Another interesting point about the Mexican attack, Uncle Phil. Santa Ana chose to launch it in the wee hours of the morning under cover of darkness. This was clearly done with the hope that the Mexicans could achieve surprise and get close, perhaps even over the walls, before they were detected by the garrison. In this way they could hopefully avoid being under sustained fire in the open where they were most exposed.

The recent movie got it right, and showed the attack as a stealthy night attack. Most of the older movies showed it as a day attack, with the colorful ranks of Mexicans charging gloriously into the Texan guns and dying like flies. As it was, they took very heavy losses anyway, but not as heavy as they would have by attacking in daylight.

Santa Ana's attack appears to have been well planned. The Texan defense appears to have been handled very well also. They reacted quickly and inflicted great damage on the Mexican troops.

The one real puzzle is, why did Santa Ana not wait another 24 hours for his heavy artillery to arrive? If so, he could have knocked down the walls.

He must have been consumed with impatience, I suppose...