Bisbee daily review., 1909-05-09

pect Of selling enough copies to pay for printing. and that has already been done. so the sales from now on vii be his profit. You recently pub lished a special from Lufkln of an old gentleman there whc claims to have been in the battle. but the roster in General Houston's report of the bat tie. published in this litle pamphlet. does not contain his name. and this roster seems to be official"
 The pamphlet is of thirty-two pages. with stout paper covers. It has for frontispiece a full length portrait of Alfonso Steele. the last survivor of San Jacinto. Besides MT. Steele's "reminiscences of the battle and of his
 subsequent experiences. it contains the full text of General HoustoD's off eial report on the battle, including roster of the Texans who took part in the fray. It is. as MT. Houx says in brief preface. well worth the price and should be in the library of every
 patriotic Texan.
 Came as a Boy From Kentucky.
 have read several historical ac-
 counts of the battle of San Jacirto, done by scholars, but I have never
 read anything that takes one SO inti-
 mately into the atmosphere of the field and the fight as this brief. un-
 polished. direct. tSrse. vigorous ac- count written by the hale old man who, seventy-three years after the
 conflict, lives to see his portrait, paid
 for by, grateful state. hung on the walls of the capitol at Austin.
 Mir. Steele Che writes) was born in
 Hardin county, Kentucky, April g..
 1877. and is now ninety-two years of age. He was not quite nineteen when
 the battle was fought. He left Ken
 lucky at seventeen, in September,
 1S34 went down the Mississippi and
 worked at Lake Providence. La, un- til November, 1885. He then joined q
 company of volunteers and started for Texas. They marched to Washing
 ton on the Brazos. then the headquar- ters of the Texans, but learning that
 Texas had not yet declared her inde-
 pendence the company disbanded. MT. Steele ground corn on a steel mill. at Washington, for the men who signed
 the declaration
 Then, with small body of men un- der Jce Berner, he was out to join Travis at San Antonio. En route they heard that the Alamo had fallen. They
 moved down the Colorado river and fell in with General HoustOn's forces. Houston was retreating. Santa Anna 1 pursuing Houston moved east along the north side of Buffalo bayou, Santa Ana on the south side. The Mex. ! jeans, passing Harrisburg. burned the town. When the Texans camped op
 posite Harrisburg, Deaf Smith caught
 up with them and told them of the destruction of the little town. Hous- ! ton took his men across the bayou
 and started after the MexicaDs. The two armies came within sight of each other the goth. That evening Sidney Sherman. with the Texan cavalry, gave the Mexicans a slirmish and got one man wounded. But he had : orders not to bring on a general at 1 lack. and so matters rested, the Tex ans feasting on beef and bread made of flour captured from Mexican sail boat coming up the bayou-the first square meal the Texans had enjoyed 1 for several days.
 In the Thick of the Fighting, Then" said Mir. Steele. we rested easy until after dinner on the 21st About sunrise on the 21st Santa Anna NTeceived about 800 additional troops
 under Cos. After dinner on the Fist
 we received orders to prepare for bat
 tle We advanced in the following order: Houston, with artillery in the center, the cavalry on the right and
 Sherman on the left. The Mexicans had thrown up breastworks out of
 their baggage about 100 yards south of a Coint of timber, where they sta toned their artillery. Santa Anna's right wing was placed in a thick grove of timber.
 When We got up pretty close, Gen eral Houston sent word to Colonel sherman to attack this position. We were ordered to move forward and hold our fire until orders were given. When we got up within sixty or sev- enty yards we were ordered to fire.
 Then all discipline, so far as Sher-
 mans regiment was concerned. was at an end. We were all firing as rap
 idly as We could, and as soon as we
 fired every man went to relOadinS. and he who first got his gun reloaded
 moved on. not waiting for orders. l got my gun loaded and rushed on into the timber and fired again. When the second volley was poured into them iH that timber they broke and ran, As som as ' got my gun loaded again !