The Ghosts of San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio - Ghost City Tours Before dawn on March 6, he launched his troops against the walls of the Alamo in three separate attacks. Left with Andrew Jackson Sowell left to buy supplies; namesake of, Gonzales Mounted Ranger Company dispatched with the Travis letter, Entered March 4 a.k.a. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Emily West was a free woman of mixed race who became one of Texas' best-known legends. Lindley (2003), p. 144; Groneman (1990), p. 109. On December 5, 1835, the Texians attacked San Antonio in what became known as the Battle of Bxar. A natural leader, James Bowie played an important role in the Texas Revolution. There are many people who were at the Alamo prior to that day who are not part of the Defenders list, including couriers sent out during the siege to inform the rest of Texas and the world of what was happening at the Alamo. Purported to hold the ashes of Travis, Bowie and Crockett, some have doubted it can be proven whose remains are entombed there. S.A.-area rancher catches the hearts of American Idol judges, 10 things to do this weekend in San Antonio, Boy, 11, shoots self in head with gun he found in apartment, Take a look inside this $3.5 million 'mystery' mansion, VIDEO: Hail goes through Alamodome roof, thousands without power, Reign of terror: Neighbors recall owners of killer pit bulls, New food truck park opens at The CO-OP SA, Viral TikTok video shows loose part on S.A. rodeo Ferris wheel. At first the battle was primarily a siege marked by artillery duels and small skirmishes. In December of 1835, a group of Texan volunteer soldiers had. Groneman (1990), p. 11; Todish (1998), p. 76. In the fall of 1837, he collected and interred the remains of the Alamo defenders. The group has even started a DNA database of its members. There is no evidence Davy Crockett went down fighting, as John Wayne famously did in his 1960 movie The Alamo, a font of misinformation; there is ample testimony from Mexican soldiers that Crockett surrendered and was executed. In 1883 the state of Texas purchased the Alamo, and in 1903 it acquired the title to the remainder of the old mission grounds. "Companions in Arms!! Todish (1998), p. 82; Lindley (2003), p. 144; Moore (2007), p. 100. (1998), p. 121. A Strong-willed Texan Scout Joined the Confederacy at 15. Effects Of The Goliad Massacre - 481 Words | Internet Public Library The doctor said the soldiers first fired the chapel interior, dominated by a large, wooden artillery platform extending from the great front doors to the top of the rear wall. Groneman (1990), p. 62; Lindley (2003), p. 143. The fire consumed all but the exterior masonry walls, burying any Texian dead beneath a blanket of blackened debris. He directed the Alcalde, Ruiz, to have built two immense wooden pyres. At one point the Ludlow House was the home of the Salvation Army chapel, and an old photo shows the plaque on the building then. He served as an Alamo courier, and valiantly led his fellow Tejanos as a Captain at the Battle of San Jacinto. At least four sources, including William Bollaert, an Englishman who wrote about his travels in the 1840s, reported the defenders grave being in a peach orchard not far from the Alamo. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Digital Between 1,800 and 6,000 Mexican soldiers besieged the fort, while . Lindley (2003), p. 144; Groneman (1990), p. 81. Please reload the page and try again. Tejano Heroes of the Texas Revolution - American Battlefield Trust Alamo Cenotaph - Wikipedia Send them to us. As for the Alamo defenders, history shows that Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna ordered the bodies of dead Texians to be burned. Renowned Author, James Michener, once said The Irish gave Texas it's basic . Alamo, The | AmericansAll The Alamo: Directed by John Lee Hancock. Battle Of The Alamo Essay - 1004 Words | Internet Public Library He is a native Texan and longtime San Antonian. Give us assistance. This brings the total number of New York Alamo defenders to eleven. Alamo, The [Ancient Order of Hibernians Texas ] (February 23, 1836 - March 6, 1836) Irish, Historic Military Garrison. Lord (1961), p. 217; Todish (1998), p. 83. Spoffordwrote, For myself, on the last anniversary of the event, standing by the site of the funeral pyre of the Texans the victims of the Alamo, for their ashes blown to the four winds, have extended their fame throughout the world, wherever the martyred brave are honored, wherever there is a recompense in human gratitude for heroic deeds.. The assistant quartermasters staff included young Sergeant Edward Everett, to whom Ralston had extended a clerkship while Everett recovered from a pistol wound. The coffin was dug up by accident in 1936, and on May 11, 1938, the remains were placed on public view, inside a fancy sarcophagus, where they can still be seen today. After four days of intense fighting, the Mexican Army surrendered San Antonio to the Texians. Seguin remained in the army after the revolution. List of Alamo defenders. In 2004, a bronze marker was erected by the Alamo Defenders Descendants Association at Odd Fellows Cemetery, near the northeast corner of Pine Street and Paso Hondo. The pyre occupied a space about ten feet in width by sixty in length, and extended from northwest to southeast from the property owned by Mrs. Ed Steves, on which the Ludlow House is built, to and through the property that the Moody structure is to occupy, and a short distance out into the street. The other pyre, which was of equal width, was about eighty feet long and was laid out in the same direction, but was on the opposite side and on property now owned by Dr. Ferdinand Herff Sr., about 250 yards southeast of the first pyre, this property being known as the site of the old Post House or the Springfield House (334 E. Commerce St.). 8586. Based on the 1836 standoff between a group of Texan and Tejano men, led by Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, and Mexican dictator Santa Anna's forces at the Alamo in San Antonio Texas. E ver since remains were discovered in 1936 by workmen who were making repairs to the alter at the San Fernando Cathedral, there have been skeptics as to their origin. Credits, Media/Business Inquiries The Alamo Cenotaph, also known as The Spirit of Sacrifice, is a monument in San Antonio, Texas, United States, commemorating the Battle of the Alamo of the Texas Revolution, which was fought at the adjacent Alamo Mission.The monument was erected in celebration of the centenary of the battle, and bears the names of those known to have fought there on the Texas side. The 25 weirdest attractions in San Antonio that are worth visiting As the ashes of the Alamo continued to smolder, Sam Houston feared another disaster could befall his Texas Army. What happened in the past cant change. In the pursuit of uncovering every infinitesimal piece of evidence about what happened during the battle, more thorough research methods continue to evolve and Tejanos have begun to add their voices. The siege of the Alamo lasted for 13 days, from Feb. 23 to March 6, 1836, when the Mexican army surrounded and attacked the Alamo. Santa Anna's Mexican army killed virtually all of the roughly 200 Texans (or Texians) defending the Alamo, including their leaders, Colonels William B. Travis and James Bowie, and the legendary. Some statues are recognizable from their former locations at SeaWorld and the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, while others were crafted specifically for the Alamo Sculpture Trail, following the footpath from the Briscoe Western Art Museum to the Alamo. 6465; Todish (1998), p. 89; Edmondson (2000), p. 369; Lindley (2003), p. 44. A story in the San Antonio Light onMarch 6, 1918, described the plaque ceremony, attended by several hundred people, with speeches by generals from Fort Sam Houston and the unveiling by De Zavala, granddaughter of the first vice president of the Republic of Texas. Poyo (1996), pp. At the Southwest corner of the Alamo, you are welcomed by Alamo Defender, Jos Toribio Losoya at the location of his family's home. Groneman (1990), pp. Texas Settlement History | American Experience | Official Site - PBS It is some sixty odd years, ago that the Springfield house was built, and sixty years is time enough for many changes to occur. A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, she retired from a career in commercial interior After twelve days Santa Anna, tired of waiting for his heavy artillery and eager for a glorious victory to enhance his reputation, determined to take the Alamo by storm. In a February 13 letter to Texas Governor Henry Smith, Alamo surgeon Amos Pollard spelled out the garrisons dire medical situation: It is my duty to inform you that my department is nearly destitute of medicine, and in the event of a siege I can be of very little use to the sick.. William B. Travis - Wikipedia In February 1837 Colonel Juan N. Segun of the Army of the Republic of Texas, whod left the Alamo amid the siege as a courier, led the procession to inter the ashes of his comrades. Green (1988), pp. Nothing is wanted but money, he wrote in a pair of 1832 letters, and Negros are necessary to make it. Each time a Mexican government threatened to outlaw slavery, many in Austins colony began packing to go home. In March 2014 Amanda Danning, a noted forensic sculptor who performs facial reconstructions on historic skulls, received special permission to study the Alamo skull. [1] President Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna and the government in Mexico City believed the United States had instigated the insurrection with a goal of annexing Texas. List of Alamo defenders - Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core Historical experts have said the remains are not likely Alamo defenders, but possibly fallen participants of the 1813 Battle of Rosillo. Dr. E.F. Mitchusson, Dispatched on a personal errand for Segun February 23, Assumed to be a courier, who left with John William Smith, Chief surgeon of the garrison, created a hospital in the fortress, Left February 25 to recruit reinforcements, The final courier sent to Washington-on-the-Brazos, unable to return, Left for Gonzales as a courier on February 23; relayed the Travis letter from Albert Martin to the provisional government at, Sent to Gonzales for reinforcements on February 23, Namesake of Taylor County, brother of Edward and James, entered March 1 or 4, Namesake of Taylor County, Texas, brother of George and Edward, entered March 1 or 4, Per historian Lindley, no first name on the muster rolls, Slave of William B. Travis, fought beside him in the battle; accompanied Susanna Dickinson to Gonzales. You can help preserve the Scott Huddleston / San Antonio Express-News. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. You can help preserve the Explore their histories here. Subscribe to our free daily newsletter for the latest headlines first thing every morning. Researchers are unclear whose remains they are or when they perished, and the Texas General Land Officethe present-day caretaker of the historic sitehas yet to approve DNA testing. Santa Anna had told Mexico City he expected to take San Antonio by March 2; he ended up doing so on March 6. corporation. A number of Texians known to have died at the Alamo are listed among the wounded on a muster roll after that December engagement. Groneman (1990), p. 53; Lindley (2003), p. 144; Moore (2007), p. 100. A muster roll of the final day of the battle does not exist, and therefore historians reconstruct the list of Defenders from available information. Travis ignored multiple warnings of Santa Annas approach and was simply trapped in the Alamo when the Mexican army arrived. The overall markers and indicators suggest that it was European. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. The 115names were supplied by couriers John Smith and Gerald Navan,[17] whom historian Thomas Ricks Lindley believed likely drew from their own memories, as well as from interviews with those who might have left or tried to enter. It was believed they were buried in the vicinity of the Alamo, but their exact location was forgotten over time. Legend claims that Seguin collected the ashes and placed them in a casket covered with black. He sent a company of dragoons with me to bring wood and dry branches from the neighboring forests. We respected it as a historical relicand as such its characteristics were not marred by us.. The woodwork all about us was riddled and splintered by lead balls, and what was left of the old altar at the rear of the church was cut and slashed by cannon ball and bullets.. The old house stands, ramshackle and deserted, on East Commerce Street, just a little beyond St. Josephs church. The event is free and open to the public. Although a funeral occurred there occasionally, there was always a strict watch kept for Indian assailants. Lindley (2003), p. 143; Groneman (1990), p. 24. [12], Juan Segun oversaw the 1837 recovery of the abandoned ashes and officiated at the February 25 funeral. Historians Jack Jackson and John Wheat attributed that high figure to Santa Anna's playing to his political base. In 1982, Ozzy Osbourne, while wearing his future wife's dress because she had hidden his clothes, drunkenly urinated on the Alamo Cenotaph. [Note 3] Others who had left intending to return were unable to re-enter. Amid the ruins local guides would point out the spot where Crockett supposedly fell or the room where Mexican soldiers slew Bowie in his sickbed. R.S. We killed Davy Crockett., Its a lesson many Latinos in the state dont learn until mandatory Texas history classes taught in seventh grade. Most historians agree that a few of the defenders were captured but were executed as rebels on the specific orders of Santa Anna. Groneman (1990), p. 49; Moore (2007), p. 100. de la Teja (1991), pp. Columns > Remembering The Alamo I didnt see any kind of indicators that it was Native American or Mexican, but Im only looking at the back of the skull. If Dannings analysis is correct, that would rule out any Mexican soldiers or Indian converts from the mission period. Lindley (2003), p. 144; Todish (1998), p. 81. Many of those were killed by the Mexican army. More, National Cryptologic Museum, Annapolis Junction, Maryland (Feb 27-Mar 5, 2023). Archbishop Arthur J. Drossaerts, who was consecrated bishop of San Antonio in 1918, had read a translated letter written by Seguin in 1889 that told of remains of the fallen being buried in the church, in front of the railing.. Some were native San Antonians of Mexican heritage who were defending their home. The northeast end of one of the pyres extended into the eastern portion of the front yard of what is now the Ludlow House. The bodies had been reduced to cinders; occasionally a bone of a leg or arm was seen almost entire., In 1877, an article titled Extract from a Lecture on Western Texasin the Daily Express indicated the pyres were no longer there. The Battle of the Alamo during Texas' war for independence from Mexico lasted thirteen days, from February 23, 1836-March 6, 1836. Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window), Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window). Hallowed Ground: Site of Alamo Funeral Pyres Largely Lost to History The wind had dispersed the remaining ashes. This Monday, March 6, marks the anniversary of the fall of the Alamo outside of San Antonio, Texas, back in 1836. Nearly 350 rebels were executed in the Goliad Massacre, almost twice as many as were killed at the siege of the Alamo. 7475; Groneman (1990), pp. Todish (1998), p. 81; Hopewell (1994), p. 125; Nofi (1992), p. 131. Issuance was dependent upon the military muster lists and either the veterans or their heirs filing a claim, a process that required an upfront fee to complete. Legend would later credit West with sending word of San Anna's whereabouts to Houston and then entertaining the Mexican general, distracting him enough that Houston's troops swept in at San Jacinto and defeated the Mexican army. The discovery of various skeletons, skulls and bone fragments over the intervening 185 years indicate the disposal of the Texian dead wasnt as neat and tidy as history books generally portray. The Washington Standard / March 2, 2023. Try My Sights, Roadside America app for iPhone, iPad. [7], A fierce defense was launched from within the walls, even as Bowie and Travis made unsuccessful attempts to negotiate with the Mexican army. [19], When the Alamo Cenotaph was created by Pompeo Coppini in 1939, the 187 defender names on the monument came from the research of Amelia Williams,[20] considered the leading Alamo authority of her day. Todish (1998), p. 82; Moore (2007), p. 100. The Battle of the Alamo (February 23 March 6, 1836) was a crucial conflict of the Texas Revolution. Lindley (2003), p. 144; Groneman (1990), p. 32; Moore (2007), p. 100. R.A. Gillespie and Capt. The other pyre was in what is now the yard of Dr. Ferdinand Herff Sr.s old Post, or Springfield House. Illustration of the Battle of the Alamo, San Antonio, Texas, March 6, 1836. Groneman (1990), p. 50; Moore (2007), p. 100; Groneman (1990), p. 51; Lindley (2003), p. 144; Moore (2007), p. 100. The issue is controversial. But the many myths surrounding Texas birth, especially those cloaking the fabled 1836 siege at the Alamo mission in San Antonio, remain cherished in the state. [6] When the Mexican Army of Operations under the command of Santa Anna arrived in Bxar with 1,500 troops on February 23, the remaining Alamo garrison numbered 150. The murky fate of the Texian dead grows murkier after human remains turn up inside the famed San Antonio mission chapel, https://www.historynet.com/skeletons-in-buckskin-at-the-alamo/, Jerrie Mock: Record-Breaking American Female Pilot, When 21 Sikh Soldiers Fought the Odds Against 10,000 Pashtun Warriors. But other cultural groups are opposed to DNA testing on religious grounds. Were they among the remains unearthed by archaeologists in December 2019 and January 2020? Another source of curiosity: reports that charred remains of some defenders may have been interred at San Fernando Cathedral or one of the citys historic East Side cemeteries. Mass Grave of the Alamo Defenders. - Texas Escapes Groneman (2001), p. 1; The Alamo was under Sam Houston's authority as commander-in-chief of the paid army, which included Neill, Bowie, Travis and Crockett. The artist is convinced she found at least one other clue as to the identity of the deceased. I magine if the U.S. were to open interior Alaska for colonization and, for . By most accounts, most or all of the corpses are believed to have been burned along the Alameda, a dirt road running along rows of cottonwood trees, where Commerce Street is now a major thoroughfare downtown. That belief was advanced by Archbishop Arthur J. Drossaerts, based on late recollections of Juan Seguin. Attraction status, hours and prices change without notice; call ahead! Dawn at the Alamo Honors Alamo Defenders' Sacrifice in Commemoration of Among the defenders that day was Davy Crockett, a former . Segun became the first Tejano to serve in the new Republic's Senate. Some Tejanos were part of the Bexar military garrison, but others were part of Seguin's volunteer scout company and were in the Alamo on or before Feb 23. For starters, not all of the defenders remains wound up in Santa Annas funeral pyresa fact generally unknown beyond a small circle of Alamo scholars and enthusiasts. Although there had been previous plans for Alamo monuments, starting in the late 1800s, the Alamo Cenotaph was the first such erected in San Antonio. Their ashes were not interred until almost a year later. A marble sarcophagus in the entry of San Fernando Cathedral has markers nearby, saying it contains the remains of Alamo defenders. This event is so significant in my mind that I always try to devote a column that honors the heroism of these men on or around the anniversary of the occasion. Nor is it at all clear that the Alamos defenders bought time for Sam Houston to raise the army that eventually defeated Santa Anna at the Battle of San Jacinto the following month. Barnes noted that in 1906, August Biesenbach, the city clerk, shared a boyhood recollection of Alamo defenders ashes being moved about a mile east in 1856 for final burial at Odd Fellows Rest.. This is too sad for comment.. The Alamo Cenotaph, also known as The Spirit of Sacrifice, is a monument in San Antonio, Texas, United States, commemorating the Battle of the Alamo of the Texas Revolution, which was fought at the adjacent Alamo Mission. The Ashes of the Alamo Defenders San Fernando Cathedral, 115 Main Plaza, sfcathedral.org After the Battle of the Alamo, the remains of the dead Texians were burned in three funeral pyres on the . The version most Americans know, the Heroic Anglo Narrative that has held sway for nearly 200 years, holds that American colonists revolted against Mexico because they were oppressed and fought for their freedom, a narrative that has been soundly rebutted by 30-plus years of academic scholarship. He led the only Tejano unit present at the Battle of San Jacinto where Santa Anna was defeated, and independence was eventually attained. The lifeless bodies of David Crockett, James Bowie, William Barret Travis and the other Alamo defenders were stacked between layers of wood before being set ablaze. Remembering The Alamo - The Washington Standard The Center for Archaeological Research at the University of Texas at San Antonio attempted to compare written accounts with findings from 1980s and 90s excavations downtown. Todish (1998), p. 89; Groneman (1990), pp.4041; Groneman (1990), p. 42; Moore (2007), p. 100. In time, as we know now, they put away their suitcases and brought out their guns. Groneman (1990), pp. And the battle of the Alamo was not fought to the last man, as many of the defenders of the Alamo escaped. On March 6, 1918, a woman named Adina De Zavala unveiled two marble tablets marking the location of the funeral pyres for the men who died at the Alamo. Hatch (1999), p. 188. Fragments of flesh, bones and charred wood and ashes revealed it in all of its terrible truth, recalled Pablo Diaz, who as a young man had been forced to gather wood that day. In 1846, with the Mexican War raging, Captain James Harvey Ralston moved to transform the ruins of the chapel and adjacent long barrack into a depot for the U.S. Army Quartermaster Department. Meanwhile, further evidence strongly suggests other Alamo defenders may have escaped Santa Annas funeral pyres. The Alamo story takes good, solid, loyal little American kids and it converts them into Mexicans.. Within the cemetery, the memorial is near Central, Summit, and Elm Avenues and is Rhode Island's only memorial to the Alamo. Lindley (2003), p. 143; Groneman (1990), p. 111. DNA tests may provide the answers. Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter. A chain-enclosed 10-foot-square area at Odd Fellows Cemetery on the near East Side is where August Biesenbach, San Antonio city clerk in the early 1900s, recalled Alamo defenders being buried decades earlier, midway between the monuments of two Texas Rangers Capt. Deep down in the debris, Corner wrote, were found two or three skeletons that had evidently been hastily covered with rubbish after the fall, for with them were found fur caps and buckskin trappings, undoubted relics of the ever memorable last stand. He dates the discovery to the 184954 tenure of Major Edwin Burr Babbitt of the Quartermaster Corps, who oversaw the construction of a wooden roof on the chapel, as well as a second floor and the iconic hump atop the Alamo facade. Census data indicates that Latinos are poised to become a majority of the Texas population any year now, and for them, the Alamo has long been viewed as a symbol of Anglo oppression. Groneman (1990), p. 53; Moore (2007), p. 100. The deaths of these "Martyrs to Texas Independence" inspired greater resistance to Santa Anna's regime, and the cry "Remember the Alamo" became the rallying point of the Texas Revolution. 503504; Groneman (1990), p. 101. Scott Huddleston is a veteran staff writer, covering Bexar County government, local history, preservation and the Alamo. Skeletons in Buckskin at the Alamo - HistoryNet By Ned Huthmacher / For the Express-News Show More Show Less 23 of 42 Some Alamo historians believe Juan Segun, a leader in the Texas revolution, took the defenders' ashes from two of three . 2627; Lindley (2003), p. 202. New York's Defenders Of The Alamo - Government of New York Alamo | Description, Battle, & Facts | Britannica U.S. Army Capt. Frontiersman and congressman, his life was portrayed in many exploits during and after his death. When the building was demolished in 1968 for the extension of the paseo del rio, Bill Sinkin and his wife, the building owners then, removed one of the plaques and stored it for safekeeping. Sarah Reveley is a sixth generation German-Texan and native San Antonian with a love for Texas history. We love San Antonio, just like you. Since then, scholars such as Randolph Campbell and Andrew Torget have demonstrated that slavery was the single issue that regularly drove a wedge between early Mexican governmentsdedicated abolitionists alland their American colonists in Texas, many of whom had immigrated to farm cotton, the provinces only cash crop at the time. Arnold guided Colonel Ben Milam's troops. Where Is the Alamo? - WorldAtlas 3637. 374, 377. Jos Toribio Losoya was born in the Alamo barrio on April 11, 1808, only to pass away less than three decades later during the Battle of 1836 defending the Alamo. Lacking a completed claim, proof of service would appear only on a muster list.[25]. Lindley (2003), p. 144; Groneman (1990), p. 8; Todish (1998), p. 76. Three volleys and the blowing of taps ended the ceremony. The family's two-room stone house, an old Indian dwelling that had been deeded to them, was on the Plaza de Valero near the southwest corner of the mission compound. Last edited on 28 February 2023, at 16:08, To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World, List of Texian survivors of the Battle of the Alamo, "Telegraph and Texas Register May 28, 1837", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_Alamo_defenders&oldid=1142115922, Left on March 5 as the final courier sent from the Alamo, First courier sent out after arrival of Mexican troops on February 23, Adjutant of the garrison, next in command after co-commanders Bowie and Travis, Left February 29 as a courier to Gonzales, unable to enter the Alamo, Courier to Goliad and Gonzales, returned March 3, possibly died manning one of the cannons, Co-commander of the garrison after the departure of James. No. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. Purported to hold the ashes of Travis, Bowie and Crockett, some have doubted it can be proven whose remains are entombed there.[14]. Matovina (1995), pp. Juan Seguin held a funeral for the Alamo defenders on Feb. 25, 1837, and is believed to have buried some of their charred remains somewhere near the battle site. Defenders of the Alamo are defined as those who fought and died during the final battle on March 6, 1836. Battle Of The Alamo - HistoryNet Built by Spanish missionaries during the eighteenth century, the Alamo was constructed as mission and fortress for converting Native Americans to Christianity. The Cathedral is about a mile west of the Alamo, facing Main Plaza (the heart of the city), just west of the river, between W. Market and W. Commerce Sts. It was entitled The Spirit of Sacrifice and incorporates images of the Alamo garrison leaders and 187 names of known Alamo defenders, derived from the research of historian Amelia Williams. As you enter Alamo Plaza, you are welcomed by legends with twobeautiful sculpted bronze statues that convey the humanity and heroism of the story of the Alamo. The third attack overwhelmed the defenses of the weak north wall.