The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 37, July 1933 - April, 1934 Page: 43
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A Critical Study of the Siege of the Alamo
magazine. The Texans had previously agreed that the last sur-
vivor should fire a large quantity of damaged powder that they
had in the magazine, but Major Robert Evans was shot as he
attempted to do this. The accounts concerning the spot where
Bowie died are conflicting. Some state that he was killed on his cot
in the hospital, the southwest room in the second story of the long
barracks;Oo some seem to indicate that he died in a small room
of the low barracks on the south side ;9 while a number of others
say that on March 4, or 5, he grew so very ill that he was brought
down to the church where the women and the children were, both
that he might be in a safer place and that he might have better
care." All these accounts agree that with his last strength he
killed several of his assailants. They all likewise agree that his
body was mutilated by the enemy.93 Crockett is said to have
fallen near the gate in the 50-foot wall that joined the church
to the long barracks.94 Nearly all accounts report that his
"H. A. McArdle, San Antonio Express, December 17, 1905; James T.
DeSheilds (ed.), "John Sutherland's Account of the Fall of the Alamo,"
Dallas News, February 12, 1911; John Henry Brown, History of Texas,
I, 576; R. M. Potter, The Fall of the Alamo, 5.
"See Ruiz's account. This is not clear for Ruiz may have meant the
southwest room of the church, the southwest room of the long barracks-
the real hospital-or a room in the "low barracks." Mrs. Alsbury's
Account in Ford's Journal (MS.), University of Texas Archives, says
definitely that when Bowie found that he had typhoid fever he had him-
self removed to a room in the "low barracks." It will be remembered
that the "low barracks" consisted of a few rooms for soldiers' quarters
that composed the barrier walls of the south .side of the large area.
Mrs. Alsbury does not say definitely that Bowie died there, but the
account leaves that impression.
92Morphis, History of Texas, 176, Mrs. Dickinson's Account. Mrs.
Susan Sterling told me, in 1929, that her grandmother said that after
March 3, the investment of the Alamo was so close that it required
every man to do soldier duty, and that Bowie who had been cared for largely
by his own men in a room away from the other sick (Mrs. Sterling did
not remember if her grandmother had ever said just where this room
was) was brought to the church and put in the small room in the south-
west corner. This also agrees with the story told at the Alamo today.
William Corner, Sac Antonio de Bejar, 117, Madam Candalaria's ac-
count; San Antonio Express, May 12, 1907, Enrique Esparsa's account.
Note that all these are accounts of eyewitnesses; and after serious
study and careful comparison of the sources, this is the one that 1 think
most likely to be true.
"Telegraph and Texas Register, March 24, 1836; William Corner, San
Antonio de Bejar, 123, says, "Mrs. Alsbury told Mrs. Maverick that the
Mexicans tossed Bowie's body on their bayonets until his blood covered
their clothes and dyed them red. A Mexican colonel rushed to them
and stopped their cruelty."
4Morphis, History of Texas, 177, relates that Mrs. Dickinson said:
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Texas State Historical Association & Barker, Eugene C. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 37, July 1933 - April, 1934, periodical, 1934; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101094/m1/51/?rotate=90: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.