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Post by elcolorado on May 11, 2011 11:52:46 GMT -5
As the story goes, Galba Fuqua enters the sacristy with a jaw wound and tries, in vain, to communicate to Sue Dickinson. Dickinson shakes her head, indicating she doesn't understand what he is trying to say. A frustrated Fuqua gives up and returns to the fighting.
I've combed through Hansen's "Alamo Reader" and the internet and can't locate the original source. The incident isn't even mentioned in Hansen's and all I can find on the internet is, "According to Sue Dickinson..." but I've been unable to locate the document that supports this claim.
Does anyone have any solid information about the alleged encounter?
~Glenn
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Post by Allen Wiener on May 11, 2011 13:29:58 GMT -5
The only source I can find for that story is Andrew Jackson Sowell's book Rangers and Pioneers of Texas, published in 1884, not from any of the interviews with Susanna Dickinson.
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Post by loucapitano on May 11, 2011 16:38:49 GMT -5
The 1990 book "Duel of Eagles" by Jeff Long includes the Galba Fuqua encounter with Mrs. Dickinson but also includes some biographical information on Galba, who was about the same age as Susannah and was probably a friend, since both lived in Gonzales. Unfortunately, the author did not indicate a direct source of this information but may have gotten it from "Memoirs of Mary A. Maverick" (San Antonio: Alamo Printing Company , 1921.) Apparently, she relayed the story from an 1842 interview with Mrs. Dickinson by Dean Richardson.
It's strange. I've known the Galba Fuqua story since the 1950s, yet never saw any corroborating evidence that it actually happened.
The movies tend to portray Mrs. Dickinson as a mature woman during the siege. In fact, she was a typical young person, like many Texans at that time. And certainly, she would feel comfortable with others in their teens who were there. Sadly, just about everyone she knew, husband and friends, perished in the Alamo. Her story is a sad one.
I hope this was helpful.
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Post by mjbrathwaite on May 11, 2011 18:33:40 GMT -5
As the story goes, Galba Fuqua enters the sacristy with a jaw wound and tries, in vain, to communicate to Sue Dickinson. Dickinson shakes her head, indicating she doesn't understand what he is trying to say. A frustrated Fuqua gives up and returns to the fighting. I've combed through Hansen's "Alamo Reader" and the internet and can't locate the original source. The incident isn't even mentioned in Hansen's and all I can find on the internet is, "According to Sue Dickinson..." but I've been unable to locate the document that supports this claim. Does anyone have any solid information about the alleged encounter? ~Glenn As Allen says, it's in "Rangers and Pioneers of Texas". The relevant passage can also be found in Bill Groneman's "Eyewitness to the Alamo", on page 112. |
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Post by Kevin Young on May 11, 2011 21:17:10 GMT -5
However, not in Memoirs of Mary A. Maverick. The "Mrs. Dickinson's Story of the Fall of the Alamo" is found on pg 129 of the current(1989) printing/edition by Bison Press. No mention of the Fuqua incident.
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Post by Hollowhorn on Dec 11, 2011 16:32:44 GMT -5
The only source I can find for that story is Andrew Jackson Sowell's book Rangers and Pioneers of Texas, published in 1884, not from any of the interviews with Susanna Dickinson. How utterly depressing! I have always loved that story, young Galba, (only 16? at the time) holding his shattered jaw together, perhaps attempting to pass on a last message to his mother. Many wounded or dying soldiers cry out for their mother, no? The bit that got me the most was that he did not try to hide in the room afterwards, he actually ran back to the fight, to his friends. Uncommon valour. I wish there was some proof on this one. I'd love to see Mark Lemon do a representation of this scene along the lines of his 'Bowie's Room' drawing, it would make a very powerful / poignant image. |
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Post by Paul Sylvain on Dec 11, 2011 19:49:29 GMT -5
Interesting topic of discussion to be sure. I, too, grew up with this scene etched on my mind from some reading (was it in "13 Days To Glory" (the book, not the messed up movie)?" It's interesting in that, unless Mrs. D. blocked out many of the horrors she experience or saw during and immediately after the battle, you'd think this would be one unforgettable image that she would relate to others. If she never related the story, then it makes me think it might not have happened. Too bad, because it is one of those Alamo stories that is enduring.
Paul
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Post by Riley Gardner on Sept 6, 2014 12:57:24 GMT -5
I'm reviving an old thread here but I still feel it worthy to be of discussion.
The original source is indeed from Sowell's book (pp. 138 - 139). I've yet to read that particular book but James Donovan's Blood of Heroes claims in his notes that it is a primary source in that novel, directly from Susanna Dickinson herself. Now that's where things get strange, because there doesn't seem to be a published interview where she claims this, though one would imagine this is a huge moment that she would have told.
So where did the story come from? Galba Fuqua isn't a well known defender, despite the fact he's incorrectly listed occasionally as the youngest defender of the battle. But since he's not particularly known, how did this story come about? Susanna and Galba obviously knew each other from their time in Gonzales, and there's some accounts that Galba was Almeron's apprentice in his blacksmith shop, at least for a period of time. They were roughly the same age as well. Galba is a huge fascination for me: i've traced his entire ancestry and family and wrote a small account on his life based on the research I was able to do. But this story with the jaw has been told so many times that we believe it to be an accurate source despite the confusion as to where it came from. Part of me believes that it's true, but part of me also makes me think it isn't.
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Post by Rich Curilla on Sept 6, 2014 14:40:23 GMT -5
Guess I first read the story in Lon Tinkle's book in 1958, thus it has always been part of the Alamo, and I've not been fascinated by it enough to dig. This is interesting. An oblique thought based on nothing but trying to understand people's behavior patterns. Susanna might have told of the incident once to Dean Richardson, but, since Galba was sort of part of her extended family in Gonzales, it was so horror-filled for her -- and memory evoking -- that she later blotted it out of her memory or chose not to pass it on. It doesn't have the ring of being prefabricated (or should I say post-fabricated) since it isn't a more famous participant, and I think this helps support its authenticity. An academic historian, I suppose, could not accept it without a literary primary source, but (unfortunately) that is only part of history. Thus, I would keep it as a "probably so" to be hopefully substantiated in some way rather than tossing it out due to lack of evidence. "But then, I'm not real" historian. "Never fought anybody but Indians, less'n ya count the British."  |
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Post by Bill Yowell on Sept 7, 2014 8:54:27 GMT -5
This story is one of my longest held memories of the siege of the Alamo. Being a sophomore in high school when I read Tinkles book, and the realization that a young man died in the horrific battle at the same age as I was while reading that account, really impacted me. Knowing that Fuqua was well acquainted with the Dickenson family, can we assume that he was probably assigned to the same battery of defenders lead by his friend Almaron? If so, he was certainly close enough to run down that ramp and attempt to make whatever plea he tried to make to Susanna. Perhaps he had seen, Alamaron go down to inform Susanna that the Mexicans were inside the walls, and he felt the need to say something or pass along a message. While every aspect of the final siege was horrific, this event would have been a very intimate moment and struck very close to home. I would think that there were several details that Susanna would not like to remember or retell in great detail in the years following the event. This story is much like the reported accounts that several defenders, including Crockett entered the chapel to make their final peace with God. We don't see this in every written account, but I have no problem believing that it happened. Legends, fact, assumptions, or whatever, it's the stories like these that make me hold the Alamo so close to my heart.
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Post by Rich Curilla on Sept 7, 2014 11:34:53 GMT -5
Yes, and we seem to expect that, just because someone was there and an eyewitness, they can and will tell about everything they witnessed and tell it objectively and unemotionally because, hey, it's important to history. People are people. They have emotions and boundaries. My sister was in an automobile accident once and, when questioned, had literally no memory of anything -- including about ten minutes before. I was in an accident and remember every detail -- in slow motion. People are different and have different mechanisms for protecting their sanity. This kid was apparently a friend of the family and thus close enough to Susanna that her mind could have just blocked it out except for that first interview. She might have had such trouble getting it out of her mind afterwords that she just determined not to think or talk about it.
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Post by loucapitano on Sept 7, 2014 17:25:45 GMT -5
I have to toss my hat with those who believe the Galba Fuqua tale could be true. It certainly doesn't advance anyone's personal agenda, least of all Mrs. Dickinson. This story along with the dramatic words of Captain Dickinson who is purported to have said, "My God Sue, the Mexicans are in our walls..." The fact is, we don't know much about the actual words spoke by the participants on either side. Did Crockett say, "They'll eat snakes before they get in here...?"
I've believed these tales since high school 50+years ago. I choose to enjoy the legend. That includes the Zuber/Moses Rose story and others. Otherwise the affair near the banks of the San Antone would be just a footnote.
Lou from Long Island
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Post by Rich Curilla on Sept 7, 2014 18:29:09 GMT -5
Legend is generally what people most want to hear and will best remember. Fact must be discovered in spite of legend -- and usually, in spite of people. The men and women of the Alamo deserve both.
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Post by Riley Gardner on Sept 7, 2014 22:31:13 GMT -5
I've read accounts a number of times where they claim Galba came in, Susanna tied his jaw with a string, and he ran back out heroically to the battle where he met his end. I doubt this claim - if Susanna was so calm during the battle that she had the ability to tie his jaw back in place, certainly she would have stated this story. No - I believe this story to be true (especially after seeing this discussion) but I imagine that when Galba ran in, attempting to pass a message on to her, she probably broke down and shrieked at the sight, which could explain why he gave up and ran back outside. Now that would be something she'd block from her memory until she felt ready to tell.
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Post by Rich Curilla on Sept 8, 2014 0:37:21 GMT -5
I think the Susanna Dickinson interpretation (portrayed wonderfully by Laura Clifton) in John Lee Hancock's THE ALAMO was probably pretty accurate. Ana Esparza who shared the sacristy with Susanna seemed to think (according to her son's accounts) that she had no clue what to do under these circumstances and had to be taken care of. I particularly liked eliminating that soooo unrealistic line that Almeron supposedly said to her -- that I think was a journalistic embellishment as so much else in the 19th. century. "Great God, Sue! The enemy are inside the walls! All is lost! If they spare you, save my child!" In the movie, he comes in, looks at her, sees that she is totally hysterical, shakes his head and goes back out. To me, this kind of action fits the situation better than writer's hyperbole. Far more realistic.
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