The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 94, July 1990 - April, 1991 Page: 76
692 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historzcal Quarterly
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.2" But Santa Anna, with his usual impetuosity, swore that he
would take the fort the next day or die in the attempt. So on Wednes-
day, the 6th day of March, 1836, and the fourth day of the siege, was
the time fixed for the final assault.2"
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 Feli-
sola [szc], his second in command, with a thousand picked men took
charge of the assault on the east of the Alamo." General Castrillor [sic],
with a like number, was placed on the south side.2' General Ramirez
Sesma" 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,:" so there was no General Sesma in com-
2 "De la Pefia verified Nufiez's story about the council of war and also the allegation that many
leading Mexican ofhce s were opposed to the assault De la Pefia, With Santa Anna zn Texas,
43-45.
2T'l'his is one of the account's most glaring error s The siege lasted thirteen days and the final
assault came on a Sunday. Even with the passage of fifty-three years, it is hard to imagine how
any participant could have forgotten ten days of the siege.
7 Nufiez's statement that Santa Anna exercised much "personal supervision" is supported by
the general's assault order of March 5: "The men will wear neither overcoats nor blankets, or
anything that may impede the rapidity of their motions. The Commanding Ofhcers will see
that the men have the chin-straps of their caps down, and that they wear either shoes or san-
dals." Few generals have felt the need to concern themselves with such minutiae Perhaps Santa
Anna's preoccupation with such details-even down to the chin straps-suggests not fastidi-
ousness on his part, but rather that his recruits lacked the most fundamental training On the
more pragmatic side, shakos were expensive; the general did not want them knocked off and
trampled on during the course of the assault. Santa Anna Order, Mar. 5, 1836, in Jenkins (ed.),
Papers of the Texas Revolution, IV, 518-519. For an excellent study of the Mexican army during
the Texas campaign see Presley, "Santa Anna In 'Texas: A Mexican Viewpoint," 489-512.
28'l'hls portion of the narrative is hopelessly garbled On March 6 the Mexicans attacked in
four columns. The ofhcers who led these columns were Gen. Perfecto de C6s, Col. Manuel
Romero, Col Francisco Duque, and Gen. Manuel Fernandez Santa Anna commanded the re-
serves. Italian-born Gen Vicente Fllsola was Santa Anna's second-in-command, but he did not
arrive in Bexar until March 9. Fllisola, The War in Texas, II, 205.
''Gen. Manuel Fernandez Castrill6n did participate in the assault, but he did not lead an
assault column.
8(Gen. Joaquin Ramirez y Sesma commanded the cavalry. He did not command a column.
" Adrian Woll was a French soldier of fortune in the employ of the Mexican army While he
did participate In the Texas campaign of 1836, he did not arrive in Bxar until March 8. FII-
sola, The War in Texas, II, 205 After San Jacinto, General Fihsola sent Woll to reconnoiter the
field and to discover the outcome He was captured and was held during the negotiations be-
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 94, July 1990 - April, 1991, periodical, 1991; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101214/m1/100/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.