About noon
`` It was a grand battle . '' `` It was more a slaughter than a battle . You must imagine Santa Anna with two thousand men behind their breastworks , and seven hundred desperate Texans facing them . About noon three men took axes , and , mounting their horses , rode rapidly away . I heard , as they mounted , Houston say to them , ` Do your work , and come back like eagles , or you 'll be behind time for the fight . ' Then all was quiet for an hour or two . About the middle of the afternoon ; when Mexicans are usually sleeping or gambling , we got the order to ` stand ready . '