Page:Vol 5 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/188

168 strong fortress near San Antonio de Béjar, which had 14 guns in position, and was garrisoned by about 150 men under W. B. Travis. During 11 days' siege and bombardment, 32 more men forced their way into the fortress. Travis would neither surrender nor attempt to retreat. At last Santa Anna, on the 6th of March, ordered the assault; the stronghold was taken, and the whole garrison put to the sword. Among the slain were colonels Travis, Bowie, and David Crockett, and also twenty residents or traders of San Antonio de Béjar. Only a woman and her child and a negro servant were spared.

The blood, both of Mexicans and Texans, shed at the Álamo was a useless sacrifice. The massacre, even if in accord with the barbarous usages of war, did not serve the cause of Mexico, but, on the contrary, impressed the Texans with the firm conviction that no settlement except by the sword was any longer possible. It was now with them a question of victory or subjugation accompanied with the direst consequences. The fact was that the siege and storming of the Álamo was a childish display of vanity, to