There were no repeating rifles in 1836. So most of the killing was done hand to hand. They used knives, machetes, bayonettes, clubs and whatever else they got their hands on. It takes a while to die fighting like that. The defenders retreated to the long barracks and that's where it mostly took place.It must have been gruesome to say the least.
share Thats true for sure,and also remember that the mexicans must have been pretty pissed of with the small force blocking them from there aims.Also they did not take prisoners,though a small number including crockett may have been captured,but shot or stabbed after the battle.
Even 40 years later, at Custer's Last Stand, this was true. It is estimated, based on forensic study of soldiers remains located in the 1980s, that only about 10% of the fatalities among Custer's command were from gunfire. The remaining 90% were shot with arrows, stabbed or clubbed to death after suffering wounds that disabled them.
shareWell as to the Custer thing
Everybody figures that if you giv/gave an indian a gun he was an expert marksman, which was far from the truth. And the soldiers weren't much better with their Springfields (The Army of the time didn't have a bunch of money to spend on target practice, about 10rounds a month was all they got)
Had Reno and benteen not been drunk (Reno) and followed orders (benteen ) That battle would have ended differently
It behooves the Jews and Arabs to settle their differences in a Christian manner
And don't forget that the Mexicans captured the Texan 18 pounder and used grapshot at nearly point blank firing into the Long Barracks.
shareConsider also that the final fight was fought in the pre-dawn hours (i.e. darkness!!). So even if the sun was just BARELY peaking out over the eastern horizon, when both sides crowded into the Long Barrack, all arguments were likely settled in the dark, w/ old school sharpened metal, & wooden musket stocks to the noggin! Toss in crowded conditions and, yep, it was the stuff of murderous nightmares not glorious anything.
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