Cheraw chronicle. [volume] (Cheraw, S.C.) 1896-2005, 1916-04-27

81 propose to stay here" he SAID
quitely, until am killed. All those
who will be with me will come to
this side Of the line; all who wish to
surrender will remain on that side.
Every man of the garrison crossed
the line. Colonel Bowie, inventor Of
the famous knife, who was desper-
ately i'll of typhoid fever, had his cot
picked up and carried over. Davy
Crockett leaped over like a boy, wav-
ing his coonskin cap.
The morning of March g the AL
amo fell. The Mexican army, infuri-
ated by almost two weeks of delay
caused by these stubborn gringoes,
came on to storm the convent. Field
pieces opened breaches in the walls.
Mexican soldiers carried ladders to
plant against the walls, and other
Mexicanes soldiers etaoin "g,y eunh
Moxicanus swarmed up the ladders.
Hand-to-hand they fought with the
Texans at the top of the wall. But
the defenders line was all too thin.
Battering rams burst in the big gates
of the mission compound.
The Texans fought their way by
twos and threes to the inner building
to make their last standa Gaunt
blood streaked, burning eyed, these
tall men of the plains were at the
end of the passage, fighting their last
fight. And there was not man Of
them but knew it well; and there
was not man Of but was deter
minded to take as many Mexicans as
might be down to death with him.
Amid smoke and the flame and
crash Of rifle firing, lunging of knives,
the swinging Of dubbed guns, the
fight reeled back and forth among
the walls, On each frontiersman's
ranks there hung pack of Santa
Annals men. You would see him
beat them back, powerful arms
swinging his empty rifle like a fail,
breaking mems heads, battering them
to earth, clearing a space around for
"a while, and then, with a new rush
the Mexicans would everwhelm the
man and he would go down suddenly
beneath the wallowing, struggling
crowd Of his assailants. Ia 9
Too close pressed to be able to reload
their guns, the Mexicans thrust and
stabbed and tore With their bsyonet>;
1t was a ,WhirIwind of destr1
ter chaos, thosa last minutes
fng.. Travis fell -esuEt ~ ne ~5S
holding against surging mob Of Mex
leans, shot through the head, he top
pied forward and avs trampled to a
pulp beneath their frenzied feet.
Four Mexicans went to dispatch the
dying Bowie; three Of them he slew
with his knife before the fourth man
succeeded in making an end of him.
Last man of all to fall was Davy
Crockett. His blood-soked shirt clung
to his mighty chest, a cut scared the
leathery skin Of his face and Mexi-
can bullet had gone through his
cheek. And with his back against a
well, his rifle long past using, he moved
with hand AK and cutlass, clearing a
space around him. LancerS held him
at bay while squad Of Santa Annals
riflemen was assembled, and with q
volley brought him to the ground. One
story goes that even the tOngh-fbered
old man was not killed, but at Santa
Annals orders was shot to death by a
firing squad. Since not one defender Of
the Alamo survived, and history is de-
pendent for its knowledge Of details
upon the story Of two Mexican women
and negro boy, it is impossible to tell
with certainty the last details Of that
fight in which wild courage famed high
to the very last.
The Mexican General had the bodies
Of the forts defenders piled in heap
with chapparal and timber west Of the
Alamo and hurned
Four times the number of the AL
amos defenders had fallen in Santa
lis ranks. and never was victory
to cost more than this Of the Mexican
General. 1t was the turning point in
Texas fight for independence.
This stanZa from poem Of James
Jeffery Roche is worth remembering
But far OH San Jacinto's field the Tex
an tolls are set
And Alamo's dread memory the Texan
steel shall whet,
And Fame shall tell their deeds who
fell till all the years be run.
"Thermopylae left one aliye-the Ala
mo left none"
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