Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1909-04-07

to bay. The church was the
last point taken. The column which
moved against It. consisting Of the
battalion of Ximines and other
troops, was at first repulsed, and took
refuge In some old houses outside of
the barrier, near the southwest angle,
but 1t was rallied and led on by Gen.
Amador. 1t was soon Joined by the
rest of the force, and the church was
carried by coup de main. It's in
mates, like the others, fought to the
last and continued to fire from the
upper platform after the Mexicans
had occupied the floor. During the
closing struggle Lieut.. Dickinson,
with one of his children in his arms
or, as some say, tied to his back,
ieaped from an upper window. Both
were killed. or those he left behind
the bayonet soon cleaned what the
bullet missed, and the upper part
must have fallen. The morning
breeze which received his parting
breath probably still famed his flag
above him ere it was pulled down by
the victors. The Alamo had fallen"
After the Battle.
The garrison of the feeble fort was
some 1SS men, all OF whom perished.
The investing force has been vari-
ously estimated at from $500 to
1000 men, under the Immediate
command of Gen. Antonio Lopez de
Santa Anna, the president and virtual
dictator of Mexico. OF the inmates
Of the fort only three were spared
Mrs. Dickinson, her babe and a negro
man owned by Col. Travis. The rud-
est form of sepulchre was accorded
the slain Texans, the historian Ken
nedy stating that "their bodies were
stripped, thrown into reap and
burned" DR.. j. II. Bernard, a sur
geon in Fannin's command, who was
saved from the massacre at Goliad,
was in San Antonio as a prisoner in
April, 1886, and in his diary made
this record under date of the 21st
of that month:
yesterday and to-day we have
been around with the surgeons of the
place to visit the wounded, and a
pretty piece of work Travis and his
faithful few have made of them.
There are now about one hundred
here of the wounded. The surgeon
tells us there were 400 brought into
the hospital the morning they storm
ed the Alamo, but | think from ap-
pearances there must have been
more. l see many around the town
who were crippled. There are ap-
parently 200 or 800, and the citizens
tell me that 300 or 400 have died
Of their wounds.
After news had been received of
the defeat Of Santa Anna at San ia
cinto orders were issued to evacuate
San Antonio and to destroy the Ala
mo. Under date of May 1886, DR..
Bernard's diary contains this entry:
six O'Clock p. Mas the troops
left town this morning a large fire
streamed up from the Alamo, and as
they had fairly left DR.. Shackleford
and myself, accompanied by Senor
Ruiz and some of the citizens, walked
over to see the state in which they
had left it.. We found the fire to pro-
ceed from a church, where platform
had been built extending from the
great door to the top of the wall on
the back side for the purpose Of TAX
Ing up the artillery to the top Of the
church. This was made of wood and
was too far consumed for any at
tempt to be made to extinguish the
fire. The walls Of the church, being
built of solid masonry, Of course
would be but little damaged by the
fire. The Alamo was completely dis
mantled. All the single walls were
leveled, the fosse filled up and the
pickets torn up and burned All the