By Robert KolarikStaff Writer

SAN ANTONIO de BEXAR, Texas, March 6, 1836 — Alas, alas!

Forever more, the name of the Alamo shall stand along-side that of Thermopylae in the annals of history as a tale of unmatched bravery to be handed down from genera-tion to generation.

The bastion of Texas Lib-erty has fallen, and to a man, Lt. Col. William Travis and his fellow defenders — like the immortal 300 Spartans — have been martyred.

After withstanding an unrelenting siege of twelve days’ duration by one of the mightiest armies ever assem-bled on this continent, the walls of the old mission that had housed Travis (a man as brave as the fabled King Leonidas), Col. James Bowie, the Hon. David Crockett and some 200 other defenders were breached before the sun rose to-day.

Savagery was unleashed therein as a juggernaut or-chestrated by the modern-day Xerxes, Mexican Gen. Anto-nio López de Santa Anna, swept over the Alamo.

—————————EARLY START

Gen. Santa Anna’s at-tack this morning on Fortress Alamo began

long before the cock crowed, when night was as black as a raven’s heart at midnight.

Reported one of the at-tacking soldiers, who did not provide his name, “Af-ter a long wait, we took our places at 3 o’clock A.M., ... a distance of 300 feet from the fort of the enemy. Here we remained flat on our stomaches until 5:30. ... We ran to the assault, car-rying scaling ladders, picks and spikes. ... The fire from the enemy’s cannon was fear-ful; we fell back; more than forty men fell around me in a few moment(s). One can but admire the stubborn re-sistance of our enemy, and the constant bravery of all our troops.”

—————————FOUR COLUMNS

In attacking the bastion of Texas Liberty to-day, Gen. Santa Anna did not

march his troops at the Ala-mo compound en masse.

One of the dictator’s offi-cers, Col. José Juan Sánchez-Navarro, noted: “At five in the morning, the assault was made by four columns. ... The firing lasted half an hour.”

—————————A WOMAN’S VIEW

Not everyone within its walls when the Alamo fell this morn-

ing was a defender. Women were there, too.

One of them is Susanna Dickinson, now the widow of defender Lt. Almeron Dickinson.

As the attack started, Mrs. Dickinson and her in-fant daughter, Angelina, took shelter within a small, dark-ened room inside the mis-sion.

“Under the cover of darkness (Gen. Santa Anna’s troops) approached the for-tifications, and planting their scaling ladders against our walls just as light was ap-proaching, they climbed to the tops of our walls and-jumped down within, many of them to immediate death. ...

“The struggle lasted more than two hours when my hus-band rushed into the church where I was with my child, and exclaimed: ‘Great God, Sue, the Mexicans are inside our walls! All is lost! If they spare you, save my child.’

“Then, with a parting kiss, he drew his sword and plunged into the strife, then raging in different portions of the fortifications.

“Soon after he left me, three unarmed gunners who abandoned their then useless guns came into the church where I was, and were shot down by my side. One of them was from Nacogdoches and named Walker. ... I saw four Mexicans toss him up in the air — as you would a bundle of fodder — with their bayonets, and then shoot him. At this moment, a Mexican officer came into the room, and, addressing me in English, asked: ‘Are you Mrs. Dickinson?’ I answered ‘Yes.’ Then said he, ‘If you wish to save your life, fol-low me.’ I followed him, and although shot and wounded, was spared.”

—————————BOWIE KIN

One woman spared the horrors of either gun or blade at the Alamo

this morning is Juana Navarro Alsbury, a cousin by marriage to the late Col. James Bowie, onetime co-commander of the fortress.

Mrs. Alsbury had entered the old mission at the urg-ing of Bowie and remained there to care for him after he fell ill.

Although acknowledging that she saw little of the actual fighting, Mrs. Als-bury recalled that during the battle, she peered out from the room where she and her son, Alejo Perez Jr., not yet one year in age, along with her sister Gertrudis Navarro, had sought refuge and saw the hordes of attacking sol-diers assaulting the compound from every direction.

When the roar of the fighting grew near her lo-cation, Mrs. Alsbury rightly assumed the walls had been breached and the compound was being overrun. She asked her sister to go to the door and request that the attack-ers not fire into the room, as its occupants were non-combatants. Señorita Na-varro opened the door and was greeted by language of the vilest sort from marauders whose sole intent seemed to be to loot and pillage.

Cursing, one of the brig-ands shoved the señorita back into the room and her shawl was torn from her shoulders. “Your money or your hus-band!” a felonious freebooter demanded. “I have neither money nor husband,” was

her chaste reply.The privateers eventually

busied themselves breaking into Mrs. Alsbury’s trunk and helping themselves to the money and clothing stored therein — along with Bowie’s watch.

When the fighting eventu-ally eased, the sisters — with young Alejo in tow — were able to make their way to their father’s house.

—————————A SERVANT

Apparently, the only adult male who was with the force within

the confines of the Alamo to have survived the slaughter to-day is a fellow named Joe, who was in the Servitude of the late Lt. Col. Travis.

Joe reported that his mas-ter first learned of the attack when John J. Baugh, the ad-jutant of the Alamo garrison, entered Travis’ quarters, cry-ing: “The Mexicans are com-ing!”

Travis tossed Joe a gun and both scurried to the top of the wall. There, the Alamo commander did pro-claim: “Come on boys, the Mexicans are upon us, and we’ll give them Hell!” Travis opened fire, as did Joe and their comrades. Their shots were returned and Travis fell, mortally wounded.

With Santa Anna’s troops topping the rampart, Joe sought refuge in a building within the compound, firing several times as the attacking horde swarmed past. Even-tually, after the fortress had fallen, Joe was taken before Gen. Santa Anna, who de-cided he should be allowed to go free.

By Robert KolarikStaff Writer

SAN ANTONIO de BEXAR, Texas, March 6, 1836 — Totaling the

exact number of defenders, not to mention the attackers, who were sent to meet their maker during the attack at the Alamo to-day is as difficult as attempting to pluck with one’s fingers a dollop of mer-cury from atop a table.

The dictator himself re-ported that “600 corpses of foreigners were buried” and that “we lost about 70 men killed and 300 wounded, among whom are 25 officers.”

Santa Anna’s own private secretary, Ramón Martínez Caro, listed the number of martyred defenders as 183, and added that “three hun-dred (attackers) were left dead on the field.”

Santa Anna’s aide-de-camp, Col. Juan Almonte, meanwhile, reported: “On the part of the enemy the result was 250 killed. ... Our loss was 60 soldiers and 5 officers killed, and 198 soldiers and 25 officers were wounded.”

Francisco Antonio Ruiz, a local luminary, reported the defenders’ losses thusly: “The men burned numbered 182. I was an eye witness, for as Alcalde of San Antonio, I was with some of the neigh-bors collecting the dead bod-ies and placing them on the funeral pyre.”

The alcalde also partici-pated in the disposal of the attackers’ remains.

“The dead Mexicans of Santa Anna’s army were taken to the graveyard, but not hav-ing sufficient room for them, I ordered some of them to be thrown in the river, which was done. ... Santa Anna’s loss (was) estimated at 1,600 men. These were the flower of his army.”

Gen. Santa Anna emerges victorious in a battle that most assuredly will

long be remembered.

All defenders are slain, but not before unleashing a withering

and deadly rain of fire.

Only the sounds of mournful weeping are heard now at the Immortal Alam0. The fortress’ commander, Lt. Col. William Travis, died atop one of the walls at the time of the attack. The exact circumstances surrounding the deaths of the legendary David Crockett and Col.

James Bowie have yet to be determined.

lll

Mike Fisher, a xylographer

from the Staff.