e-craven, replied: "Colonel, if Jesus Christ were to come down from Heaven and order me to quit shooting Santanistas I wouldn't do it, sir." And he stepped back, cocked his rifle, and pointed it at the colonel's chest. Colonel Wharton reined his horse and rode away(Hoyt 162).The battle lasted only 18 minutes, but the slaughter continued all afternoon. One brave captain summarized the attitude: "You know how to take prisoners: Take them with the butt of your gun, club guns andRemember the Alamo!, Remember Goliad! On the right of the Mexican camp, about a hundred yards from the tents, was a small grove of trees and a mudhole with a stream leading to Peggy Lake. The Mexicans fled the camp, heading for the grove and for Peggy Lake. Here the greatest carnage occurred. Having reached the lake, Colonel Almonte swam with one hand and held his sabre above his head with the other, urging his men to follow. At the lake and across the field Mexicans fell to their knees, asking for clemency: "Mi no Alamo. Mi no Goliad," they said, clutching at their executioners, begging to surrender, begging for mercy. But there was no mercy this day(Hoyt 162).Stephen Austin's cousin, Sgt. Moses Bryan, encountered a young Mexican drummer boy lying on his face, both legs broken. One of the Texas soldiers pricked him with the point of a bayonet. The boy grasped the man around his legs and cried. "Ave Mara pursima! Por Dios salva mi vida! (Hail Mary most pure! For God, save my life!)" Sergeant Bryan begged the soldier to spare the boy." The man looked at me and put his hand on his pistol," Bryan recalled. "I moved away, and just as I did so, he blew out the boy's brains.(Hoyt 162-163)"Scores of Mexicans rushed to the lake and jumped in, jammed all together. Seeing the jam-up, the Texans positioned themselves on the bank. Pvt. William Foster Young recalled, "I sat there on the shore and shot them until my ammunition ran out, then I turned to the butt of my muske...
