One can only wish the action at the Alamo had been as well-reported as this battle, but still, it was a prolonged fight, maybe five hours...
The action commenced about one o'clock, and continued, without intermission, until after sunset. Shackelford
We don't have a minute-by-minute account of these events. I'm just grateful we have what we have, in the age of pens and inkwells it was no small thing to write the lengthy accounts like the survivors did.
From Urrea's account we know he assaulted the square in frontal attacks at least twice (Wiki says three times), putting himself in the line of fire the second time around.
The Texian square came so close to collapsing during the first attack that there seems little doubt they would have gone under had they been conventionally armed with one longarm to a man instead of with an extraordinary 600 extra muskets and ammunition on hand.
From this distance it seems like there's no way going in that Urrea could have anticipated that massive volume of defensive fire.
His second assault occurred just before dark, at a time when the completely exposed Texian formation had been enduring constant sporadic fire for hours and by which time the Polish guys and others originally manning the cannon had been taken out. Clearly, on this second occasion Urrea thought they might crack.
Here's a "fog of battle" (literally) episode from Herman Ehrenbach, late of Prussia (over the next forty years after the fight Ehrenberg would go on to cross the continent with a fur brigade, join the California Gold Rush, sail the South Pacific, map out Honolulu for the US, become the main guy surveying the Gasden Purchase, and like Jack Hays before him serve a stint as agent to the Mohaves in Arizona).....
We were soon enveloped in such dense smoke that we were occasionally obliged to cease firing and to advance slightly on the enemy in order to see our sights. The whole prairie as far as one could see was covered with powder smoke, and thousands of lightening flashes quivered through the dark masses accompanied with the incessant thunder of the artillery and the clear crack of our rifles.
Among them sounded the scattered bugle calls of the Mexicans, encouraging the men to battle. From time to time our grape shot hailed death into the ranks of the enemy under the majestic roll of thunder. I do not believe that a coward was to be seen on the battlefield at this moment. Who has time and disposition then to think of himself and his life in such tumult?...
All his senses are dulled. One sees nothing, one hears nothing except his enemy, and only partially does one hear the commands of the officers. That is the way it was with us. As the dense smoke only occasionally permitted us to see the advancing enemy, we stepped forward to meet them. Foolhardily several of us stood in his midst and fired....
I myself had gotten so far ahead in the general tumult and fired so incessantly that I did not notice how I stood right among the Mexicans. Everything was confusion and it seemed as if we were shooting each other down for pleasure. When I discovered my error, I hastily went back to my position as my ignition tube was stopped up besides.
One constant question among reenactors is how many caplock guns (ie. using percussion instead of flint) were in service in Texas in '35/'36. Ehrenberg plainly stated above he was using a caplock, and at that time he was a member of the New Orleans Greys yet.
On my return to my comrades I stopped at each fallen enemy and fired the often loaded musket at the living ones. But how did it look in our camp? Many of our people were either severely wounded or killed. All of our artillerymen with the exception of one Pole had fallen and built a wall around silent cannon, whose power was now passed as the range was now too close to do effective service.
..and on the effect of weather on black powder; notwithstanding all those extra muskets on hand, here's Ehrenberg scrambling around his own line looking for something that would shoot...
The whole battle ground was covered with dead men, horses, guns and all kinds of objects. I did not spend much time looking at the battlefield, but ran about to try out the guns of the fallen ones as quite a while would probably have been necessary to put mine in order again. I searched a long time before I found a usable one, as the damp, almost wet air, had made practically all unfit for use.
I do agree that even today a 'stopped up tube' in a percussion weapon is a real PITA to clear in the field. If ya ain't got a feather quill handy or some other flexible object to clear those hidden right angles your only recourse is water to flush it out.
On a flinter either the pan won't flash in which case its usually the flint or powder, or if the pan flashes and it doesn't fire, its usually the vent to the main charge that's the problem. Either way its a quick fix.
Birdwatcher
