<P> Although some in the front of the Mexican ranks wavered, soldiers in the rear pushed them on . As the troops massed against the walls, Texians were forced to lean over the walls to shoot, leaving them exposed to Mexican fire . Travis became one of the first defenders to die, shot while firing his shotgun into the soldiers below him, though one source says that he drew his sword and stabbed a Mexican officer who had stormed the wall before succumbing to his injury . Few of the Mexican ladders reached the walls . The few soldiers who were able to climb the ladders were quickly killed or beaten back . As the Texians discharged their previously loaded rifles, however, they found it increasingly difficult to reload while attempting to keep Mexican soldiers from scaling the walls . </P> <P> Mexican soldiers withdrew and regrouped, but their second attack was repulsed . Fifteen minutes into the battle, they attacked a third time . During the third strike, Romero's column, aiming for the east wall, was exposed to cannon fire and shifted to the north, mingling with the second column . Cos' column, under fire from Texians on the west wall, also veered north . When Santa Anna saw that the bulk of his army was massed against the north wall, he feared a rout; "panicked", he sent the reserves into the same area . The Mexican soldiers closest to the north wall realized that the makeshift wall contained many gaps and toeholds . One of the first to scale the 12 - foot (3.7 m) wall was General Juan Amador; at his challenge, his men began swarming up the wall . Amador opened the postern in the north wall, allowing Mexican soldiers to pour into the complex . Others climbed through gun ports in the west wall, which had few defenders . As the Texian defenders abandoned the north wall and the northern end of the west wall, Texian gunners at the south end of the mission turned their cannon towards the north and fired into the advancing Mexican soldiers . This left the south end of the mission unprotected; within minutes Mexican soldiers had climbed the walls and killed the gunners, gaining control of the Alamo's 18 - pounder cannon . By this time Romero's men had taken the east wall of the compound and were pouring in through the cattle pen . </P> <P> As previously planned, most of the Texians fell back to the barracks and the chapel . Holes had been carved in the walls to allow the Texians to fire . Unable to reach the barracks, Texians stationed along the west wall headed west for the San Antonio River . When the cavalry charged, the Texians took cover and began firing from a ditch . Sesma was forced to send reinforcements, and the Texians were eventually killed . Sesma reported that this skirmish involved 50 Texians, but Edmondson believes that number was inflated . </P> <P> The defenders in the cattle pen retreated into the horse corral . After discharging their weapons, the small band of Texians scrambled over the low wall, circled behind the church and raced on foot for the east prairie, which appeared empty . As the Mexican cavalry advanced on the group, Almaron Dickinson and his artillery crew turned a cannon around and fired into the cavalry, probably inflicting casualties . Nevertheless, all of the escaping Texians were killed . </P>

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