about the middle of l\fay. My health being much im- paired, I obtained a furlough, with permission to visit my friends in the United States. The following anecdotes do not regularly belong to my narrative, and I have therefore thrown them into the form of a note. In the heat of the battle of the Colette, one of the cannons at the time of a seve1·e charge of the enemy's cavalry, was completely unmanned by the wounding of the cannonier, and all the soldiers attached to the piece. A young man by the name of Gates, who was lieutenant and nephew of Capt. Westover, perceiving it, ran to the spot, gave direction to it and made so good a shot that the enemy were compelled to retire. Capt. "\Vestover was from this state, I believe, and mar- ried his wife in Gloucester, on Cape Ann. She was left a widow in Texas. It is said and generally believed in Texas of Col. Crockett, that when Gen. Santa Anna was surveying the Alamo for the purpose of informing himself of the best method of arranging an attack, he made so good a shot at him as to come near taking his life, which so much enraged the General, that he resolved to storm the fort the next day and he kept his resolution. It is also reported, as coming from Mrs. Dickinson, who was in the Alamo during the storm, that Col. Crockett came into her apartment, fell upon his knees,
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