Two who escaped

[ronald]

I remember reading about 2 men who got away only to dye of wounds shortly after getting to another town . I think it was in Alamo Traces ? Does anyone know their names ? I think one guy had a nickname of Panther because he killed one in his youth ?

[ronald]

I think it was Odessa they got to

[stuart]

A man named Henry Warnell was said to have escaped, but later died of his wounds. He's a touch problematic though in that he himself didn't claim to have escaped. As I recall a land grant claim was made by his heirs or purported heirs, citing his service at the Alamo and supposed escape. Its possibly true, but the original source is dubious.

Nevertheless the Arkansas Gazette of 29 March reported that two men, one of whom was badly wounded, had turned up at Nacogdoches saying that the Alamo had fallen and that they alone had survived the "general massacre." The men are not otherwise identified but given the time necessary for them to travel the 350 miles from Bexar to Nacogdoches and then for the story to travel to Arkansas and get around to being published its not implausible.

Finally there was Santa Anna himself. In his official report he describes the Texian breakout and its interception by Sesma's cavalry and significantly enough states that "few are those who bore to their associates the tidings of their disaster" In other words he admitted that a few of the Texians got away.

[loucapitano]

Thanks Stuart. Seeing Santa Anna's penchant for hyperbole, I wonder what he meant by "few are those." He just might have been too vain to admit his cruelty in leaving no survivors.
Another Alamo mystery...albeit a small one.
Lou from snowy Long Island

[stuart]

It probably means that there were more who got away than he cared to admit. Given that it was official policy to execute filibusters, he would have gloried in killing them all rather than try to hide it. Instead he's glossing over the fact he didn't manage to kill them all at the go get. I dare say most of the would-be escapers were hunted down over the following days but nevertheless Santa Anna's admission that some did get away provides a sound basis for supposing that there were indeed survivors - and the fact they're so hard to track down is probably because it suited the Texians to claim that the garrison perished to the last man.

Even today look at the furore over the breakout business, not to mention the controversy over the heresy that Colonel Crockett may have surrendered before being put up against a wall and shot.

[alamojohnuk]

I think it may also be worth taking into account, would anybody want to actually admit to having escaped from the Alamo during the battle for fear of being branded a coward ?
I know it was only a Hollywood movie, but "The Man From The Alamo" could be a lot nearer the truth than we care to recognise ?