San Antonio Post Office Mural by Howard Cook
From Susanna Dickinson, 22-year-old wife of Captain Dickinson, survivor at the battle of the Alamo with baby daughter, Angelina:
My husband, Captain Dickinson, was a blacksmith in Gonzales, where we got land from Green DeWitt. Almaron fought with the volunteers at Gonzales, and then we came to San Antonio. We stayed at Ramón Músquiz’s house, where I sold meals to boarders and did laundry. When Almaron heard the Mexican Army was coming, he got a horse and came to get Angelina and me. We saw Mr. Bowie getting Juana Alsbury (a cousin of his dead wife, Ursula) with her baby, Alejo, and her sister, Gertrudis Navarro, at the Veramendi house. All of us went to the Alamo.
At the Alamo Almaron was captain of the artillery forces. He and his men worked to get the 14 cannons mounted, and every day they fired them but didn't do much damage. People in town returned our cannonballs so they could be used over again. The cannons were also loaded with chopped-up horseshoes, links of chain, nails, bits of door hinges, and any metal that could be gathered.
When the battle started at dawn, I went with my daughter and a couple other women and their children into the sacristy, a small room off the chapel. The noise was awful. Then it was quiet. Mexican soldiers came in asking for the white lady and took me to the Mexican commander. I looked but could not see my husband, though he had been attending a cannon on the battery at the rear of the chapel.
