Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/93

Rh heads of Santa Anna's men, A desperate struggle, hand-to-hand, took place along the breastwork when the fire of musket and rifle had ceased. When the Texans had, by smashing in the skulls of their enemies, broken off their rifles at the breach, they flung away the remnants in their hands and then drew their pistols; firing them once, and having no time to reload, they threw them at the heads of the Mexicans; then drawing out their bowie-knives, fearlessly they carved their way literally through "dense masses of living flesh."

To suppose that the Mexicans acted the coward on that fatal day would be a serious and sad mistake. Where they stood in the ranks when the battle began they were slain by hundreds. The vengeance which fired Texan breasts was fierce and resistless. Striking for their homes, their families, their dead kindred, and the undying rights of civil and religious liberty, they battled as none but men free-born, and determined to die free, can ever fight. For a brief period, the Mexican officers and men maintained a firm stand. As fast as they fell, the Texans stamped upon them, trampling on the dead, and rushing over the groaning, the bleeding, the dying, or the dead, to plunge their weapons into the bosoms of those in the rear. When the Mexicans perceived that the onslaught of their Texan foes could not be resisted, some attempted to fly, and were stabbed in their backs. Others, falling on their knees, plead for mercy. Recalling to mind the sad massacre of the "Alamo," and the Texan war-cry, "Remember the Alamo," they cried out, "Me no Alamo; me no Alamo; me no Alamo." A merciless Mexican tyrant had made them, unfortunately, slaves of his imperious will, unwilling or willing witnesses of the brutal massacre of brave men fighting in freedom's holy cause. No other claim for mercy now occurred to them but a disclaimer of complicity in the massacre of the Alamo. The vengeance of men long outraged, and pronounced outlaws and pirates, broke forth, which recognized no bounds of modern warfare.

The right and left wing had either been routed or slain before the centre breastwork had been carried. Several bold charges were made by the Mexicans upon the Texan lines. The battalion of Texan infantry were gallantly charged by a Mexican division of infantry, composed of more than five hundred men. The charging force was three to one of the force assailed. The Commander-inChief, observing the peril, dashed between the Texan and Mexican infantry, and exclaimed, "Come on, my brave fellows, your General leads you." Like a veteran corps the battalion halted and wheeled in perfect order. The order to fire was given by Gen, Houston, and had the guns all been fired by machinery they could