On February 25th, 1836, Captain Albert Martin arrived in Gonzales with a letter from Colonel William Barret Travis at the Alamo. Travis had chosen Martin because he was from Gonzales. The letter that he gave Martin was the famous "Victory or Death" appeal that was written on a piece of brown wrapping paper.
But Gonzales wasn't the only place that Travis sent couriers. John W. Smith was sent to the town of Goliad, southeast of Bexar. In a mission fortress somewhat similar (but stronger) to the Alamo, Colonel James Fannin had around 450 men.
Fannin, though a graduate of West Point, was an indecisive, unpopular, and inept leader.
After mulling it over, Fannin decided to send a relief force to the Alamo. On the morning of February 26th, he led a force of around 320 men, 4 cannon, and several supply wagons from Fort Defiance at Goliad.
Barely 200 yards from their starting point, one of the wagons broke down taking hours to fix. It then took the men 6 hours to cross a small creek in the area due to a lack of cooperation from the oxen teams.
The force then turned back, never to try again.
Now it was up to Martin to rally a force to come to the aid of the men at the Alamo.
Meanwhile, back at the Alamo, Santa Anna was receiving reinforcements daily. An elite brigade under General Gaona of over 1,000 men was still some days away, but in the meantime, Santa Anna busied himself with the siege.
By day, he bombarded the fort. By night there would be bugle calls, bands playing, occasional cannon fire, and fake charges.
Every night, he inched a battery of guns opposite the north wall closer and closer.
It was psychological warfare designed to keep the Texians guessing, fray their nerves, and deprive them of sleep.
Bowie had fallen ill, probably from typhoid, and now Travis was in sole command of the garrison.
As of yet, the daily cannonade had caused no casualties, but the weak north wall had to be repaired every night under cover of darkness. It was difficult and dangerous work, but it had to be done.
All of this extra effort only added to the immense stress that was on the garrison.
More than once, the stricken Bowie was brought out on a cot in attempts to encourage the men.
Crockett would also entertain the men with his fiddle. One of the other defenders, a Scotsman, played the bagpipes. He and Crockett would sometimes hold contests to "see who made the most noise". The men whooped and hollered, and forgot for awhile their dire predicament.
Then, in the wee hours of March 1st, reinforcements arrived.
It was Captain Martin at the head of 32 men from Gonzales.
But Travis knew that that would not be enough.
On the afternoon of March 3rd, Gaona's brigade of 1,000 elite troops arrived in Bexar. Santa Anna now had enough decent troops to assault the Alamo if he wished.
But was it necessary? Within another week, his heavy artillery would arrive. With these guns, he could pulverize the weakened Texian defenses, and make things a lot easier -- perhaps even force a surrender and obtain a relatively cheap victory. Many of his generals counseled this approach.
But Santa Anna wanted glory, and he wanted to teach these "perfidious foreigners" a lesson that would be felt throughout Texas.
He decided to attack.
In the meantime, Travis finally realized that no further help was in the offing. On the evening of March 5th, he assembled the garrison and told them the truth.
Legend has it that Travis drew a line in the sand with his sword, and invited all those who wanted to stay and fight to cross it. The only other option being to climb over the wall and try to escape.
But Suzanna Dickinson, wife of defender Almeron Dickinson, who witnessed the scene, made no mention of a line in her later accounts of the siege. Nor did any of the other noncombatant survivors.
The Mexican cannonade slacked off earlier than usual that evening. During the night, there were no bugle calls, no cannon shots, no bands, and no fake attacks.
As Santa Anna planned, the Texians slept.
During the night, Santa Anna assembled his assault forces.
The main blow would fall on the north wall. Two columns, one from the northeast and one from the northwest had about 700 men between them.
From the east a force of 300 men would attack the cattle pen and horse corral.
From the south a force of around 125 men would attack the palisade - the low makeshift earthen wall between the low barracks and the Alamo Church.
Santa Anna himself would command a reserve force of around 300 men opposite the north wall.
At 5:30am the troops silently advanced, killing the sleeping advance sentries.
The idea was to sneak up on the sleeping defenders, and reach the walls before an alarm could be raised. But over eager men began shouting "Viva Santa Anna", blowing bugles and firing their rifles.
So Santa Anna ordered his massed buglers to sound the charge.
Inside the Alamo, officer of the day John Bough was just starting his rounds, and realized the growing bedlam could only mean one thing. He raised the alarm.
Men were running to their posts everywhere. Travis ran to his post by a cannon on the north wall, and shouted encouragement to his men.
As the first Mexicans reached the north wall, Travis fired his shotgun down on the attackers.
But at the same tome a shot rang out.
Travis spun, hit in the head, and ended up on the ramp stunned and dying.
But the first Mexican charge had been beaten back.
The Mexicans fell back, reformed and tried again -- and were repulsed.
But now the third time. This time they reached the Alamo, ending up in giant clump of men at the foot of the north wall.
At the same time the eastern column of attackers had been savaged by the guns on the Alamo Church. They veered to the right -- also ending up at the north wall.
Santa Anna, watching from his position with the reserves, could only wonder how his meticulous plan had gone awry. All of the scaling ladders were gone, trampled under foot.
Worse, his men in front were taking serious casualties from those coming up from behind who were firing wildly, more often hitting friend than foe.
Not knowing what else to do, Santa Anna sent in his reserves.
But now the Mexicans discovered that the repairs made by the Texians to the wall offered some advantages.
There were chinks in the wooded beams that were used to support the wall. It could be climbed, and they proceeded to do so.
Also,the Texians were taking casualties as they leaned over to shoot at the Mexicans. Gaps appeared in the defense, and the Mexicans took full advantage.
A handful of Mexicans managed to climb over the wall and drop down in the northwest corner. Soon, the northern postern (a small gate) was opened, and the Mexicans surged into the fort in an uncheckable stream.
Meanwhile, to the south, it had been a bad half hour for the Mexicans. The "weak" palisade had proved to be anything but while manned by Crockett's Tennesseans.
Finally, they steered well clear of Crockett's men and hit the Alamo at the southwest corner, neatly outflanking the 18 pounder gun emplacement.
The Texians manning the 18 pounder had witnessed the debacle at the north wall. They turned the gun around,and fired into the Mexicans who were now pouring into the fort. As they prepared to fire a second shot, the Mexicans struck from below.
After a few seconds of bayonet practice, the 18 pounder was in the hands of the Mexicans.
The Texians at the north and west walls, in the meantime ran to prepared positions in the long barracks, and a collection of huts on the west wall. They poured a withering cross-fire on the Mexicans, who began dropping in heaps.
But the Mexicans now had the 18 pounder,and began to pulverize the Texian positions. There would be a blast of artillery, then a charge. There was wild hand-to-hand fighting, but there were always too many Mexicans. In this way the barracks positions were cleaned out one by one.
Some tried to escape but were ridden down by the Delores Cavalry, who simply toyed with the men by running them through with gaily decked lances.
But most of the men fought it out, giving ground inch by inch.
The Mexicans eventually broke into Bowie's room in the southern low barracks, and killed him on his cot. They literally hoisted him up by their bayonets.
Now only the gun platform on the Alamo Church was left along with Crockett and his men by the palisade.
It is reported that the Tennesseans fought with a wild fury that awed even the attackers. But they were beaten down.
The men on the gun platform at the back of the church were killed by blasts from the 18 pounder, and it was over.
It was 6:30am. Dawn.
For the next hour, the Mexicans continued to fire into the bodies. Even a dog was killed, because it was American.
All 183 defenders were killed. Estimates of Mexican casualties vary -- somewhere between 600 - 1000 men killed and wounded.
