Survivors of the Alamo

Survived the Assault:

• Susanna Dickinson, wife of Capt. Almeron Dickinson
• Angelina Dickinson, their 15-month old daughter
• Joe, Travis' slave
• Gertrudis Navarro, 15, sister by adoption to James Bowie's wife, Ursula Bowie
• Juana Navarro Alsbury, 28, sister of Gertrudis Navarro
• Alijo Perez, 18-month-old son of Juana Alsbury by a previous marriage. (Became a San Antonio policeman and died in 1918.)
• Ana Esparza, wife of Gregorio Esparza, and their four children:
• Enrique
• Francisco
• Manuel
• Maria de Jesus Castro
• Trinidad Saucedo
• Petra Gonzales
• Brigido Guerrero, who had deserted from the Mexican Army about four years earlier. He talked his way out of being killed by claiming to be a POW.

After the fighting, Mrs. Dickinson was sent to Gonzales with her baby, two dollars and a pony. Ben, the black man who accompanied her, is sometimes cited as a survivor of the Alamo, but this former seaman was actually a member of the Mexican army, serving as Santa Anna's personal cook. Whatever conditions were like in El Presidente's service, Ben was apparently perfectly willing to trade them for a hike into slave territory.

Joe, Travis' slave, caught up with them on the road. A year later he would escape from his subsequent owners and presumably ended up a free man.

Not Present During the Assault:

Francis L. Desauque

San Antonio merchant who loaned Travis $200 to keep the fort operating. He was sent to Fannin with a message from Travis. Was captured with Fannin's command and executed with them.

James L. Allen

Age 21 at the time, he was sent out as a courier the night before the assault. He later became a Texas Ranger and a Confederate officer, dying in 1901. Although he was in the fort for the bulk of the siege, and could have cleared up many mysteries, there is no record that he was ever interviewed.

John Walker Baylor

He was sent out as a courier shortly after the siege began. Joined Fannin's command and escaped the final collapse because he had a horse. Was wounded at San Jacinto, and died the next year of complications.

Robert Brown

Teenage courier sent out during the siege.

Antonio Cruz y Arocha

Was an orderly for Capt. Juan Seguin, and left with the latter.

Alexando de la Garza

One of Seguin's men, who was sent out as a courier.

Benjamin Franklin Highsmith

Teenage courier who was sent to Fannin just before the siege began. Returning, he was turned back and pursued by a Mexican cavalry patrol but escaped. Met James Bonham, another returning courier, and urged him to turn back, but the latter pressed on. Highsmith later took another message to Fannin for Houston, and was at San Jacinto. He was later in the Texas Rangers, and died in 1905.

(William P.?) Johnson

A courier who was evidently sent to Fannin at the start of the siege and died with the latter.

William Sanders Oury

Was sent out as a courier and later was at San Jacinto. Later was with the Mier Expedition, and was in the Texas Rangers in the Mexican-American War. He joined the California gold rush, and ended up as sheriff of Tuscon, Arizona.

Lewis (or Louis or Moses) Rose

Elected to leave before the assault, possibly on March 3. A former French soldier, he later became a butcher in Nacogdoches, eventually moving to Louisiana, where he died in 1850.

Juan Seguin

Left the fort on February 22 to rally reinforcements. Did gather 25 men, and met another 12 coming from Gonzales, but the fort fell before they could get back. Later he was at San Jacinto. After the war he was active in local politics -- including a term as mayor of San Antonio -- but was forced into exile by political opponents after hostilities renewed in 1842. The Mexicans arrested him and took him along during their brief recapture of San Antonio. He moved back to the city after the Mexican-American War.

John William Smith

Was sent out as a courier shortly after the Mexican Army arrived. He returned as a guide with the Gonzales Ranging Company. He was sent out again on March 3. He was organizing a group of 25 men to return with him when the fort fell. After the war he was mayor of San Antonio several times and was an opponent of Juan Seguin.

John Sutherland

Sent as a courier to Gonzales shortly after the Mexican Army arrived.

Henry Warnell

Died of wounds in Port Lavaca in June 1836. He was either wounded during the final assault but escaped, or while serving as a courier on February 28.

Identified With Garrison:

Philip Dimmit

This Texas Army captain was outside the fort when the Mexican Army arrived, and decided to return to his former post on the coast. He was captured by a Mexican Army raiding party in 1841, and killed himself in prison after the other Texan prisoners, held seperately, escaped without him.

Byrd Lockhart

He apparently rode into the Alamo with the Gonzales Ranging Company, and then was sent back to Gonzales to organize relief supplies.

Benjamin F. Nobles

Left with Dimmit (above.)

William Hester Patton

Left for another post before the Mexican Army arrived. Was killed by Mexican raiders in 1842.

Launcelot Smither

Left San Antonio shortly after the Mexican Army arrived to take word of this event to Gonzales, either ordered by Travis or by his own choice. He was later involved in San Antonio politics with Juan Seguin, and was killed by Mexican raiders in 1842.

Andrew Jackson Sowell

Left for Gonzales with Byrd Lockhart (see above.) Was later in the Texas Rangers and the Confederate Army.