Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-02-05
HEROINE OF THE ALAMO.
She is "a Tennesseean and Fails
from Bolivar.

Cor. San Antonio EXPRESS
Texans confess keen interest in facts
affecting the history and fortunes OF
David Crockett. San Antonio is in
debted to much of its fame to that OF
the heroic martyr to liberty, who fell
in the thickcst of the fight within the
Alamo. Have you listened to the
simplest recital Of the facts given by
Mrs. Hannig, formerly Mrs. Dicken-
son, nee Wilkerson, in Green county,
Georgia? She went, when very young,
to Bolivar, Hardeman county, Tenn.
When hardly sixteen she married
Dickinson, a New England trades
man, and, in 1885, went to Texas.
When the revolt occurred and Next
can invasion was threatened, Dicken-
son removed his youthful wife to San
Antonio. When Santa Anna appeared
before the little city one bright spring
morning in 1886, Dickinson, who was
lieutenant or captain in a local com
pany, mounted on a mustang, aud his
wife was seated behind him with a
child six months in her lap. He en-
tered the Alamo. lie and his wife had
an apartment given them in the base
ment Of the stone church. Crockett
occupied an adjoining room. Here,
when not engaged in loading and firing
a sort of long Tom, a primitive eigi=
teen FOUNDER, be was accustomed to
saw his fiddle and abhor confinement
within stone walls. He was impa-
tent of Imprisonment and especially
anxious to have a fight with the
Mexieaus in an open field, where
he might use his native weapon,
Betsy" his old Fashioned soap stick
rife Through ten days Mrs. Han
mig was within the Alamo, encOun-
tering Crockett almost hourly till the
last day Of the siege when themassacre
occurred. That fatal morning Dick
enson. long before the sun rose, came
TO his wife and bid her adieu. ! have
heard her tell the story with fearful
eyes 43 years after the u went down
on the terrible day. She saw Dicken
son but once afterward. He was then
fighting, sword in hand, at the door
way of her apartment. Men rushed
into her room. There was a volley Of
musketry. When consciousness was
restored her room was full oil gun
powder smoke. A bullet had pierced
her leg Just below the knee. She was
lying on the bed, her infant, six
months old, beside her, and a richly
dressed Mexican officer standing near.
She remembers, as | forgot to state,
that Simultaneously with the hand to
hand fight between her husband and
the Mexicans at the doorway, two
little boys, sons Of German gunner,
ran into her room. They were pur-
sued by Mezieans, shot down and
bayoneted in her presence, the smoke
from the guns filling her room and
enabling her to escape observation.
Almonte was educated 10 New Or
leans. He i~nterposed when the
Mexicaus sought TO take her life, and
caused her TO be taken to Santa Anna.
This man sought to induce her to ac
company him to Mexico. When she
refused, he concluded to send her to
Sam Houston, that the terrible story
she would tell might intimidste the
little band of Texas patriots. Wound
ed as she was she set out alone on a
mustang, With her child in her lap,
across the open prairies, for Gonzlles
She, her infant, and the negro Ben.
tho servant Of Travis, who was in
command, we're the sole survivors.
But San Antonio should hear Mrs
Hannig, now growing old. tell the
story as | have heard it. She would
tell, too, Of her fight, accomp MED by
the negro Ben; Of the Intervention Of
Deaf Smith, who saved her, when al
most dying Of thirst, fatigue and Of the
pain caused by her wound. Hear her
| tell of her interview with Houston,
and how the hero of Texan independ-
ence used the hideous story to exas-
perate his followers. She told him
that when she was leaving San Anto-
MO the town and country we're per-
fumed with odors arising from the
holocaust made Of the bodies of those
who fell within the Alamo. She be-
held the flames that consumed the
body Of her husband and Of Crockett
and Travis, and was instructed by
Santa Anna t. describe the horrible
scene to Houston and bis followers.
She executed the order with painstak
ing care, The effect was little dream
ed Of by the bloody Mexican leader.