The
assault took place on the night of the 7th [sic], and some circumstances
attending it were narrated to me by a gentleman formerly an
officer in the Texan army, which he had obtained from Santa
Anna's servant, who after the battle of San Jacinto was cook
for Gen. Houston. The statements of this servant were generally
relied on by those who knew him, and he contradicted in the
most positive terms the oft repeated rumor that the dead bodies
of the Americans were burnt. On the night of the 7th [sic],
Santa Anna ordered this servant to prepare and keep refreshments
ready all night, and he stated that Santa Anna appeared cast
down and discontented, and did not retire to rest at all. That
accompanied by his private Secretary the General went out about
11 o'clock and did not return until 3 in the morning; that he
served them with coffee of which Santa Anna took but little,
and seemed much excited, and observed, to Almonte, that if the
garrison could be induced to surrender, he would be content;
for said he, if they will not, I well know, that every man before
the dawn of day must, unprepared, meet his God. But what more
can I do; my summonses, said he, are treated with disdain; it
appears to me the only alternative presented is to assault the
garrison; we cannot delay longer here wasting the resources
of the nation and any termination of the affair will relieve
me of a load of anxiety. He further stated that at 4 o'clock
Santa Anna and other officers left the house, and very soon
a tremendous discharge of cannon told that the work of death
was began; he saw rockets in awful brillianzy blazing through
the darkness of the night, and the walls and grounds of the
Alamo reflected the light so that from a window he could plainly
perceive columns of Mexican troops around the fort and ascending
the walls on ladders, and that the whole interior of the Alamo
was perfectly illuminated, as he supposed, by the firing of
the Americans within, and that the old servant feelingly remarked
that he liked master Santa Anna, but that when he heard the
thunders of the artillery and saw blazing rockets gleaming through
the air, he thought of Master George Washington and old Virginia,
and prayed to God that the Americans might whip.
Before
day light the firing had ceased and every thing was again wrapped
in silence and gloom, when Santa Anna and his staff returned,
one of them, remarking that the victory had cost more than it
was worth and that many such would ruin them. At day light this
servant who had seen Col. Crockett at the city of Washington
many years ago, and perhaps Col. Travis and Bowie, was taken
to the fort to designate their bodies; he done so [sic], and
found no less than 16 dead Mexicans around the corpse of Colonel
Crockett and one across it with the huge knife of Davy buried
in the Mexican's bosom to the hilt. He stated that these three
bodies were interred in the same grave separate from all the
rest, and that he heard the Mexican officers say that their
own loss was about 1200 men.