Gregorio Esparza as reenacted by Paul Garcia of San Antonio

De Enrique Esparza, 8 años de edad, hijo de Gregorio Esparza, sobreviviente de la batalla del Alamo:

Yo vivía en San Antonio con mi mamá (Ana Salazar), mi papá (Gregorio) y mis dos hermanos y una hermana. Mi papá era soldado con los voluntarios de Juan Seguín en el Álamo.

Mi papá trató de mandarnos a Nacogdoches en carreta, pero llegó Santa Anna muy pronto. Un hombre nos dijo que nos fueramos para el Álamo. Al oscurecer, entramos a la iglesia por una ventanita. Mi papá atendía uno de los cañones en el rincón nordeste del presidio. Yo me quedé en la iglesia con mi mamá y los niños. El ruido era horroroso. Cuando los soldados nos sacaron, solo los niños, unas mujeres y un par de esclavos quedaban. Todo el mundo estaba llorando.

Nos llevaron con Santa Anna. El nos dió $2 en plata y una covija. Vimos a Francisco, el hermano de mi papá, con los soldados presidiales de General Cos. Tío no tuvo que pelear porque él era uno de las reservas. Recibió permiso del General Cos para buscar a mi papá. Encontramos a su cuerpo cerca de uno de los cañones. Los tres hermanos de mi papá y mi familia le dieron un entierro cristiano en el camposanto cerca al rillito de San Pedro. Como lo enterramos como se debe, no creo que su ánima camina por el Álamo, pero no sé mucho de los espíritus.

 

From Enrique Esparza, eight-year-old son of Gregorio Esparza, who was a survivor at the Alamo:

I lived in San Antonio with my mother (Ana Salazar), my papa (Gregorio), and my two brothers and sister. My papa was one of the soldiers with Juan Seguín’s Cavalry Volunteers at the Alamo.

My father tried to get us a wagon to go to Nacogdoches, but Santa Anna came too soon. A man told us to go to the Alamo. At dark time we crawled through a small window into the church. My father tended one of the cannons at the northwest corner of the fort. I stayed in the church with my mother and the other children. The noise was awful. When the soldiers took us outside, only we children, women, and a couple slaves were left. Everyone was crying.

They took us to Santa Anna. The man gave us $2.00 in silver and a blanket. We saw my father’s brother Francisco with General Cos’s Leal Presidio soldiers. Uncle did not have to fight as he was part of the reserve troops. Francisco got permission from Santa Anna to let us look for my father. We found his body near one of the cannons. My papa’s three brothers and my family gave him a Christian burial in the Campo Santo beside San Pedro Creek. I don’t think his spirit wanders at the Alamo as we buried him right, but I don’t know much about spirits.

4. Enrique Esparza interview, San Antonio Express (November 22, 1902), in Timothy M. Matovina, The Alamo Remembered: Tejano Accounts and Perspectives (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995), p. 70.
5. Paulina Crowell Bynum, ed., The Alamo Heroes, and Their Revolutionary Ancestors (San Antonio: n.p., 1976), p. 29; Reynaldo J. Esparza, "José María Esparza aka Gregorio Esparza," in The New Handbook of Texas, vol. 2 (Austin: Texas State Historical Association, 1996), p. 893.
6. Carmen Bredeson, The Battle of the Alamo (Brookfield, Conn.: Millbrook Press, 1996), pp. 37-38; Timothy M. Matovina, The Alamo Remembered: Tejano Accounts and Perspectives (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1995), p. 84.
7. Reynaldo J. Esparza, "José María Esparza aka Gregorio Esparza," in The New Handbook of Texas, vol. 2 (Austin: Texas State Historical Society, 1996), p. 893.

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