The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1857-02-11
From estnams Nasaaiae>l
THE FALL OF THE ALAMO.

4AA a
On the Esd day Of February, 1886,
General Santa Anna entered San Auto
Mo de Bezar and took possession of the
town without firing a gun. As he ad-
vanced to the Alamo, the small garrison
of one hundred and thirty men, under
the command of William Aarres Travis,
retired on the opposite side ofthe river;
determined there to offer such resistance
to the progress of the tyrant as their en-
erpies and resources should permit, by a
direct appeal to the God of battles
Flushed with the conquest, SO easily ef-
fected, of the town, the Mexican COM
mahder prepared for an Immediate at
tack on the Alamo. He ordered breast
works TO be thrown up on every com
mandiDg point. and artillery to be plant
ed wherever il could be made most eff
feetiye. One battery was completed on
the right bank of the river by the 25th,
and without waiting for others the siege
was at once commenced.
It is . dark and gloomy morning, de-
voted to q dark and unholy purpose
Exulting in the work of death upon
which he is entering, Santa Anna crosses
the river in person and establishes his
headquarters in a small stone building
-yet standipg-from which he may the
more accurately perceive the progress of
his designs, without exposing himself to
his enemies. The signal is given. and,
before the sun has risen upon those hos
tile hosts, the roar of the Mexican bat
terry awakens the echoes far and wide and
rousss from their slumbers the yet uncon-
Observation-Disclosures. But the defenders
Of the Alamo have not, for a single mo-
ment, lost sight of the movements OF
their willy and implacable foes; they
watch the studied direction of every
gun they see the match lighted they
listen breathless, as if, ever at that dis
lance, they could hear the command to
fire +; and, when the walls of the citadel
tremble under. the shock of the iron
hail, and the fragments of the parapet
are uhiried aloft by the sudden impulse,
they send back a shout of defiance, min
gIed with q discharge from their own
guns, as distinctive, if not as d~eafening,
as The thunder of their assailants.
Before the smoke rolls away and the
reverherations are lost in the distance,
while the shouts of the besieged still
linger in the ears of the beslegers, the
e~annonade is resumed, and for seven
hours, without pause or relaxation,
fiercelY continued upon the walls of Al
and. But these walls yielded no more
than the spirits oftheir defenders. The
fire is steadily returned ; and, though
stones are shivered around them, there
are stout hearts and willing hands ready
to repair every breach, and to restoie
from the interior whatever may have
beensdestroyed from without. Earth is
thrown up; every crack or assure is
closed As fast as created by the eager eff.
forts of those who will permit no evi.
dence of success to cheer the hopes Of
theirsenemies. The sun has almost sunk
behind the western plains, when there
is q pause in the work of demolition
The firing of the .besiegers ceases for the
day, with the Mexican thirst for blood
sunsatiatsd. Not a single drop has beer
shed within fhe Alamo. Many of SAINTS
Annals own men have bit the dust be
fore the artilerists and rifemen of tht
fort; but thus far they are ~unavenged
Darkness falls upon the besiegers ant
.sths besieged. The former raise new in
f~rsnchments to prosecute the assault; th'
latter. establish q close watch for the
night, and endeavor to seek that repost
which shall renew their yigor for the
eontest, which they know will come to
morrow.
The morning of the 26th dawns anc
reveals to the occupants Of the fort the
effect of the midnight labors of their en-.
emies, in the establishment of two addi.
tional batteries within the Alemeda o.
.hs Alamo. The bssonets of tho infan.
ny, which have crossed the river during
the night, glitter in toe morning beams,
end the plumes of the cavalry are seer
waving on the eastern hills to intercept
.ithe expected aid from that quarter
THE contest is renewed by q slight Skin.
.ihsnish between a small party of Texans
sent in quest of wood and water, and q
Mexican detachment under Gen. Sesma ;
but this Is = mere overture to the grand
psrioFmance of the day. The thundsri
3 he hssyy ordinance, under the direc-
ton or 9oioBelAmpuda ara soon aroused
Tito action; volley after velley is poured
INTO the fort, and answered only, except