According to many accounts of the battle, between five and seven Texians surrendered.Incensed that his orders had been ignored, Santa Anna demanded the immediate execution of the survivors.[129] Weeks after the battle, stories circulated that Crockett was among those who surrendered.[128] Ben, a former American slave who cooked for one of Santa Anna's officers, maintained that Crockett's body was found surrounded by "no less than sixteen Mexican corpses" Historians disagree on which version of Crockett's death is accurate.
Santa Anna reportedly told Captain Fernando Urizza that the battle "was but a small affair".[132] Another officer then remarked that "with another such victory as this, we'll go to the devil".[Note 17][2] In his initial report Santa Anna claimed that 600 Texians had been killed, with only 70 Mexican soldiers killed and 300 wounded.[133] His secretary, Ramón Martínez Caro, later repudiated the report.[134] Other estimates of the number of Mexican soldiers killed ranged from 60–200, with an additional 250–300 wounded.[2] Most Alamo historians place the number of Mexican casualties at 400–600.[2][3][4] This would represent about one-third of the Mexican soldiers involved in the final assault, which Todish remarks is "a tremendous casualty rate by any standards".[2] Most eyewitnesses counted between 182–257 Texians killed.[135] Some historians believe that at least one Texian, Henry Warnell, successfully escaped from the battle. Warnell died several months later of wounds incurred either during the final battle or during his escape as a courier.[136][137]
Mexican soldiers were buried in the local cemetery, Campo Santo.[Note 18][133] Shortly after the battle, Colonel José Juan Sanchez Navarro proposed that a monument should be erected to the fallen Mexican soldiers. Cos rejected the idea.[138]
The Texian bodies were stacked and burned.[Note 19][133] The only exception was the body of Gregorio Esparza. His brother Francisco, an officer in Santa Anna's army, received permission to give Gregorio a proper burial.[133] The ashes were left where they fell until February 1837, when Juan Seguín returned to Béxar to examine the remains. A simple coffin inscribed with the names Travis, Crockett, and Bowie was filled with ashes from the funeral pyres.[139] According to a March 28, 1837, article in the Telegraph and Texas Register,[140] Seguín buried the coffin under a peach tree grove. The spot was not marked and cannot now be identified.[141] Seguín later claimed that he had placed the coffin in front of the altar at the San Fernando Cathedral. In July 1936 a coffin was discovered buried in that location, but according to historian Wallace Chariton, it is unlikely to actually contain the remains of the Alamo occupiers. Fragments of uniforms were found in the coffin, and it is known that the Alamo occupiers did not wear uniforms.[140]
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