Susanna
Dickinson Hanning
The following account appears in an 1875 book by James M. Morphis entitled History
of Texas. As in the case of all other accounts by Mrs. Dickinson, this
version is recounted by a third party.1
I will now describe the memorable Fall OF THE ALAMO as
related to me by Mrs. Susan Hanning, formerly Mrs. Dickinson, who witnessed
it.
"On February 23d, 1836, Santa
Anna, having captured the pickets sent out by Col. Travis to guard the post
from surprise,2 charged into San Antonio
with his troops, variously estimated at from six to ten thousand, only a few
moments after the bells of the city rang the alarm.3
"Capt. Dickinson galloped up
to our dwelling and hurriedly exclaimed: "The Mexicans are upon us, give
me the babe, and jump up behind me." I did so, and as the Mexicans already
occupied Commerce street, we galloped across the river at the ford south of
it, and entered the fort at the southern gate, when the enemy commenced firing
shot and shell into the fort, but with little or no effect, only wounding one
horse.
"There were eighteen guns mounted
on the fortifications, and these, with our riflemen, repulsed with great slaughter
two assaults upon them before the final one.
"I knew Colonels Crockett.
Bowie and Travis well. Col. Crockett was a performer on the violin, and often
during the siege took it up and played his favorite tunes.
"I heard him say several times
during the eleven days of the siege: 'I think we had better march out and die
in the open air. I don't like being hemmed up.'
"There were provisions and
forage enough in the fort to have subsisted men and horses for a month longer.
"A few days before the final
assault three Texans entered the fort during the night and inspired us with
sanguine hopes of speedy relief, and thus animated the men to contend to the
last.
"A Mexican women deserted us
one night, and going over to the enemy informed them of our very inferior numbers,
which Col. Travis said made them confident and emboldened to make the final
assault, which they did at early dawn on the morning of the 6th of
March.
"Under the cover of darkness
they approached the fortifications, and planting their scaling ladders against
our walls just as light was approaching, they climbed up to the tops of our
walls and jumped down within, may of them to their immediate death.
"As fast as the front ranks
were slain, they were filled up again by fresh troops.
"The Mexicans numbered several
thousands while there were only one hundred and eighty-two Texans.
"The struggle lasted more than
two hours when my husband 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.4 He spoke to me several times
during the siege about his wife and four children with anxious tenderness.
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, follow
me.' I followed him, and although shot at and wounded, was spared.
"As we passed through the enclosed
ground in front of the church, I saw heaps of dead and dying. The Texans on
an average killed between eight and nine Mexicans each-182 and 1,600 Mexicans
were killed.5
"I recognized Col. Crockett lying dead and mutilated between the church
and the two story barrack building, and even remember seeing his peculiar cap
lying by his side.
"Col. Bowie was sick in bed
and not expected to live, but as the victorious Mexicans entered his room,
he killed two of them with his pistols before they pierced him through with
their sabres.
"Col. Travis and Bonham were
killed while working the cannon, the body of the former lay on the top of the
church.6
"In the evening the Mexicans brought wood from the neighboring forest
and burned the bodies of all the Texans, but their own dead they buried in
the city cemetery across the San Pedro [creek]."
Footnotes
1. J[ames]. M. Morphis, History of Texas, From Its Discovery
and Settlement (NY: United States Publishing Company, 1875), 174-177.
For a biographical sketch of Morphis, see http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/view/MM/fmo52.html back
to text
2. No other person contends that Santa Anna's
troops captured any Texan pickets as they approached BÈxar. back
to text
3. Richard G. Santos, Santa Anna's
Campaign Against Texas, 1835-1836 (Waco, TX: Texian Press, 1968), 60, 71.
Santa Anna arrived on February 23, 1836, with the Vanguard Brigade, which numbered
1,541 men, and a fifty-man personal escort. Reinforcements arrived on March
3, 1836, which consisted of 864 infantrymen and officers accompanied by about
150 mule herders. These two forces united meant that the total number of troops
in BÈxar was approximately 2,500--not the 6,000 or more claimed by some
early writers. back to text
4. Bill Groneman, Alamo Defenders (Austin:
Eakin Press, 1990), 117. This man appears to have been Jacob Walker. back
to text
5. The number of slain at the battle
has been debated for years. For a discussion on the topic, see http://thealamo.org/visitors/faq.php. back
to text
6. This statement places Travis' body
"on top of the church," something that contradicts Joe's account,
which contends that Travis was killed on the north wall. back
to text
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