Identifier: historicalsketch00bennett (find matches)
Title: Historical sketch and guide to the Alamo
Year: 1904 (1900s)
Authors: Bennett, Leonora. (from old catalog)
Subjects:
Publisher: San Antonio, Tex.
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: Sloan Foundation

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nned fighters by this time, the Americanforce being diminished moment by moment. It was an awful carnage, a slaughter whose equalhas not been recorded since the day of Thermopylse. Under a fierce ramming and barring the Northeastcorner of the monastery gave way, and through thebreak Castrillion forced his men. The plaza was filledin a minute, the court was packed, and the North doorsof the church, into which the Americans had backedfor their final stand, was attacked by a tremendouspower of men and rams. The openings were blockedby sacks of sand, behind which dodged the remainingpatriots, picking orf a man here and there with leadenballs, nails and scraps of iron, with which they werecompelled to load their guns. The doors were blown in with powder blasts andthen, after the fearful struggle, which had now lastedmore than two and a half hours, Mexican and Texanfaced each other in the burying ground of the Alamo,the main body making their final stand in the audito-rium of the chapel. 70
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Again the Mexicans brought their cannon into play,so dreadful had been the havoc the Americans wroughtamong them. The front doors were attacked withgrape and canister, yielding at last to a terrific bom-bardment, which cost the Americans many a life. Intothe chapel the Mexicans madly rushed, over the bodiesof patriots killed by the grape and canister fire they fell.The Americans were now attacked in their final cham-ber of death from behind and in front, and there theyfought as never men fought before, until every hearthad been stilled in death and every voice had beenforever hushed. With pistol-butt and rifle, knife and bayonet, withstones and pieces of iron, they fought their death-fight, overwhelmed and crushed by force of numbers,no one asking for quarter, none offering it to the other. The confusion was awful, the carnage frightful.The crack of firearmis, the shouts of defiance andgroans of pain, the death agonies of the wounded, thescreaming of the women, the loud reverberation

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