still about 250 miles short of the final destination of San Antonio. They boarded sixty-five soldiers and two cannon onto the steamer ’’Laura’’, which took them upstream on the Brazos. This still left a substantial overland journey through Victoria and Goliad, where the company acquired horses. Once they reached San Antonio, they lingered for a few weeks, where they continued to train for an assault. Ward learned to fire the cannon and was promoted from private to lieutenant. On December 5, the Texas forces launched an attack devised by Ben Milam. With a cannon sortie on the Alamo to distract the Mexican defenders east of the San Antonio River, the Texians’ assaulted the town with two division from the north marching into San Antonio on parallel streets. Ward was attached to a force of seven companies led by Milam, and Francis Johnson was in command of the other group made up of eight infantry companies. The Texians assembled hours before sunrise. The artillery company attached to Milam’s command hauled two cannon. The feint started at 5 a.m. with the firing of a third cannon from another direction. The attackers stormed two houses near the main plaza to use for cover, but faced Mexican rifleman and seven artillery pieces. The two Texian cannons were targets for the counterattack, and Ward was hit by a cannon ball while defending the twelve-pound piece, shattering his right leg. The injury called urgently for amputation. Under primitive camp conditions, Albert Levy, the surgeon for the New Orleans Greys, sawed off Ward’s leg and wrapped the wound shut with excess muscle and skin. Survival rates for this type of operation were sixty percent under the best of conditions. Ben Milam died from rifle fire during the assault and legend has it that Milam's body and Ward's leg were buried in the same grave. Ward’s biographer, David C. Humphrey, claims that this story is recorded for the first time in Texas: Her Resources and Her Public Men, published in 1858. This book included a brief biographical entry about Ward. In addition to the legend of Ward’s right leg, this is the source of the claims that Ward was an organizer of the Grays and that he was in command of his artillery unit. Humphrey disputes these characterizations. While recovering from the amputation, however, Ward traveled overland to Velasco and sailed for New Orleans. Eventually he healed enough