that there were a great many, though he did not state the exact number.The action being over, and the unholy appetite of the enemy having been satisfied in the remains of their victims, Santa Anna ordered the slain of his ranks hauled to the grave yard, which was done, but there being not sufficient room to bury them all, some were thrown into the river.After the Mexicans had been separated from the heaps of the slain, wood was procured, and the bodies of the Texians collected for burning. They were then made into a heap, alternate layers of each being placed together, and kindling distributed throughout the whole. The pile being completed, about five o'clock in the evening it was lighted. Thus was reared the altar upon which the heroic sons of freedom were consecrated to their country. As the flames crackled and increased, the smoke of the sacrifice ascended on high, invoking the wrath of the Almighty upon the oppressors, and of Heaven, the retributive arm of offended Justice was lifting the sword of vengeance which fell upon them at San Jacinto.The pile being consumed, such of the bones of the Texians as remained, lay for nearly a year upon the ground, while the ashes floated upon the breeze that fanned the sacred spot. There was no friend to collect and preserve those relics of the brave. They were scattered about on the ground, unnoticed by an ungrateful populace who knew not how to appreciate their value. On the twenty-fifty day of February, 1837, they were collected by Colonel Juan N. Seguin and command, and placed in a rude but substantial coffin, and interred with military honors, in what was then a peach orchard near the scene of the last struggle. The place is now an enclosed lot. Nothing remains to designate the exact spot where they lay, though there are persons yet living (in 1860) who might find it. A small but elegant monument, ¹¹ made from the stones of the Alamo, is preserved at the State Capitol and stands as a monument of their death.