by water the commander was wounded and Lhe men almost famished having had no water for 7 hours they Lherefore capitulated bul no sooner had they laid down their arms than the fiend of Hell unmasked himself by drawing them out day by day and putting them to death. ten or twelve only made their escape & they did it by having Lhe presence of mind by falling when shot al as all did and not being hurt afterwards affected Lhcir escape such acts as these had aroused the Texians and when the battle of the 21st ult. was fought all the occurences were fresh in the memory of the Texians and-although the order of Lhe commander in chief of the Texian army was to grant quarters to all who asked it they were deaf to the cries of the enemy for quarters-& when the enemy with uplifted hands would beg and plead for quarters the war cry of the Texians-alamo Goliad & no quarters would ring in the ears of the wretch as he received his death blow. and the only reason that quarters were given to any was because our men were satiated & glutted with human blood-I think the lives of all the prisoners taken will be spared except such as will be tried by a court martial. Santa Anna & his staff will all have lo die I think for should not a court martial not condemn them for departing from all the rules of civilized warfare nothing but Lhe interposition of providence could prevent hundreds of Texians from putting them to death to avenge their friends who have been massacreed by their infernal orders Santa anna says he lost a thousand men in Storming the Alamo and about as many more at Goliad but all the rest of the prisoners say that there loss at the alamo was upwards of 1600 so that his victory there was worse than an ordinary defeat report say that 250 volunteers who came out from N York landed too far down the cost and fell into the enemy hands & were all put to death without fireing a gun they must have been taken by stratagem or had no amunition Santa Anna denies this but I think he lies-I have never yet been in an engagement myself. I lived immediately on the frontier where the Indians were very troublesome & was compelled when the alamo was taken to remove my family to a place of safety both from Mexicans and Indians. I had just arrived with them here at my Fathers in laws when I heard of the victory I am now 250 miles from any house but I shall leave my family here which is only 20 miles from the U States line until the war is terminated-tomorrow I leave for the army wher~. I shall remain until Texas is free from the tyrants
319
Powered by FlippingBook