e.

"SAM HOUSTON."

Both armies were on the field of San Jacinto, and Santa Anna had with
him nearly two thousand men, against the 700 with General Houston.
Houston advanced to the attack at three o'clock in the afternoon, with
the war cry of "_Remember the Alamo!_" It was taken up by 700 men with
such a shout of vengeance as mortal ears never heard before. With it
on their lips they advanced close to the Mexican lines, while a storm
of bullets went over their heads. Houston and his horse were both
wounded, but both being of the finest metal, they pressed on
regardless of wounds. The Americans did not answer the volley until
they could pour their lead into the bosoms of their foes. They never
thought of reloading, but clubbing their rifles until they broke, they
then flung them away, and fired their pistols into the very eyes of
the Mexicans. When nothing else remained, they drew their bowie knives
and cut their way through the walls of living flesh.

Nothing comparable to that charge for freedom was ever made. Men said
afterward that the unseen battalions--the mighty dead as well as the
mighty living--won the battle. "Poor Fannin!" exclaimed General
Sherman, "he has been blamed for disobeying orders; but I think he
obeyed orders to-day!" Men fought like spirits, impetuous, invincible,
as if they had cast off flesh and blood. The battle began at three
o'clock in the afternoon of April 21, 1836, and after the Americans
reached the Mexican line, it lasted _just eighteen minutes_. At four
o'clock the whole Mexican army was flying, and the pursuit and
slaughter continued until dark. It was a military miracle, for the
American loss was only eight killed and seventeen wounded. Of the
Mexicans, 630 were left dead on the field; multitudes perished in the
bayou and morass; and there were nearly eight hundred prisoners. Only
seven men are known to have escaped either death or capture. Santa
Anna was found hiding in coarse clothing, and Houston had the greatest
difficulty to save his life. For Houston knew that the lives of all
the Americans in Mexico were in danger, besides which, he was needed
to secure the peace and independence of Texas. It required Houston's
influence, however, to convince men whose fathers and brothers and
sons had been brutally massacred at Goliad and the Alamo, that their
private vengeance must give way to the public good.

Just about the time that the battle of San J