The Somerset herald and farmers' and mechanics' register. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 183?-1852, 1846-10-20
Vol. 4.--No. 4e,

q
hills, and plains which enclrcle the
Alamo. A low murmur rises upon the
air, which gradually becomes more and
more distinct. Lights now move to and
fro in the distance, and indicate some un-
usual movement. The besieging army
Is III motion. There is no advance by
columns. The force of the Mexicans is so
great, that the fort may lie surrounded,
leaving intervals only for the fire of artil-
lery. The place is girdled by a deep
line of infantry, and these are hemmed in
& surrounded by another Of cavalry. If
the first shrink. they must be thrust for
ward to The assault by the sabres and pis-
tolls of their comrades. Suddenly the
batteries are in a blaze, and from their
eoncentric positions pour forth radn OF
fire pointing toa single centre. Amid the
thunders TINS created, their own shonts
scarcely less terrible, and the blasts Of
bugles, the Mexicans advance to the
/ Alamo. A sheet of flame from rifles
that never failed is the answer to the
charge. The infantry recoil and fall
/ back upon the cavalry; their ranks bro
ken & disordered by the deadly FIRE ofthe
! besiec eI. The shouts from the fort are min
| gled with the groans of the dying on the
I plain, while the officers are endeavoring
/ to reform their scattered masses. They
return to the attack, but the leaden show
er which they encounter fells them to the
earth by platoons. Travis shows him
self on the walls, cheering on his un-
| daunted followers. Around him are
Crocket, Evans, and Bonham, reused TO
a last struggle, for they know that their
doom is sealed. In quick succession,
rifle after rifle is discharged, sending hun
dreds to their long account. The Mexi-
cans are again repulsed; they fall back,
disheartened BY the dead and the dying
around them. The battalion Of Toluca,
the flower of the Mexican army, is re-
duced from fourteen hundred to twenty
three. Men have become for a moment
regardless of their officers, and are al
most delirious, from the cries of anguish
which no discipline can restrain, and
which come from their fallen and expir-
ing comrades. But breach is made at
last; the disjointed forces, by the aid Of
threats and entreaties are rallied, and
once more turn their faces 10 the Alamo.
The firing in that quarter has for some
time been growing slower and slower
Rifles have dropped from many vigor-
Gus hand, now cold in death, while others
cling to their weapons even in the ago.
MES of dissolution. Ammunition, too,
has been failing: one by one the muzzles
\ drop; the last rife is loaded and dischar-
geJ, and the Mexicans have gained the
wall. Proudly conspicuous in that aw-
full moment, Travis receives shot, stag
gers, and falls. He dies not unavenged.
A Mexican officer rushes upon him, and
is about to plunge his sabre into the boz
som of the fallen man, when, gathering all
his energies for last effort, he bathes his
own sword in the blood Of his enemy,
and they die together.
In the mean time the battle has been
raging hot and thick. The Mexicans
have poured into the citadel, like leaves
falling before the storms Of autumn. The
conflict becomes hand to hand. Each
man struggles with his adversary, dealing
blows with rifles, sabres, or whatever
missile may be within reach The Tex
ans are almost buried beneath the num-
bers Of their opponents. The carnage
has been so terrible that the slain are
piled up in heaps. Death stares each
survivor in the face, but still he struggles
on. Crockett has been conspicuous in
the melee, wherever the blows fell hottest
: and thickest. He has forced his way
over piles of the dead bodies of his ene-
, mics, and has reached the door of the
chapel Here he determines TO make his
last stand. At one glance of his eye,
he sees that the fate Of theAlamo rests up
on himself alone. Travis has fallen;
Evans is no more; Bowie expires upon
, bed of sickness, pierced TO the heart by
Mexican bayonel; Bonham fell before
his eyes, and he finds himself the
: only living warrior of the one hundred
: and sixty-lhree who had been his COM
rades. Perhaps at that moment the life
{ blood creeps to his heart by natural IN
J pulse, but ii is only for moment His
r foes glare on him with the ferceness of
demons. and assault him with blows from
: sabrcs, muskets. and pistols. The
!, strength OF hundred men seems concen-
trated in his single arm, as he deals out
death to his rancorous and unsparlng as
e sailants. Their bodies have grown into
a rampant before him. Blackened with
2 fire and smoke, besmeared with blood,
!, and reused into phrenzy, he stands hke
5 some fabled god of antiquity, laughing to
t seorn the malice. and the power, and the
j fury Of his enemies. New fire flashes
e from his eve, and new vigor nerves his
! arm. On his assailants rush, but il IS on
" upon certain death. They fall but
] their places are still supplied; and so