Should my order go forth to man the fort, and meet the worst, I know full well not a murmur would be heard.

Still it is equally certain that, if we brave the conflict, not one of us shall survive to tell the tale.

What am I to do?
Make this a second Thermopylae ?" "Peculiarly painful, I know full well, is the situation in which you are placed.

Yet one strong argument remains to be urged.

Colonel, if we desert Goliad, and sound a retreat, we cannot escape.