, we must
remember that these were simple citizens, bound together by no tie save
their affection for one another and their loyalty to a state of whose
independence they were as yet ignorant, for though Texas was then the
"Lone Star State," no intimation of the Texas declaration of
independence had reached Travis or his devoted followers. According to
the report of General Santa Ana, the action lasted but thirty minutes
from the time the enemy entered the walls till the resistance was
completely quelled.

So many false reports have been made of the number engaged in this
struggle that it is impossible even now to tell definitely. We do know
that the number of Texans was less than two hundred, and it is probable
that about twenty-five hundred Mexicans were engaged in the assault. All
the Texans were killed, and from the various accounts we are led to
infer that about five hundred Mexicans fell, a number which shows that
the defense of the Texans was indeed fierce and bloody.

The history of our country does not show any incident of greater bravery
or more heroic self-sacrifice, and it is hardly to be conceived that
such a defense will ever be excelled. This was no disciplined force
fighting under trained officers, but a group of simple, manly men, not
agreeing in all things, but united with the one idea of fighting against
cruelty and oppression.

On the Capitol grounds at Austin, Texas, a monument was erected in 1891
to the heroes of the Alamo. On it is this inscription:

"Thermopylae had her messenger of defeat:
The Alamo had none."

FOOTNOTES:

[141-1] At this time San Antonio had a population of about seven
thousand Mexicans, a small proportion of whom were favorable to the
Texan cause. The majority had no particular leaning toward either side,
but were willing to make the best terms they could. The San Antonio
River separated the town from the Alamo village and fort, or mission, as
it was originally called. The Alamo proper was a stone structure built
during the first settlement of that locality by the Spaniards, who
intended it as a refuge for the colonists in case of attacks by the
hostile Indians. A wall two and a half feet thick and eight feet high
surrounded the stone structure and enclosed an area of two or three
acres. It wras so large that it could not have been properly garrisoned
by less than a thousand men, and the walls were not thick enough to make
it a strong fortification.

[141-2]