One survivor was Susanna Dickinson, wife of a Captain Dickinson. She survived the battle by hiding and was released by Santa Ana. I'm not aware of any memoirs she might have written.
Neither am I Min. But for most of the rest of her life she was a guest speaker at many functions, and many quotes from her speeches survive. As might be expected, the more years she talked about it, the more embellished the story got.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
Till the latter part of the 20thC Min if you didn't have money life was hard for everyone I suspect. My generation was the first in 'modern' times to experience full employment and some sense of security.
This is small excert from something I am writing that shows what life could be like for my father's generation in the UK.
To my father, like many of his generation the years of the Depression were the ‘hungry twenties’. Cheap grain imports from America and Canada forced many farmers in this country into bankruptcy, so many in fact that where banks foreclosed on the farmer they were frequently unable to dispose of the property.
Dairy farmers managed to survive till the second world war gave them a guaranteed income, others survived by ‘living off the hedgerows’ till the good times came around again.
For my father the period between the wars was the time when he grew to manhood and should have been a time of carefree happiness. Instead they left bitter memories of desertion by his father and the early death of his mother, dead of a heart attack delivering sacks of coal on her back! There followed years of tramping the length and breadth of this country following the seasons north and south, working the land when he could, taking anything else that came his way when he couldn’t.
Years spent sleeping rough, time spent living with gypsies, for whom he had the greatest liking and respect, then walking on to the next village or town where the grapevine rumoured another job was on offer. Walking with his one pair of boots slung about his neck that he might look as presentable as possible in front of a prospective employer. These years of want and deprivation turned my father into a lifelong socialist.
When, in my twenties, and the proud owner of my first motorbike, I toured all over this country, and no matter where I journeyed I found that my father had been there before me. Later again, when I owned a motor car, my father often directed me down narrow winding roads that turned out to be memory lane.
We should all stand back and be thankful, even if we do feel we have cause to complain.
Digit wrote:Till the latter part of the 20thC Min if you didn't have money life was hard for everyone I suspect. My generation was the first in 'modern' times to experience full employment and some sense of security.
This is small excert from something I am writing that shows what life could be like for my father's generation in the UK.
To my father, like many of his generation the years of the Depression were the ‘hungry twenties’. Cheap grain imports from America and Canada forced many farmers in this country into bankruptcy, so many in fact that where banks foreclosed on the farmer they were frequently unable to dispose of the property.
Dairy farmers managed to survive till the second world war gave them a guaranteed income, others survived by ‘living off the hedgerows’ till the good times came around again.
For my father the period between the wars was the time when he grew to manhood and should have been a time of carefree happiness. Instead they left bitter memories of desertion by his father and the early death of his mother, dead of a heart attack delivering sacks of coal on her back! There followed years of tramping the length and breadth of this country following the seasons north and south, working the land when he could, taking anything else that came his way when he couldn’t.
Years spent sleeping rough, time spent living with gypsies, for whom he had the greatest liking and respect, then walking on to the next village or town where the grapevine rumoured another job was on offer. Walking with his one pair of boots slung about his neck that he might look as presentable as possible in front of a prospective employer. These years of want and deprivation turned my father into a lifelong socialist.
When, in my twenties, and the proud owner of my first motorbike, I toured all over this country, and no matter where I journeyed I found that my father had been there before me. Later again, when I owned a motor car, my father often directed me down narrow winding roads that turned out to be memory lane.
We should all stand back and be thankful, even if we do feel we have cause to complain.
Our generation has no comprehension of "hard times". We are very blessed. My grandfather and grandmother lived through the depression times, here in the U.S. Even when they starting making some decent money in subsequent years, they remained very tight. There was always a pot of beans on the stove for every meal, grandma had no problem cooking up wild game that the men and us kids would kill, and she could whip up a mean, end of the week soup, from any leftovers. They always had a large garden filled with all types of veggies. If any of us kids filled more than a quarter of a bath, you had big ol' thump on the ear coming for wasting water. Each of their kids went on to be very successful, financially. 12-15 hour workdays were no big deal. They were thankful to have good jobs. They had also lived through hard times, and realized how blessed their current situation was.
Yep Charley, 'Brother can you spare a dime' eh? Much of my early childhood mirrors what you say, and for better or for worse it stamped itself on my character. Your comments about food especially ring a bell as both my father and I poached to fill the pot, and defeating the gamekeeper and the land owner only added flavour to the meal I promise you!
Superb, Digit. As usual, we Americans tend to forget that the Depression was world wide. In Europe, fascism arose to a great degree from the hard times it caused.
And, of course, we all know how that worked out.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
One wonders what kind of shape they'd be in after all this time.
Terrible no doubt. I never put much stock in the tales of hidden Confederate gold, but weapons caches seem probable to me.
And Gunny is right, some things are more valuable than gold, like lost Alamo weapons.
Here's the Pennsylvania Longrifle that I spoke about months ago that was found in Mexico by a couple who found it in a storage shed of an Onyx craftsman. The rifle had been with the family when they moved to Tehuacan, Mexico in 1839. The veteran who brought it with him from Texas had served under one of the Generals under Santa Anna as an officer during the military action In Texas around Bexar, (San Antonio)Texas The families ancestors had the rifle blessed by a priest months later because "there was much sorrow on it". The rifle had been in the shed since at least the 1930's. It was certainly in a battle as the four sword slashes in the barrel indicate. Suvenier of the Alamo? Purchased along with some other antiques for $60.00 in 1962 It has a 47 " barrel and is 40 caliber. Made about 1834 by Henry leman.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
Hey Gunny! I'm sorry that I didn't get aroundto responding to your last post here. I'm not notified when there's an snswer to mypostings and so I didn't see it. Anyway, isn't the rifle neat!? SInce mylast posting, additional information has come to light from the family from whom the rifle was obtained 45 years ago. Their ancestor was an under or sub Lt. in the San Luis Potosi Batalion under the command of a Colonel Morales. THis unit was tasked with the objective of attacking the South East wall that the Tennesseans had errected between the Alamo church and the south wall and main gate. Upon attacking, the Mexican troops were stopped cold and had to shift to their left down the Southern wall. THis resulted in their subsequent attack on the South West corner of the Alamo whre an 18 pounder cannon stood at the top of the wall at that corner. The position with the cannon was assulted and the cannon captured, all defenders there being put to death. Then, the Potosi troops ran down the ramp from the platform into the plaza below and opened the main gates, allowing the bulk of the atackers to enter in force. The family recounts that the rifle was retrieved from that gereral area by their ancestor after the battle and before it could be taken by anyone else. Apparently, the rifle's owner had been killed in the compound below that spot. The rifle was loaded up with the Officer's other property and plunder onto one of three mules that the young officer had aquired. The Postosi troops were subsequently attached to General Urea. and their commander, Col. Morales was transfered to the General Staff of Santa Anna, who was defeated at San Jacinto later in April. The Postosi troops, not being at San Jacinto, were with General Urea's withdrawl back to Matamoros, Mexico after the Mexican defeat at San Jacinto and the rifle, along with everything else of the officer's baggage, was taken there. The information given me is directly from the family and is being studied by several researchers to find out more information. While the family didn't say the Southwest corner, Their description of attacking the cannon's position on top of a corner where two walls met to the left of the main gate leaves little in the way of other possibilities, especialy in light of the recalling of how the troops then opened the gate from within. This is all historicaly documented as occuring at the Southwest corner. THis cannon, by the way, was the one fired by Col. Travis in response to the demands of the Mexicans to surrender. One other item of historical significance that is related to the rifle has been sent to me by the family. They didn't want anything for it but insisted that it should remain withthe rifle because of it's association. It's a soft leather pouch that contains a peice of material with some sewing on it from a little girl. The sewing is dated 1834 when she was seven years old. I don't think that I should be selling the rifle Gunny. There is still too much research to be done on all of this. In addition, I'd never again be fortunate enough to come upon another such relic from the historic battle. I can tell you though that the rifle has been fired by myself and a friend with a .380 ball and a patch. The rifle is probably a .395 caliber at the grooves. making it officialy a .40 caliber rifle. Isn't this neat? I wonder what else is still out there to be discovered in some closet or shed in Mexico? I'll be posting the photo's of the leather bag and the sewing ion the Alamo Movie Forum site soon and so should also post them here as well for anyone interested in seeing them. Thanks for the interest Gunny! Contact me any time to discuss this rifle. Fred Gaarde, bshiplar1@aol.com
Last edited by whitedog on Sun Oct 07, 2007 9:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Its all reasonable for the Brits and Aussies, living on islands without a southern border that does not have 100 million poor desperate people on the other side. Many of whom are cranked out on cocaine and amphetamines.
We here should know that when empires collapse, things get chaotic. There is increasing concern about the American empire, and many who think it is so corrupt it should be destroyed. But if so, then communities will rely on whatever weapons they have to defend their interests.
Any god watching me hasta be bored, and needs to get a life.
