Shiner gazette. [volume] (Shiner, Tex.) 1893-current, 1908-04-30

was at hand Next morning at
sunrise, while the monks of San
Fernando were chanting at mat
ms, the Mexican host made a
simultaneous attack on all four
sides. The silence was broken
by the roar of artillery and the
rattle of small arms. And the
garrison, compelled to reserve
their small store of ammunition,
saw the enemy close in on all
four sides. But when they came
up the scaling ladders the un-
erring frontier marksman picked
them off. At last a breach was
made in the outer walls, and the
Mexicans swarmed into the in
ner court. The Americans
poured volley after volley into
the crowded masses and the car
mage was fearful. Fersh soldiers
, swarmed over the bodies of their
dead comrades, and with great
battering rams made a breach in
the walls of the Alamo itself.
Here in the nave of the chapel
what was left of the garrison
made it's last heroic stand. Travis
was already dead, but Crockett
and Bonham and Bowie, on his
cot, held the men together. With
dubbed muskets, pistols and
knives they fought with the en-
ergy of despair. And there,
amid wild confusion and fright
full carnage in the house dedica-
ted to God, these greatest of
American heroes sold their lives
deraly. Overwhelmed by num-
bers they were crushed. Bowie,
propped up on his cot, coolly
picked men off with his pistol,
fell back pierced with a dozen
balls. And last of all, that
"Lion of the Frontier" old Davy
Crockett, was borne down by the
rush of numbers. There was a
pause. The It's Americans were
dead to man. The Alamo had
fallen. But dearly was the vic
tory won.
ut was fearful fight" wrote
a Mexican officer in his report
to his commander in chief. Life
less soldiers covered the ground
surrounding the Alamo, and
were heaped in piles inside the
fortress. Blood and brains
covered the ground and spat-
tered the walls. Our loss in
front of the Alamo was repre-
scented by two thousand killed
and three hundred wounded. The
killed received their wounds in
the head, neck and shoulders,
rarely below that. The firing of
the besieged was terribly accu-
rate. They inflicted on us a
loss tentiems greater than they
sustained"
1t is small wonder that this
heroic battle stirred the whole
United States. The Americans in
Texas rushed to arms, and with
out waiting for the reinforce
ments that were pouring in from
the United States, met the vic
torious Mexicans at San Jacinto
on the 21st of April. The re-
doubtable General Sam Houston
led his men across the river and
then burned the bridges behind
them. There was no possibility
of escape, it was victory or
death. With one wild cry, Ere
member the Alamo" the Ameri-
cans swept forward and Santa
Annals army scattered before
them like chaff before the wind,
The rout was complete and did
not end until every Mexican had
crossed the Rio Grande, and
Texas independence was an as
sured fact.
The Alamo today is grim
picturesque relic, around which
beat the tides of a modern, bust
ling American city. Its rude
frontier architecture and bare
simplicity of outline is relieved
by antique carving on door post
and Intel. And there in front
of this quaint old-world memo
rial of the heroic past, the good
people of the great Southwest
to gather in flower decked We
hicles, that range from automo-
biles and tally hos to pony carts
and phaetons, and pelt one an
other with roses and confetti.