The Account of

Concerning the Fall of the Alamo

One of the Besiegers Tells the Story of the Siege and Final Assault.
Frightful Scenes of Carnage-Death of Travis and The "Man In The Fox skin Cap."
How the Bodies Were Collected and Burned-Horrible Scenes Depicted by an Eye-Witness.

[Felix Nuñez is an aged Mexican who has lived in this and adjoining counties since the year
1837, and has long been noted among his neighbors for his wonderfully retentive memory
and power of description. He bears an unexceptional [?]reputation for truth and veracity,
and THE EXPRESS has the assurance of many well known and reliable citizens of this
county that in what he says he conscientiously endeavors to tell the truth, and that if there
are any inaccuracies in his statement they must be attributed to incorrect information
received at the time of which he writes. After leaving the Mexican army Señor Nuñez
reentered this country on a passport purchased from a Mexican named Bacca, and issued to
him by General Sam Houston. Fearing punishment for his part in the war against the
Texans, he lived for several years under the name of Bacca. He say she kept the coat of
Travis and the papers contained therein secreted about his premises until about eighteen
years ago, when he found them so worm-eaten and mouldy that he destroyed the remnants,
having all the time feared making his valuable possessions known, but desiring to retain
them as mementoes of one of the most tragic battles known to the history of the world. The
coat was "home made" of Texas jeans. Nuñez has always been reticent about his part in the
war of Texas Independence, but a friend and neighbor for twenty-five years, Professor Geo.
W. Noel, to whom THE EXPRESS is indebted for the interesting article to follow, has during
that time taken notes of statements made by Nuñez during his periods of confidence, and
having secured much information in that way, finally prevailed on the old gentleman to
make a corrected statement concerning the thrilling event, and which the professor has
translated for THE EXPRESS.12 Nuñez now lives near Amphion, in Atascosa county.] 13 My
name is Felix Nuñez, and I was born in 1804, and am consequently nearly 85 years old. I
was forcibly conscripted in 1835 in the state of Guadalajara, Mexico, and was assigned to
duty in that division of the Mexican army which was always under the immediate command
of President Santa Anna, and, as I was then 32 years of age, you will see that I had a good
opportunity for knowing and observing every event that transpired within my sphere from
the time of my enlistment until the unfortunate encounter at San Jacinto, April 21 , 1836.
General Santa Anna with an army of 7,000 men started from Guerrero, Mexico, about the
middle of February, 1836, and though marching on double quick time we did not arrive at
San Antonio until near the end of that month.14

There was some delay at El Paso de la Pinta, on the Medina, occasioned by the death of a
colonel of one of the regiments and a favorite of General Santa Anna, who ordered this
officer to be buried with the honors of war.15 Santa Anna, not wishing to take part in the
obsequies of his deceased friend, moved on with his staff and the division of troops under
his immediate command, and halted on the Alazan, a little west of the city. Shortly after his
arrival at the Alazan he learned that there was a baile (a dance) going to take place in the
Domingo Bustillo house, which is just north of the Southern hotel. Obtaining this
information, Santa Anna doffed his regimentals and disguised himself as a muleteer and
went to the dance. There he learned the exact force and number of the troops that were in
the city and all other necessary information, as well, also, the feeling of the citizens in
regard to the invasion. The president, being an elegant talker and avery brilliant
conversationalist, directed his conversation to the Americans and Mexican citizens who
were in sympathy with the American cause. One of the incidents I recollect distinctly. It
was a very heated controversy that took place between Gen. Santa Anna and Señor
Vergara, the father-in-law of Capt. Jno. W. Smith 16 (of whom I shall speak again), in which
this gentleman gave Santa Anna an unmerciful abusing and hooted at the ideal of the
Mexicans ever subjugating the Americans. Just after the fall of the Alamo Gen. Santa Anna
sent his orderly to Señor Vergara and commanded him to appear before him. Upon being
asked if here collected the conversation with the muleteer he was almost scared out of his
wits. He was reprimanded by Santa Anna, who told him to go his way and sin no more.
Here the president completely disguised, was talking and chatting in company with some of
the Americans who had come over from the Alamo and participated in the festivities of the
dance, not even dreaming that they were in such close proximity to the one who would
shortly spread before them the last and fatal feast of death.17

After the army invested San Antonio and the Americans had retreated to the Alamo, Santa
Anna ordered the Americans to surrender.

The summons was answered by those of the Alamo by the discharge of a cannon,
whereupon Santa Anna caused a blood-red flag to be hoisted from the Cathedral of San
Fernando on the west side of the Main plaza, which at that time was in plain view of the
Alamo.18 Simultaneously [sic] all the bugles sounded a charge all along the lines of both
cavalry and infantry, but this charge was repulsed by the Americans with heavy loss to us.19
Whereupon the President ordered "sapas" (subterranean houses) to be dug on the north,
south and east of the Alamo, which were strongly garrisoned with troops, for the double
purpose of preventing re-inforcements from entering the Alamo and to cut the Americans
off from water.20 This completed the cordon of troops which was drawn around the doomed
Alamo. And right here let me state that no ingress or egress could have been accomplished
from the time our army regularly besieged the Alamo, and there was none,with the single
exception of Don Juan Seguin and his company, who were permitted to leave. They were
let go from the fact that they were Mexicans and we did not wish to harm them.2l
There was no Capt. John W. Smith and company, nor no one else ever cut their way
through our lines and entered the Alamo, because they would have been cut to pieces in the
attempt, for the main object of Santa Anna was to keep the garrison from receiving
reinforcements.22 And, moreover, there is but one Captain Jonh [sic] W. Smith mentioned
about San Antonio and he was mayor of the city at the time of the desperate fight with the
Comanche chiefs on the east side of the Main plaza.23 If he had been in the Alamo he
would have been killed, and therefore could not have been mayor of San Antonio
afterwards.24

The second and third day of the siege resulted with very little variance from the first, to-
wit: With heavy losses to our army. This so exasperated Santa Anna that he said, to use his
own language, that he was losing the flower of his army, and to see the Alamo still hold out
he became terribly enraged, and it was at this time that he made the fatal promise, which he
so scrupulously carried out, that he would burn the last one of them when taken whether
dead or alive. He immediately called a council of all his officers and proposed another
attack on the Alamo in the evening of the third day's siege with his entire force. His cry
was: "On to the Alamo."This was met with the cry by the officers and men that: "On to the
Alamo was on to death."

A large majority of the officers were in favor of waiting until they could get more heavy
cannon and, perhaps by that time the garrison would be starved out and surrender and
further bloodshed be avoided.25 But Santa Anna, with his usual impetuosity, swore that he
would take the fort the next day or die in the attempt. So on Wednesday, the 6th day of
March, 1836, and the fourth day of the siege, was the time fixed for the final assault.26

Each and everything pertaining to the final assault underwent the personal supervision of
General Santa Anna, to the end that it would be successful.27 Three of his most experienced
officers were selected to assist him in commanding the assaulting parties. General Vicente
Felisola [sic], his second in command,with a thousand picked men took charge of the
assault on the east of the Alamo.28 General Castrillor [sic],with a like number, was placed
on the south side.29 General Ramirez Sesma 30 was to have taken command on the west side
next to the river, but seeing that President Santa Anna was determined to make the final
assault the next day feigned sickness, the evening before, and was put under arrest and
started back to the capital. This part of the command then devolved on Gen. Woll,31 so
there was no General Sesma in command of any portion of the army at the fall of the
Alamo, nor afterwards.32 The troops on the north and northwest, 1,500 in number, were
commanded by General Santa Anna in person.33 This made 4,500 men who participated in
the engagement.34 In addition to this, there was a fatigue party well supplied with
ladders,crowbars and axes for the purpose of making breaches in the walls, or at any other
vulnerable point.35

The infantry were formed nearest the Alamo, as we made the least noise. The cavalry was
formed around on the outside of the infantry, with special orders from all of the
commanders to cut down every one who dared to turn back.

Everything being in readiness just at dawn of the day on the 6th of March, and the fourth
day of the siege, all the bugles sounded a charge from all points.36 At this time our cannon
had battered down nearly all the walls that enclosed the church,consequently all the
Americans had taken refuge inside the church, and the front door of the main entrance
fronting to the west was open.37 Just out side of this door Col. Travis was working his
cannon. The division of our army on the west was the first to open fire. They fired from the
bed of the river near where the opera house now stands. The first fire from the cannon of
the Alamo passed over our heads and did no harm; but as the troops were advancing the
second one opened a lane in our lines at least fifty feet broad.38 Our troops rallied and
returned a terrible fire of cannon and small arms. After this the cannonading from the
Alamo was heard no more. It is evident that this discharge killed Travis, for then the front
door was closed and no more Americans were seen outside. By this time the court yard, the
doors,the windows, roof and all around the doomed Alamo became one reeking mass of
armed humanity. Each one of us vied with the other for the honor of entering the Alamo
first. Just at sunrise a lone marksman appeared on top of the church and fired. A colonel
was struck in the neck by this shot and died at sundown. This the officers took as an
evidence that the Americans had opened a hole in the roof themselves.39 This proved to be
true, for almost in the next moment another American appeared on top of the roof with a
little boy in his arms, apparently about three years old, and attempted to jump off, but they
were immediately riddled with bullets and both fell lifeless to the ground.40 With this the
troops pressed on, receiving a deadly fire from the top of the roof, when it was discovered
that the Americans had constructed a curious kind of ladder, or gangway, of long poles tied
together with ropes and filled up on top with sticks and dirt. This reached from the floor on
the inside of the church to over the top edge of the wall, to the ground on the outside.41 As
soon as this discovery was made Santa Anna ordered his entire division to charge and make
for the gangway and hole in the roof. But most of the soldiers who showed themselves at
this place got not into the Alamo, but into another world, for nearly every one of them was
killed. We then found out that all the Americans were alive inside of the church. During the
entire siege up to this time we had not killed even a single one, except Colonel Travis and
the man and boy referred to, for afterwards there were no new graves nor dead bodies in an
advanced state of decomposition discovered.

By this time the front door was battered down and the conflict had become general. The
entire army came pouring in from all sides, and never in all my life did I witness or hear of
such a hand to hand conflict. The Americans fought with the bravery and desperation of
tigers, although seeing that they were contending against the fearful odds of at least two
hundred to one, not one single one of them tried to escape or asked for quarter, the last one
fighting with as much bravery and animation as at first.42 None of them hid in rooms nor
asked for quarter, for they knew none would be given.43 On the contrary,they all died like
heroes, selling their lives as dear as possible. There was but one man killed in a room [?],
and this was a sick man in the big room on the left of the main entrance. He was bayoneted
in his bed. He died apparently without shedding a drop of blood.44 The last moments of the
conflict became terrible in the extreme. The soldiers in the moments of victory became
entirely uncontrollable, and, owing to the darkness of the building and the smoke of the
battle, fell to killing one another, not being able to distinguish friend from foe. Genera[l]
Filisola was the first one to make this discovery. He reported it to General Santa Anna, who
at once mounted the walls. Although the voice of our idolized commander could scarcely
be heard above the din and roar of battle, his presence together with the majestic waving of
his sword sufficed to stop the bloody carnage, but not until all buglers entered the church
and sounded a retreat, did the horrible butchery entirely cease.45 To recount the individual
deeds of valor, of the brave men who were slain in the Alamo, would fill a volume as large
as the History of Texas; nevertheless there was one who perished in that memorable
conflict who is entitled to a passing notice. The one to whom I refer was killed just inside
of the front door. The peculiarity of his dress, and his undaunted courage attracted the
attention of several of us, both officers and men.

He was a tall American of rather dark complexion and had on a long cuera (buck skin coat)
and a round cap without any bill, and made of fox skin, with the long tail hanging down his
back.This man apparently had a charmed life.Of the many soldiers who took deliberate aim
at him and fired, not one ever hit him.On the contrary he never missed a shot.

In contrast to the traditional image of David

Crockett going down fighting, this woodcut from
an 1869 edition of Crockett's autobiography
depicts stereotypical Mexicans falling on an
unarmed Crockett with their swords while a
haughty Santa Anna observes the summary
execution. This illustration follows closely the
details of Mexican officer Enrique de la Peña's
account of the battle, which claims that Crockett
was captured during the battle and put to death
immediately afterward. His body was then burned
along with those of all the other Alamo defenders.
The two versions of Crockett's death-fighting to
the end, and being executed. After the battle-
were both popularized during the nineteenth
century and into the twentieth. Only after Walt
Disney's wildly popular 1955 television movie
about Crockett had him die fighting did the notion
that Crockett might have been captured and
executed arouse controversy.

click picture to enlarge

Courtesy Barker Texas History Center,

University of Texas at Austin.

He killed at least eight of our men, besides wounding several others. This fact being
observed by a lieutenant who had come in over the wall he sprung at him and dealt him a
deadly blow with his sword, just above the right eye, which felled him to the ground and in
an instant he was pierced by not less than twenty bayonets.46 This lieutenant said that if all
Americans had have killed as many of our men as this one had, our army would have been
annihilated before the Alamo could have been taken. He was about the last man that was
killed.

After all the firing had ceased and the smoke cleared away, we found in the large room to
the right of the main entrance three persons, two Mexican women named Juana De Melto
and La Quintanilla and a negro boy, about fifteen or sixteen years old who told us that he
was the servant of Colonel Travis.47 If there had been any other persons in the Alamo they
would have been killed, for General Santa Anna had ordered us not to spare neither age nor
sex, especially of those who were Americans or American descent.48

On the floor of the main building there was a sight which beggared all description. The
earthen floor was nearly shoe-mouth deep in blood and weltering there in laid 500 dead
bodies, many of them still clinched together with one hand, while the other held fast a
sword, a pistol or a gun, which betokened the kind of conflict which had just ended.

General Santa Anna immediately ordered every one of the Americans to be dragged out and
burnt. The infantry was ordered to tie on the ropes,and the cavalry to do the dragging.
When the infantry commenced to tie the ropes to the dead bodies they could not tell our
soldiers from the Americans, from the fact that their uniforms and clothes were so stained
with blood and smoke and their faces so besmeared with gore and blackened that one could
not distinguish the one from the other.49 This fact was reported to Santa Anna and he
appeared at the front and gave instructions to have every face wiped off and for the men to
be particular not to mistake any of our men for Americans and burn them, but to give them
decent sepulture. He stood for a moment gazing on the horrid and ghastly spectacle before
him, but soon retired and was seen no more.

When the Americans were all dragged out and counted there were 180 including officers
and men.50 Upon the other hand this four day's siege and capture of the Alamo cost the
Mexican nation at least a thousand men, including killed and wounded, a large majority of
this number being killed.51 Our officers, after the battle was over, were of the opinion that if
the Americans had not made holes in the roof themselves, the Alamo could not have been
taken by assault. It would either have had to have been starved out or demolished by heavy
artillery.

After we had finished our task of burning the Americans a few of us went back to the
Alamo to see if we could pick up any valuables, but we could not find anything scarcely,
except their arms and a few cooking utensils and some clothing. I found Colonel Travis'
coat, which was hanging on a peg driven to the wall just behind the cannon and from where
his dead body had just been dragged away. In the pockets I found some papers that
resembled paper money or bonds of some kind.52 His cannon was standing just as he had
left it with its mouth pointing west and not towards the Alamo plaza. We did not use
Colonel Travis' cannon, nor even our own, because cannons were almost useless on the day
that we made the final assault.53

The next movement inaugurated by Santa Anna was to set out for the interior of Texas, and,
as I have stated before, that I belonged to the division under his immediate command, I
accompanied the invading army and was taken prisoner by the Americans at the battle of
San Jacinto.

After San Jacinto I resolved never to take up arms against my fellowman[sic] again and
promised myself never to return to the army that had been triumphant in so many hard
fought battles-an army that was commanded by(as he always called himself) "the Napoleon
of the West," but had just been so completely defeated, nay, annihilated, by a handful of
poor undisciplined half-armed Americans.
In conclusion, permit me to state that I have no object in giving this description of the fall
of the Alamo only as a response to the solicitations of my friend and benefactor, Mr. G. W.
Noel, who has been talking to me occasionally for the last twenty-five years and taking
notes for the purpose of writing a true account of the siege and capture as detailed by one of
the assaulting party, that those heroic deeds of valor for which his countrymen are so justly
famous may be handed down to—posterity free from those errors into which some of the
historians of Texas have so innocently and unknowingly fallen. And to add solemnity to
this occasion and veneration for the "martyred heroes of the Alamo" he has seen fit to make
this account public, upon the very spot of ground that was drenched with their blood and at
the very place where the air was filled with the fumes of their roasting flesh.

—Felix Nuñez