Omaha daily bee., 1909-06-05
LAST OF FAMOUS ARMY
Only Survivor of Ho~uston's Victory
Tells of Battle for Texas
Independence.

independence,
The celebration of the seventy-third an
niversary Of the battle of San Jacinto,
which took place all over Texas last
month. was an event of special signifl-
canoe to Alphonse Steele of Mexia. Tex,
who is the sole survivor of the little army
OF Texans who, commanded by General
Sam Houston, met and crushed completely
the overwhelming force OF Mexican sol
dfers upon that battlefield.
Mr.. Steele is o. years old, but is still
full OF strength and vigor.
He spent several weeks in Austin during
the last winter and was the recipient of
signal honors at the hands of the legisla-
ture. He accepted invitations and deliv-
cred an interesting address before the house
and senate, which met in joint session to
hear him. He was voted a handsome gold
medal by the state, and this insignia Of
his faithful military service was presented
to him with most Impressive by
a committee of legislators.
A large painting Of Mr.. Steele was also
purchased by act of the legislature and
will be hung in the Texas Hail of Fame"
in the state capitol. One other man, Cap
tain zuber Of Austin, who was in General
AcN1NCh - w NY = 10 oNhi u lN was
not an actual participant in the battle of
San Jacinto. 1t was this battle that won
for Texas its independence from Mexico
and marked the overthrow of General
Santa Ana as a military despot.
Mr.. Steele has in his possession the
original muster roll of General Houston's
army. He has used this roll on several
occasions to d~isprove claims of persons
TINT fhav mara II the far,a,s AaNtIo
When only II years old Steele left Har-
din county, Kentucky, where he was born,
and went down the Ohio and Mississippi
rivers In a boat to Lake Providence, La ,
where nc worked until November. 1885,
when he Joined a company OF volunteers
commanded by Captain Daggett and
marched to Old Washington, this state.
1t was found on reaching that place that
Texas had not yet declared its independ-
ence, and the company Of soldiers dis
banded. Steele remained in Washington
until the Declaration OF independence was
signed, whereupon he Immediately started
for San Antonio to join Travis and aid in
defending the Alsmo. While on his way
he learned that the Alamo had fallen.
In company with other patriots he then
proceeded down the Colorado river and
piiit AiIp II lilN HtHti IlOuSlOl
was gathering about him. AS General
Houston and his gathering force OF pa
triots and Adventures moved onward
toward the Buffalo bayou and the San
Jacinto river. General Santa Ana and his
army followed closely, hoping to get the
Texans in a close position and make an
attack.
The Texas army found itself In a cor
ner1a rngKNtnn 80, Anil ~ NCog - -
order that 1t might be a fight to the death
the only bridge leading across the water
course over which retreat might be made
was destroyed by order of General Hous-
ton. Mr., Steele gives an interesting de-
scrtption of the battle of San Jacinto,
which took place on that day. He says:
After dinner on April q Santa Ana,
who was close urnE us, received about so
additional troops under command Of GEN
eraI Cos. We received orders to prepare
for battle. We advanced upon the Mexi-
cans in the following ordeB: Houston,
with the artillery. in the center; the cav
airy on the right and Colonel Sherman with
his troops on our left. The Mexicans had
thrown up breastWorks out of their bag
gage about 100 yards south of a belt Of
timber, where they had stationed their ar
tillery.
Santa Ana's right wing was placed in
a thick grove of timber. When we got up
pretty close General 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 within sixty or seventy yards
We were ordered to fire.
Then all discipline so far as Sherman
! frnopg nara Dourarpa5 uya - -, ga W..
were all firing as rapidly as we could and
as soon as we fired every man reloaded
as quickly as possible and the man who
first got his gun reloaded moved on. not
waiting for orders, I rushed into the tim
Der and fired again. When the second
volley was poured into them in that timber
they broke and ran.
II was running on a little in front OF
our men when l was shot down. Dave
Rusk was standing by me when / was shot
He told some Of the men TO stay with me
but l told him. No, take them on
"One Of our men in passing asked me II
he could take my pistol. but by this time
l was bleeding at the nose and mouth so
couldn't speak; so he just stopped down
and got IT and went on. After lying there
a little while l managed TO arise TO q
sitting posture and drink some water which
I had in a gourd. This stopped the blood
from coming into my nose and mouth
While l was sitting there one OF our mel
who had been lying down behind me came
up and asked me IL l was wounded. l told
him I was, and he offered to stay with
me, which offer ! accepted
Mr.. Steele has lived in MeKia for many
years. He has 10 descendants.-Fort WORT
Gszeu