Susanna Dickinson Susanna Wilkerson Dickinson ( 1814 – October 7 , 1883 ) was one of two American survivors of the 1836 Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution , where her husband , Captain Almaron Dickinson , and 182 other Texan defenders were killed by the Mexican Army . The second survivor was her infant daughter . Texas Revolution . Susanna Dickinson lived in Gonzales in Mexican Texas with her first husband , Almaron Dickinson . As the Mexican government increasingly abandoned its federalist structure in favor of a more centralized government , Almaron Dickinson became one of the early proponents of war . The men quickly herded cattle into the Alamo and scrounged for food in some of the recently abandoned houses . A few members of the garrison . The Mexican soldiers soon breached the outer walls of the Alamo . As previously planned , most of the Texans fell back to the barracks and the chapel . In the confusion , Almaron Dickinson slipped from his post manning a cannon in the chapel to join his wife in the sacristy . He yelled " Great God , Sue , the Mexicans are inside our walls ! If they spare you , save my child ! " , then kissed her briefly and returned to his cannon . It took an hour for the Mexican army to secure complete control of the Alamo . The last of the Texans to die were the 11 men , including Almaron Dickinson , manning the two 12 - pounder cannon in the chapel . The entrance to the church had been barricaded with sandbags , which the Texans were able to fire over . A shot from the 18 - pounder cannon destroyed the barricades , and Mexican soldiers entered the building after firing an initial musket volley . Dickinson ' s crew fired their cannon from the apse into the Mexican soldiers at the door . With no time to reload , the Texans , including Dickinson , Gregorio Esparza , and Bonham , grabbed rifles and fired before being bayoneted to death . Texan Robert Evans , the master of ordnance , had been tasked with keeping the gunpowder from falling into Mexican hands . Wounded , he crawled towards the powder magazine but was killed by a musket ball with his torch only inches from the powder . If he had succeeded , the blast would have destroyed the church , killing Dickinson and the other women and children hiding in the sacristy . As soldiers approached the sacristy , one of the sons of defender Anthony Wolf stood to pull a blanket over his shoulders . In the dark , Mexican soldiers mistook him for an adult and killed him . Possibly the last Texan to die in battle was Jacob Walker , who attempted to hide behind Dickinson and the other women ; four Mexican soldiers killed him in front of them . Another Texian , Brigido Guerrero , also sought refuge in the sacristy . Guerrero , who had deserted from the Mexican Army in December 1835 , was spared after convincing the soldiers he was a prisoner of the Texans . In the confusion , Dickinson was lightly wounded . On March 7 , Santa Anna interviewed each of the survivors individually . He was impressed with Dickinson and offered to adopt Angelina and have the child educated in Mexico City . Dickinson refused the offer , which was not extended to fellow Alamo survivor Juana Navarro Alsbury for her son who was of similar age . Santa Anna ordered that the Tejano civilian survivors be allowed to return to their homes in San Antonio . Dickinson and Joe , a Texan slave , were allowed to travel towards the Anglo settlements , escorted by Ben , a former slave from the United States who served as Mexican Colonel Juan Almonte ' s cook . Each woman was given US $ 2 and a blanket and was allowed to go free and spread the news of the destruction that awaited those who opposed the Mexican government . Before releasing Joe , Santa Anna ordered that the surviving members of the Mexican army parade in a grand review , in the hopes that Joe and Dickinson would deliver a warning to the remainder of the Texan forces that his army was unbeatable . When the small party of survivors arrived in Gonzales on March 13 they found Sam Houston , the commander of all Texan forces , waiting there with about 400 men . After Dickinson and Joe related the details of the battle and the strength of Santa Anna ' s army , Houston advised all civilians to evacuate and then ordered the army to retreat . This was the beginning of the Runaway Scrape , in which much of the population of Texas , including the acting government , rushed to the east to escape the advancing Mexican army . Susanna Dickinson ' s witness accounts . Susanna Dickinson reported , after the battle , the following had occurred during the siege and ultimate fight ; Some points of Dickinson ' s account were confirmed by other survivors , including Enrique Esparza , the son of Alamo defender Gregorio Esparza . Joe confirmed other statements . After the Alamo . Illiterate , Susanna Dickinson left no written accounts of what happened in the Alamo , but did give several oral accounts , with them always corroborating what she had previously stated . She remarried soon afterward to a man last named Williams , in 1837 , but divorced almost immediately afterward on the grounds of cruelty . She married a third time in 1838 , last name Herring , with that husband dying due to alcoholism . Dickinson married her fourth husband in 1847 , last name Bellows , but the couple divorced in 1857 allegedly due to her having an affair . In 1858 she married for the fifth and final time , to J . W . Hannig , a cabinet maker , and with whom she would remain for the rest of her life . Dickinson died in 1883 and was buried in the Oakwood Cemetery in Austin , with the following inscription : " Sacred to the Memory of Susan A . Wife of J . W . Hannig Died Oct . 7 , 1883 Aged 68 Years . " The marble marker was placed there by Hannig . The marble slab was later added by the state on March 2 , 1949 . Her fifth husband Hannig was buried beside her after he died in 1890 . Legacy . A cenotaph honoring Susanna Wilkerson Dickinson was placed in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin , Texas . The house her fifth husband Joseph William Hannig built in Austin , Texas in 1869 was turned into a museum , The Joseph and Susanna Dickinson Hannig Museum , dedicated to Susanna Dickinson and the other survivors of the Alamo .