Susanna Wilkerson Dickinson (first name also spelled
Susana and
Susannah; last name also spelled
Dickerson and
Dickenson) (1814 – October 7, 1883) was one of two American survivors of the 1836
Battle of the AlamoThe Battle of the Alamo was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar . All but two of the Texian defenders were killed...
during the
Texas RevolutionThe Texas Revolution or Texas War of Independence was an armed conflict between Mexico and settlers in the Texas portion of the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas. The war lasted from October 2, 1835 to April 21, 1836...
, where her husband,
Captain Almaron DickinsonAlmaron Dickinson was a Texan soldier and defender during the Battle of the Alamo, fought during the Texas Revolution. Dickinson is best known as having been the artillery officer of the small garrison, and for being the husband of one of the only three non-Mexican survivors to live through the...
, and 182 other defenders were killed by the
Mexican ArmyThe Mexican Army is the combined land and air branch and largest of the Mexican Military services; it also is known as the National Defense Army. It is famous for having been the first army to adopt and use an automatic rifle, , in 1899, and the first to issue automatic weapons as standard issue...
. The second survivor was her infant daughter.
Texas Revolution
Susanna Dickinson lived in Gonzales in Mexican Texas with her first man ,
Almaron DickinsonAlmaron Dickinson was a Texan soldier and defender during the Battle of the Alamo, fought during the Texas Revolution. Dickinson is best known as having been the artillery officer of the small garrison, and for being the husband of one of the only three non-Mexican survivors to live through the...
. As the Mexican government increasingly abandoned its
federalist structureFederalism is a political concept in which a group of members are bound together by covenant with a governing representative head. The term "federalism" is also used to describe a system of the government in which sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a central governing authority and...
in favor of a more
centralized governmentA centralized or centralised government is one in which power or legal authority is exerted or coordinated by a de facto political executive to which federal states, local authorities, and smaller units are considered subject...
, Almaron Dickinson became one of the early proponents of war. The men quickly herded cattle into the Alamo and scrounged for food in some of the recently abandoned houses. A few members of the garrison brought their families into the Alamo for safety. Susanna Dickinson and her daughter Angelina were among these.
For the next twelve days, the Alamo lay under siege. Santa Anna planned an early morning assault for March 6. At8:10 pm on March 5 the Mexican artillery ceased their bombardment. As Santa Anna had planned the exhausted Texans soon fell into the first uninterrupted sleep many had gotten since the siege began. At 5:30 a.m. Santa Anna gave the order to advance. As the Mexican soldiers began to yell and their buglers began to play, the Texan defenders awakened and rushed to their posts. Dickinson and her daughter gathered in the church
sacristyA sacristy is a room for keeping vestments and other church furnishings, sacred vessels, and parish records.The sacristy is usually located inside the church, but in some cases it is an annex or separate building...
with most of other noncombatants for safety. She later mentioned that
Davy CrockettDavid "Davy" Crockett was a celebrated 19th century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier and politician. He is commonly referred to in popular culture by the epithet "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S...
stopped briefly in the chapel to pray before taking his assigned position.
The Mexican soldiers soon breached the outer walls of the Alamo. As previously planned, most of the Texans fell back to the barracks and the chapel. In the confusion, Almaron Dickinson slipped from his post manning a cannon in the chapel to join his wife in the sacristy. He yelled "Great God, Sue, the Mexicans are inside our walls! If they spare you, save my child!", then kissed her briefly and returned to his cannon. It took an hour for the Mexican army to secure complete control of the Alamo. The last of the Texians to die were the eleven men, including Almaron Dickinson, manning the two 12-pounder cannon in the chapel. The entrance to the church had been barricaded with sandbags, which the Texians were able to fire over. A shot from the 18-pounder cannon destroyed the barricades, and Mexican soldiers entered the building after firing an initial musket volley. Dickinson's crew fired their cannon from the
apseIn architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
into the Mexican soldiers at the door. With no time to reload, the Texans, including Dickinson, Gregorio Esparza, and Bonham, grabbed rifles and fired before being bayoneted to death. Texan Robert Evans, the master of ordnance, had been tasked with keeping the gunpowder from falling into Mexican hands. Wounded, he crawled towards the powder magazine but was killed by a musket ball with his torch only inches from the powder. If he had succeeded, the blast would have destroyed the church, killing Dickinson and the other women and children hiding in the sacristy.
As soldiers approached the sacristy, one of the sons of defender Anthony Wolf stood to pull a blanket over his shoulders. In the dark, Mexican soldiers mistook him for an adult and killed him. Possibly the last Texan to die in battle was Jacob Walker, who attempted to hide behind Dickinson and the other women; four Mexican soldiers killed him in front of them. Another Texian, Brigido Guerrero, also sought refuge in the sacristy. Guerrero, who had deserted from the Mexican Army in December 1835, was spared after convincing the soldiers he was a prisoner of the Texans. In the confusion, Dickinson was lightly wounded.
On March 7, Santa Anna interviewed each of the survivors individually. He was impressed with Dickinson and offered to adopt Angelina and have the child educated in Mexico City. Dickinson refused the offer, which was not extended to fellow Alamo survivor
Juana Navarro AlsburyJuana Navarro Alsbury was one of the few Texian survivors of the Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution in 1836. As Mexican forces entered her hometown, San Antonio de Bexar, on February 23, Alsbury's cousin by marriage, James Bowie, brought her with him to the Alamo Mission so that he...
for her son who was of similar age.
Santa Anna ordered that the Tejano civilian survivors be allowed to return to their homes in San Antonio. Dickinson and Joe, a Texan slave, were allowed to travel towards the Anglo settlements, escorted by Ben, a former slave from the United States who served as Mexican Colonel
Juan Almonte'sJuan Nepomuceno Almonte was a 19th century Mexican official, soldier and diplomat. He was a veteran of the Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution...
cook. Each woman was given $2 and a blanket and was allowed to go free and spread the news of the destruction that awaited those who opposed the Mexican government. Before releasing Joe, Santa Anna ordered that the surviving members of the Mexican army parade in a grand review, in the hopes that Joe and Dickinson would deliver a warning to the remainder of the Texan forces that his army was unbeatable.
When the small party of survivors arrived in Gonzales on March 13 they found
Sam HoustonSamuel Houston, known as Sam Houston , was a 19th-century American statesman, politician, and soldier. He was born in Timber Ridge in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, of Scots-Irish descent. Houston became a key figure in the history of Texas and was elected as the first and third President of...
, the commander of all Texan forces, waiting there with about 400 men. After Dickinson and Joe related the details of the battle and the strength of Santa Anna's army, Houston advised all civilians to evacuate and then ordered the army to retreat. This was the beginning of the
Runaway ScrapeThe Runaway Scrape was the name given to the flight and subsequent hostilities that occurred, as Texan, Tejano, and American settlers and militia encountered the pursuing Mexican army in early 1836....
, in which much of the population of Texas, including the acting government, rushed to the east to escape the advancing Mexican army.
Susanna Dickinson's witness accounts
Susanna Dickinson reported, after the battle, the following had occurred during the siege and ultimate fight;
- There were very few casualties before the final assault. She didn't know the number.
- She confirms that the legendary "line in the sand" incident, where Col. William Travis
William Barret Travis was a 19th-century American lawyer and soldier. At the age of 26, he was a lieutenant colonel in the Texas Army...
gave the defenders the choice of staying or leaving, did happen. However, she reports that it happened the day before the final assault, when it is believed to have happened on either March 3 or March 4.
- On the morning of the assault, her husband ran in to where she'd hidden, made his final statements to her and revealing that the Mexicans were inside, then returned to his duty. She never saw him again, nor did she ever see his body.
- She hid inside the chapel, and did not see the actual battle. One defender ran inside during the battle, attempting to hide, but was killed by Mexican soldiers.
- When she was discovered, a Mexican officer intervened, with her saying she believed he was a British
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
mercenaryA mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
named either Black or Almonte. She was mistaken about his ethnicity, as he was Col. Juan Nepomuceno Almonte, who spoke perfect EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, having been educated in New Orleans, LouisianaNew Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
.
- Outside there was a single survivor, found hiding, who unsuccessfully begged for mercy and was killed. Joe also reported this, claiming the man's name was Warner. However no Warner is listed as being at the Alamo. The closest name in similarity to Warner is Henry Warnell, however Warnell departed the Alamo as a courier on February 28, 1836.
- She saw the body of Davy Crockett between the chapel and the barracks building.
- She saw the body of Jim Bowie
James "Jim" Bowie , a 19th-century American pioneer, slave trader, land speculator, and soldier, played a prominent role in the Texas Revolution, culminating in his death at the Battle of the Alamo...
with two dead Mexican soldiers lying beside him.
- She was taken to a house where she'd previously lived, and from there could see the pyres of the dead being burned.
- The next day she was taken before Santa Anna, and Almonte, or Black, convinced Santa Anna to release her rather than imprison her.
- She was sent east with Joe, and on the way to Gonzales, Texas
Gonzales is a city in Gonzales County, Texas, United States. The population was 7,202 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Gonzales County.-Geography:Gonzales is located at...
she was intercepted by a party including Deaf SmithErastus "Deaf" Smith was an American frontiersman noted for his part in the Texas Revolution and the army of the Republic of Texas. He fought at the Grass Fight and the Battle of San Jacinto. After the war, Deaf Smith led a company of Texas Rangers.-Biography:Smith was born in Dutchess County, New...
.
- At some point after the battle, she has no recollections, only that she wept for days.
Some points of Dickinson's account were confirmed by other survivors, including Enrique Esparza, the son of Alamo defender Gregorio Esparza. Joe confirmed other statements.
After the Alamo
Illiterate, Susanna Dickinson left no written accounts of what happened in the Alamo, but did give several oral accounts, with them always corroborating what she had previously stated. She remarried soon afterward to a man last named Williams, in 1837, but divorced almost immediately afterward on the grounds of cruelty. She married a third time in 1838, last name Herring, with that husband dying due to alcoholism. Dickinson married her fourth husband in 1847, last name Bellows, but the couple divorced in 1857 allegedly due to her having an affair. In 1858 she married for the fifth and final time, to J. W. Hannig, a cabinet maker, and with whom she would remain for the rest of her life. Dickinson died in 1883 and was buried in the Oakwood Cemetery, with the following inscription:
"Sacred to the Memory of Susan A. Wife of J. W. Hannig Died Oct. 7, 1883 Aged 68 Years."
The marble marker was placed there by Hannig. The marble slab was later added by the state on March 2, 1949. Her fifth husband Hannig was buried beside her after he died in 1890.
Legacy
A
cenotaphA cenotaph is an "empty tomb" or a monument erected in honour of a person or group of people whose remains are elsewhere. It can also be the initial tomb for a person who has since been interred elsewhere. The word derives from the Greek κενοτάφιον = kenotaphion...
honoring Susanna Wilkerson Dickinson was placed in the
Texas State CemeteryThe Texas State Cemetery is a cemetery located on about just east of downtown Austin, the capital of Texas. Originally the burial place of Edward Burleson, Texas Revolutionary general and Vice-President of the Republic of Texas, it was expanded into a Confederate cemetery during the Civil War...
in
Austin, TexasAustin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
.
The house her fifth husband Joseph William Hannig built in
Austin, TexasAustin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
in 1869 was turned into a museum, The Joseph and Susanna Dickinson Hannig Museum, dedicated to Susanna Dickinson and the other survivors of the Alamo.
External links