In 1821 Mexico acquired her independence of Spain, but the country became the prey of military adventurers, who were made presidents by proclamation, and retained office as long as they had an army to support them. In 1834 Santa Anna, who was in power at the time, abolished the constitution and established a military despotism. The citizens of the province of Texas, which had been largely settled from the United States, revolted and declared their independence. General Cos, the military governor, and fifteen hundred men, were besieged at Bejar, and forced to sur

render, after a desperate assault led by Benjamin R. Milam.

THE VALOR OF BEN MILAM

[December 5-11, 1835]

OH, who will follow old Ben Milam into San Antonio?

Such was the thrilling word we heard in the chill December glow;

Such was the thrilling word we heard, and a ringing, answering cry Went up from the dun adobe walls to the cloudless Texas sky.

He had won from the reek of a Mexique jail back without map or chart, With his mother-wit and his hero-grit and his stanch Kentucky heart;

He had trudged by vale and by mountain trail,
and by thorny and thirsty plain,
And now, with joy on his grizzled brow, he had
come to his own again.

They're the spawn of Hell! we heard him tell;
they will knife and lie and cheat;
At the board of none of the swarthy horde would
I deign to sit at meat;

They hold it naught that I bled and fought
when Spain was their ruthless foe;
Oh, who will follow old Ben Milam into San
Antonio?

It was four to one, not gun for gun, but never a curse cared we,

Three hundred faithful and fearless men who had sworn to make Texas free.

It was mighty odds, by all the gods, this brute of the Mexique dam,

But it was not much for heroes such as followed old Ben Milam!

With rifle-crack and sabre-hack we drove them back in the street;

From house to house in the red carouse we

hastened their flying feet;

And ever that shout kept pealing out with a
swift and sure death-blow:
Oh, who will follow old Ben Milam into San
Antonio ?

Behind the walls from the hurtling balls Cos

cowered and swore in his beard, While we slashed and slew from dawn till dew, and, Bexar, how we cheered! But ere failed each ruse, and the white of truce on the failing day was thrown,

Our fearless soul had gone to the goal, the Land of the Great Unknown.

Death brought the darksome boon too soon to this truest one of the true,

Or, men of the fated Alamo, Milam had died with you!

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So when their names that now are Fame'sthe scorner of braggart sham;

In song be praised, let a rouse be raised for the name of Ben Milam! CLINTON SCOLLARD.

BEN MILAM

OFT shall the soldier think of thee, Thou dauntless leader of the brave, Who on the heights of Tyranny

Won Freedom and a glorious grave.

And o'er thy tomb shall pilgrims weep, And pray to heaven in murmurs low That peaceful be the hero's sleep

Who conquered San Antonio.

Enshrined on Honor's deathless scroll,
A nation's thanks will tell thy fame;
Long as her beauteous rivers roll
Shall Freedom's votaries hymn thy name.

For bravest of the Texan clime,
Who fought to make her children free,
Was Milam, and his death sublime
Linked with undying Liberty!

WILLIAM H. WHARTON.

On February 23, 1836, Santa Anna appeared at the head of two thousand men before San Antonio. The town was guarded by a fort called the Alamo, held by Colonel William Travis and one hundred and fifty Texans. Travis sent to Gonzales for reinforcements and shut himself up in the fort. A few days later, thirty-two men got through the Mexican lines, swelling his force to one hundred and eighty-three. After a terrific struggle, the Mexicans carried the fort on March 6. Not one of the garrison survived.

THE MEN OF THE ALAMO

[February 23-March 6, 1836]

To Houston at Gonzales town, ride, Ranger, for your life,

Nor stop to say good-bye to-day to home, or child, or wife;

But pass the word from ranch to ranch, to every Texan sword,

That fifty hundred Mexicans have crossed the Nueces ford,

With Castrillon and perjured Cos, Sesmá and Almontê,

And Santa Anna ravenous for vengeance and for prey!

And strong and rugged as the quartz that hides its heart of gold.

His simple creed for word or deed true as the bullet sped,

And rung the target straight: "Be sure you're right, then go ahead!"

And were they right who fought the fight for Texas by his side?

They questioned not; they faltered not; they only fought and died.

Who hath an enemy like these, God's mercy slay him straight!

A thousand Mexicans lay dead outside the convent gate,

And half a thousand more must die before the fortress falls,

And still the tide of war beats high around the leaguered walls.

At last the bloody breach is won; the weakened lines give way;

The wolves are swarming in the court; the lions stand at bay.

The leader meets them at the breach, and wins the soldier's prize;

A foeman's bosom sheathes his sword when gallant Travis dies.

Now let the victor feast at will until his crest be red

We may not know what raptures fill the vulture with the dead.

Let Santa Anna's valiant sword right bravely hew and hack

The senseless corse; its hands are cold; they will not strike him back.

Let Bowie die, but 'ware the hand that wields

THE DEFENCE OF THE ALAMO

[March 6, 1835]

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Now silence! Such silence! Two thousand lay dead

In a crescent outside! And within? Not a breath

The Bowie gasped, "Lead me over that line!" Then Crockett, one hand to the sick, one hand to his gun,

Crossed with him; then never a word or a sign

Till all, sick or well, all, all save but one, One man. Then a woman stepped, praying, and slow

Across; to die at her post in the Alamo.

Then that one coward fled, in the night, in that night

When all men silently prayed and thought Of home; of to-morrow; of God and the right,

Till dawn; and with dawn came Travis's

cannon-shot,

In answer to insolent Mexico,
From the old bell-tower of the Alamo.

Then came Santa Ana; a crescent of flame! Then the red escalade; then the fight hand to hand;

Such an unequal fight as never had name Since the Persian hordes butchered that doomed Spartan band.

All day all day and all night; and the morning? so slow,

Through the battle smoke mantling the Alamo.

head,

All alone, all alone there, waiting for death; And she but a nurse. Yet when shall we know Another like this of the Alamo?

Shout "Victory, victory, victory ho!"

I say 't is not always to the hosts that win! I say that the victory, high or low,

Is given the hero who grapples with sin, Or legion or single; just asking to know When duty fronts death in his Alamo. JOAQUIN MILLER.

A few days later, at Goliad, Colonel Fannin and four hundred soldiers surrendered to the Mexicans under solemn assurances that their lives would be spared. On March 27 the prisoners were marched out under guard and shot down like cattle in the shambles. This massacre aroused the wildest indignation, and recruits flocked to the army under Houston, and on April 21 surprised Santa Anna at San Jacinto, routed the Mexicans, and inflicted a terrible vengeance.

THE FIGHT AT SAN JACINTO [April 21, 1836]

"Now for a brisk and cheerful fight!" Said Harman, big and droll, As he coaxed his flint and steel for a light, And puffed at his cold clay bowl; "For we are a skulking lot," says he, "Of land-thieves hereabout, And the bold señores, two to one, Have come to smoke us out."

Santa Anna and Castrillon,
Almonte brave and gay,
Portilla red from Goliad,
And Cos with his smart array.
Dulces and cigaritos,

And the light guitar, ting-tum!
Sant' Anna courts siesta

And Sam Houston taps his drum.

The buck stands still in the timber

"Is 't the patter of nuts that fall?" The foal of the wild mare whinnies "Did he hear the Comanche call?"