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I was born in Tennessee around 1814, I married Almaron Dickinson at the age of 15. When I grew up I never learned how to read or write. We soon settled in the Dewitt colony in Texas. We were also settled in under the Mexican control. One day I had a daughter in December 1814 and we named her Angelina Elizabeth. My life was really hard at the Alamo and all the trouble that was happening. We lived a long time above town on the San Marcos River. But, when I turned 17 my family and I had to go to Texas because the Mexican troops bayoneted my husband and took the mission. When we got to Texas they settled in Gonzales, where their daughter was born. After the Alamo fell on march 6, 1836 Santa Anna sent Susanna and her daughter to Gonzales to warn Texans about the strength of the Mexican army.

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When I arrived at the Alamo with my family on February 23, 1836, my husband and I are a couple of the defenders of the Alamo. While defending the Alamo we only held out for 13 days until we got overwhelmed by the Mexican invaders. Me and my daughter ( Angelina ) were among the few American survivors of 1836 Battle Of The Alamo. Mean while, Santa Anna ordered men to take no prisoners, and all of the defenders, including my husband were killed. I was devastated when I found out that my husband was killed by the Mexican army. After Texas won its independence that fall, I applied to a new government for aid. Including back pay and compensation for my husbands land. But, I got refused and I was left with poverty. My daughter and I was left with a tumultuous life and being married four more times. And I was also outspoken about my experiences at the Alamo.

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On a cold March dawn in 1836, the Mexican officers had escorted a shaken young women and their infant daughters past the heaps of the dead in the alamo’s Courtyard to the Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. My baby ( Angelina ). And I were hiding in the Alamo’s chapel whenever the Mexican troops bayoneted my husband and took the mission. In the year of 1835, the Mexican troops and the Texian troops clashed near Gonzales, and that’s when the Texas revolution had started. My husband volunteered with the Texians. And his small family came a little later to join him at the Alamo. When San Houston’s victory over the Mexican army tag San Jacinto, the following month, added the war. When my husband died, I had to get protection for myself and my daughter. But, we failed to win the financial support from the new Texas government. I had unsuccessful marriages before I married the merchant J.W Hannig 1857. I stayed with him fir the rest of my life.

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When I woke up the morning of February 24, 1836 after the Mexican army came to the Alamo on February 23, 1836, I had saw everything trashed. There were rubble all over the ground, the bricks from the wall all was fallen down and others. There was even a handful of defenders that were killed and an estimated amount of 600 Mexican’s that died. I was surprised and upset because of how much happened on the first day of the war. There was so much happening while I was hiding in the chapel. I didn’t know how we were going to repair everything. There was so much stuff to do before the second war was going to happen. And I never knew when the different war’s were going to happen. I was so scared for my life when I had to run to hide at the chapel that I was going to die in case they had found me. Just hearing the war going on and waking up the next morning was really terrible as I found everything.

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At midnight on March 5, 1836, Santa Anna’s troops began to move into their position for their planned attack of the Alamo. For many hours the soldiers would lay on the ground in complete darkness. About 5:30Am, they had received an order to begin an assault. The troops would move more quietly, encountering the Texian sentinels first. They would even killed as they slept through the night. For the troops there were no safe positions on the walls of the compound of the Alamo. Every Time the Texian rifleman fired at the troops below, they even exposed themselves to deadly Mexican fire. They got us really bad from the south of the compound of the Alamo. After all the attacks had happened to the Alamo it was the times where the Alamo had fallen down. When the Alamo fell down everything was on the ground including all the people that had died during the war. When everyone was gone ( passed away ) I was the only women that hade survived the 13 days during the battle of the Alamo.

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On March 7,1836, the second battle had happened. The chapel at the Alamo was roofless and its bell tower was gone. The walls of the chapel was gaping holes from the Mexican artillery fire. There were 2400- odd defenders that diedduring  the war and not one stone was left standing upon another. Santa Anna gave a direct order to just to knock downs the walls, but it did not get done. No where in records, the Texian or Mexican, will find out that Santa Anna rescinded the order. When the 1870’s came along the army pretty much had outgrown its downtown headquarters and was moving operations to the new established Fort Sam Houston. B y the 1890’s it was becoming an attraction to all of the tourists. The 2 cities, San Antonio and the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Texas claimed the building. The state had bought the chapel by itself and the ground it stood on, but no more from the Catholic Church. All of the left over land around the chapel, the land where the battle was actually fought and passed on in to private hands.

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The morning of February 25, 1836, dawned with summer-like temperatures opening one of the most eveningful days at the siege. The Mexicans had launched an attack with about 400-450 soldiers personally led by General Castrillon. The Matamoros battalion and three companies of the cazadores would make up the attacking force. They would come from the area of the river loattery through the Pueblo de Valero’s jacales and buildings advancing within 50-100 yards from the Alamo walls. When 2 hours had passed fighting, the Texians would finally force the Mexicans to withdrawal using the ditches and outworks. As the Mexicans advanced through the Pueblo, they discovered/found a young women and her mother in one of the houses. Even when she was already married, Santa Anna took the advantage of the situation, arranged a false marriage, and quickly consummated the relationship. The night when the temperature dropped down to the 30’s, under the cover of darkness, William B. Travis sent colonel Juan Seguín to find the General Sam Houston to ask for his help from him. There was evidence that at least nine men deserted the garrison and gave information to Santa Anna where Texians would hide at least 50 riffles. When they were fighting, the victory did not go to the Texians at all. But the Texians proved that as an unorganized as they were, they could fight.

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The fifth day on the siege and the battle of the Alamo was on a cold dark night ranging around the 30’s. We were having trouble with stocking up on our food source. So we sent three troops to a nearby ranches to forage livestock and corn. And instead of going to get water from inside the Alamo, we were building a ditch to get water from outside. But, of course the Mexican troops had to come and block off our water source. When the Mexican blocked off the water, not only did this end the minor skirmishes, that had taken place at the begging of the siege, but it also eliminated our defenders major water source. The Matamoros battalion began to work on digging trenches to the south of the Alamo compound. They did not. Pass Santa Anna’s inspection so, he ordered his men to dig new trenches closer to the Alamo under the supervision of General Amador. During the day the Texians would maintain the fire on the Mexicans work party. According to General Filisola, the Texians were seen working on their own ditch inside the parapet at the cattle pen.