Susanna Dickinson

From Susanna Dickinson of Tennessee, a survivor at the Alamo, with baby daughter, Angelina:

Angelina and I spent 12 days in the Alamo as the men prepared the defenses of the fort. The night before the battle, Travis came to see all the women and children in the chapel. He was much taken with Angelina. He tied a gold ring with a black cat’s-eye stone around her neck. I did not see the battle as I was in the room off the chapel.

After the battle a soldier came and took me to Santa Anna. He wanted to take Angelina to Mexico, but I refused. He gave me a letter of warning to take to Gen. Houston. On the 8^th he sent Ben, a negro servant of Captain Juan Almonté, to help us get to the Texian army in Gonzales.

We rode a long time, about six days. Then we ran into Joe, Mr. Travis’s slave, who joined us. Later Erastus (Deaf) Smith found us and took us to Gen. Houston in Gonzales. I told them what had happened and gave them Santa Anna’s warning that all who did not submit to him would get the same treatment as those at the Alamo.

I did not die at the Alamo. I lived until 1883 and am buried beside my fifth husband in Austin.

21. Martha Ann Turner, William Barret Travis: His Sword and His Pen (Waco: Texian Press, 1976), pp. 245-246.

22. Chester C. Newell, History of the Revolution in Texas (New York: Wiley & Putnam, 1838; reprint, New York, Arno Press, 1973), p. 88.

23. C. Richard King, Susanna Dickinson: Messenger of the Alamo (Austin: Shoal Creek Publishers, Inc., 1976), pp. 46-49.