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Now I tell what I know in Texas in my early youth,
(I tell not the fall of Alamo,
the hundred and fifty are dumb yet at Alamo,)
'Tis the tale of the murder in could blood of four hundred and twelve
...........................young men.

Retreating they had form'd in a hollow square with their baggage for
.........................brbreastworks,
Nine hundred lives out of the surrounding enemy's, nine times their
.........................number, was the price they took in advance,
Their colonel was wounded and their amunition gone,
They threated for an honorable capitulation, receiv'd writing and seal,
..........................gave up their arms and march'd back prisoners of war.

They were the glory of the race of rangers,
Matchless with horse, rifle, song, supper, courtship,
Large, turbulent, generous, handsome, proud, and affectionate,
Bearded, sunburnt, drest in the free costume of hunters,
Not a single one over thirty years of age.

The second First-day morning they were brought out in squads and mas-
...............................sacred, it was beautiful early summer,
The work commenced about five o'clock and was over by eight.

None obey'd the command to kneel,
Some made a mad and helpless rush, some stood stark and straight,
A few fell at once, shot in the temple or heart, the living and dead lay
.........................together,
The maim'd and mangled dug in the dirt, the new-comers saw them there,
Some half-kill'd attempted to crawl away,
These were despatch'd with bayonets or batter'd with the blunts of
.............................muskets.

A youth not seventeen years old seiz'd his assassin till two more came
..........................to release him,
The three were all torn and cover'd with the boy's blood.

At eleven o'clock began the burning of bodies;
That is the tale of the murder of the four hundred and twelve young men.

Walt Whitman, Folhas de Erva:Leaves of Grass, vol. I, Maria de Lourdes Guimarães (Trad.), Relógio d'Água, 2002.