Boy's Cinema (1939-40)

8 "Yeali," Davy Crockett aRrccd. "You know, Bill Travis, it's a fuimy thinjf, but I tloiTt reinoiiilxT you ever gettiii' that order to retire iit all." No dissentient voice was raised against Travis' |)roposal to defy that written com- mand to fall back. As for Deaf Smitii, lie was in no position to enforce the instructions contained in the dopalcli, ihoiiKh he shook his head bodefully when lie quitted the fort and sot out on the return journey to Wash ington-on-t he-Brazos. The following day the Army of Santa Anna hove into the view of ihe Alamo's Kai'i'sou aiul look up a position before the citadel, the sun glittering on the steel panoply of war as three thousand liorse and foot deployed and stood ranked in martial array under banners that carried the emblem of Mexico's eagle. A formal demand for the surrender of the fortress was made by an officer holding a flag of truce. That demand was scornfully re- jected, and, news of the refusal to submit being conveyed to Santa Anna, the Mexican general's brow darkened. Lean, swarthy, sloe-eyed, his mouth a thin line indicating the stark-cruel temperament which is the heritage of so many Spaniards, ho atldrossed himself harshly to the odicer who had delivered the idtimatum and re- turned to communicate the Texans' defiant response. "So they will not surrender, ch?" he bit' out. " Veiy well, we shall give them some- thing for all rebels to remember. Run up the no-quarter flag." His bidding w-as done, and a sinister ensign was prominently displayed so that all in the Alamo might see it—an ensign bearing an ominous device in the form of two skulls and a cross. Then the fortress was invested, bat- teries of caimon Vjeing brought up from the rear and iiointod at the stronghold's walls. The guns opened fire. tli<>ir iron throats belching out a thunderous salvo that heralded the beginning of a bombardment which was to be repeated at frequent intervals for days on end. "" Days during which the stout walls of tlie Alamo were gradually breached, ton upon ton of masonry crashing down under the battering they sustained. Days during which, successive attemptK were made to storm the citadel by shakoed, blue-coated Mexican infantry and pic- turesque squadrons of Mexican cavalry. With his meagre force ever dwindling, Travis held out stubbornly. Despite the ravages of the cannonading, the fortress re- mained tenable. Despite the shock attacks of Santa Anna's troops, the Texans remained in possession of the Alamo, beating back the besiegers again and again, and inflicting heavy losses on the military might opposed to them. Yet from the start it had been abundantly clear that superior numbers, superior equip- ment and weight of shells must tinally triumph over daimtless courage, and there came a day when the gallant defenders of the Alamo knew that tlie chapter tliey were writing in Ameri- can history was very near its close. Only a quarter of those who had manned Ihe stronghold at the outset were still alive, and the Alamo was in ruins about them. Dawn of that day had been the signal for a further cannonade by Santa Anna's artillery, ond Ihe bellowing pieces of ordnance were levelling such portions of the fort's outer walls as had hilhorto resisted the metal hurled against them. With those last portions of the outer defence works finally blasted to fragments, the Mexican commander ordered a general ad- vance an<l Ihrew his entire force into an over- wtiolniing assault upoji the shallercd citadel. The surviving Texans met that assault with despeiate heroism, a raking fire from their muskets and pistols taking severe toll of the oncoming foe. But in the face pf the de- fenders' fusillades Santa Anna's troops won their way into the ruins of the fortress and came to grips wilh the remnants of the garrison. Tlie Texans battled like demons, fighting too to toe with the enemy, ;insworing bullet with bullet, counlering the thrusts of bayonets, swords and lances with slashing knife or swinging rifle butt. Nevertheless, tlieir doom was at hand, for they were few Decenilier .'iOth. 1939. BOY'S CINEMA and the soldiery were many, and man after man was butchered by the Mexican Pre- sident's cohorts. William Travis and a dozen of his com- rades made a last stand in an inner room of the Alamo, and perished gloriously for the cause they had vowed to uphold. Here William Travis died after account- ing for three separate antagonists, a Mexican infantryman bayoneting him in the back while he was grappling with another of Santa Anna's men. Here Jim Bowie, lying on a couch, maimed by a wound received in a ))revious attack, struggled into a sitting posture and spitted a blue-coated soldier with a knife that left his hand to hiss through the air like a light- ning streak—then fell back lifeless himself as a bullet from another foeman's musket drilled him. Here, one by one, the last of the Texans went down before the onslaught of irresistible odds—till only two were left upstanding. Davy Crockett was one of those two. Back to the wall, he saw a Mexican officer run his sole surviving comrade through the body with a sword, and, clubbing his rifle, he avenged the latter's death with a blow that brained the Texan's killer. But immediately afterwards Davy Crockett sank to the floor, riddled by a volley of bullets. The Alamo captured, Santa Anna carried out the threat signified by the no-quarter flag that had been raised on the first day of the siege. Such of the Texans as had merely been wounded were massacred in cold blood, and with one exception, the women and children found in the fort were slaughtend as wclh The exception was a Mrs. Dickinson. She was spared, and was driven from ihe Alamo with her dead baby in her arms—to carry a grim message to her compatriots in the north. As for Santa Anna and his troops, they re- tired from the ruined fortress. Exhausted, much reduced in numbers, they were in no shape to push onward; and Santa Anna deemed it necessary to return south, and to 1 evictual and reinforce his army ere proceed- ing with his campaign against the people of Texas. The defenders of the Alamo had accom- plished more than they had thought to do. A hundred and fifty strong, they had held an army of three thousand at bay for the best part of a fortnight, and by their stubl)orn, if forlorn, resistance had baffled Santa Anna's liopes of effecting an early conquest of the piovince. It was while Saiita Anna and his men were on their way south that Mrs. Dickinson was picked up by the advance guard of a force led by Sam Houston, and it was to Sam Houston in person that she related her tragic story. "And Santa Anna told me to tell all rebels in Texas." she finished brokenly, when slie had described the siege, "he told me to tell all rebels iu Texas to beg for peace if they wanted to escape the same fate. To beg for peage, to surrender their arms, and to—to romeinber the Alamo." SAN JACINTO WEEKS had passed, and Santa Anna was pressing north again—with an even more formidable column of troops than that wliich had assailed the Alamo. Santa Anna «as on the march; and Sam Houston was on the retreat, with an army of mounted riflemen—an army consisting of his volunteers from the U.S. and many squadrons of Texans. among whom were men of Mexican blood as well as men of American origin. Day by day Sam Houston continued to re- treat, despite the grumbling of his followers, and as he retreated hordes of non-combatant refugees poured northward from settlement after settlement, denouncing him as a general who was afraid'to fight for their protection. But Sam Houston was not afraid to fight. He was biding his time, playing a waiting game that ended near a ford in a waterwfiy known as the San Jacinto River. On a commanding plateau a little to the north of that ford he bivouacked his citizen army and made no secret of its presence there, causing camp-fires to be lit all over its table- land as night clo.sed down over the scene. The lurid glow of those fires was clearly distinguishable to Santa Anna and the latter's Every Tuesday troops when the military might of Mexi<.'d arrived on the south bank of the San Jacinto River a few hours later. But though his force was considerably superior to that of Sam Houston in numbers. Santa Anna was not so foolish as to cross the stream and launch an uphill attack. Nor did Sam expect him to take such a course. He judged that Santa Anna would seek to entice the army of Texas down from its vantage ])oint. * His judgment was correct, for the bieak of a new day revealed the INlexican soldiery drawn up in order of battle before a host of tents they had pitched on the south side of the river. They were first descried in the dawn's early light by Deaf Smith, one of a number of sen- tinels who had been posted along the rim of the plateau, and the first to answer the shout he sent up were Lannio Upchurch and a tow- headed youth named Tommy Morgan, who Was carrying a banner that was adorned by a lone star—the chosen emblem of Texas. Silently Deaf Smith pointed out the Mexican army. 'Then, rising, he hurried ofi: to find Sam Houston, whom he found peacefully slumbering. " Gener^d Houston," Deaf reported when he had awakened fiis commander, " Santa Anna's forces are ranged up and ready to receive us. What aie .you aimin' to do about it?" "Oh, just let 'em ste'.v in the hot sun for a spell!" was Sam's nonchalant reply, and, turning over, he went to sleep again. Down on the far side of the river, Santa Anna waited in vain for the Texans to descend from the plateau, and towards noon decided that they had no stomac'n for an engagement and would doubtless retreat again under cover of night. He therefore electetl to take a siesta, reflecting that sooner or later he would out- maiKEuvre the revolntionarios, pin them into a coiner, and systematically annihilate them. His officers follo^ved his example and also sought repose, and the rank and file of his army were allowed to do the same, only a few drowsy sentries being left on guard. One hour afterwards, \vith the Mexican camp wrapped in a slumbrous quietude, Sam Houston mustered his followers on the plateau anil made a brief .vet singularly stirring speech, "Gentlemen," he said, "this twenty-first day of April will go down in history as either the beginning or the end of Texas indepen- dence, I give you one thought to take with you across the San Jacinto River and into the camp of Santii Anna. ' Remember the Alamo! ' " A few minutes later the army of Texas was on the move, the squadrons of mounted rifle- men being accompanied by armed teamsters who were in charge of commissariat wagons— for Sam Houston was re.solved to lead every man under his command into the fray in a door-die effort. They advanced in open, formation, and, lacking a martial band, their battle music was provided by a solitary fife owned by Tommy Morgan, who played an incongruous melody entitled " Come to the Bower "—the only tune he knew. At the head of his citizen arm.v, with Lannie Upchurch and Deaf Smith close beside him, Sam Houston gained the rim of the plateau and sighted the encampment of the Mexican forces. Next moment he and Deaf and Ijaniue were riding down the declivity at a measured, unhurried pace,'and, horsemen and wagoners descending after them, the Texans were already iialf-way to the foot of the slo))e before a sleepy Mexican sentinel descried them and gave the alarm. S.uita Anna's camp became a scene of wild activit.y—confused and frenzied activity. Santa Anna himself, dishevelled, half-dressed, rushed from his tent and shrilly instructed a bugler to blow the call to arms—a call whose fiist note had scarcely sounded when Sam Houston and his followers quickened the stride of their horses from walk to gallop. To give them their duv. the Mexicin sojdicry managed to assume battle formation fairly promptly—particularly the infantry and artillery. Yet by the time they were in positisn thc.y had lost their chance of stemming the onrush of Houston and his men. Mexican muskets belched in platoon-fire— loud-blustering batteries of Mexican cannon < 1