British marched against the American works, and there was a
terrible fight.

"Stand to your guns, my men," said Jackson to his soldiers. "Make every
shot tell. Give it to them."

Many of the men were old hunters from Tennessee, some of whom could hit
a squirrel in the eye, and when they fired the British fell in rows. Not
a man could cross that terrible wall of fire, and they fought on until
twenty-six hundred of them lay bleeding on the field, while only eight
Americans were killed.

That ended the battle. The men were not born who could face a fire like
that. It ended the war also, and it was the last time Americans and
Englishmen ever fought each other. Jackson became the hero of the
country, and he was finally elected President of the United States. I
cannot say that he was well fitted to be President. He was a very
obstinate man, who always wanted to have his own way, and that is better
in a soldier than in a President. But he was one who loved his country,
and when one of the states of the South sought to secede from the Union,
Jackson, though he was a son of the South himself, quickly gave the
seceders to understand that he was a general as well as a President, and
that no state should leave the ranks of the Union while he marched at
its head.

CHAPTER XIX

HOW THE VICTIMS OF THE ALAMO WERE REVENGED

I HAVE told you the story of more than one war. I shall have to tell you
now about still another in which the Americans fought the Mexicans in
Texas.

I suppose you know that Texas is one of our states, and the largest of
them all. That is, it is largest in square miles; not in number of
people. In former times it was part of Mexico, and was a portion of what
is called Spanish America. But there came to be more Americans in it
than Spaniards. People kept going there from the United States until it
was much more of an American than a Spanish country.

General Santa Anna, who was at the head of the Mexican government at the
time I speak of, was somewhat of a tyrant, and he tried to rule the
people of Texas in a way they would not submit to. Then he ordered them
to give up all their guns to his soldiers, but instead of that they took
their guns and drove the Mexican soldiers away. After that there was
war, as you might well suppose, for a Mexican army was sent to punish
the Texans.

I wish now to tell you about what happened to some very brave Americans.
There were only one hundred and seventy-five o