Sept 24 1836 to Oct 24 1836 - PTR, Vol. 9

stream by a sudden turn leaves a point of land in shape resembling a horse shoe. Upon this peninsula it is said that David Crockett killed the first :Mexican soldier, at the distance of two hundred yards. It was here that Crockett and Dickinson burned some houses that stood in the way of their artillery. That part of the town, which is more particularly important to be understood on account of its having been the centre of the military operations, is a square, enclosed on all sides by ~tone houses, with streets running, from all the corners, parallel and at right angles with the sides of the square. At the entrance of every street, with the exception of that leading to the .Alamo, a ditch wa11 dug ten feet wide, five feet deep, raised on the inner side, so as to make an elevation of ten feet. 0Ter this was erected a breast-work of perpendicular posts, with port-holes for muskets, and one in the centre for can- non. These slight outlines may be a sufficient intro- duction to the details, which are to assist the reader in tracing the contest, which ended in the evacuation of San Antonio by the Mexicans, and its occupation by the friends and defenders of Texas. After the battle of Conception, several weeks were spent in useless marches from the former battle field, to a position about one mile north of the town; but sometimes to a ford one half mile up the river. At length one division, and not long afterward the

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