The Small Alamo Cannons: swivels and esmeriles

  Three small iron cannons of one-pounder caliber and less were brought to the Alamo around 1762 and mounted over the main gate for defense against a feared Indian attack.  All three remained in San Antonio through 1836.  One was mounted on the roof of the convent and used by the Texans in the 1836 battle.  All three were buried by the departing Mexican army after the battle.  All three were subsequently rediscovered and two are in the Alamo collection today. 

Click here to read about the fascinating history of these three guns.

          The small Alamo cannons  

Missing Cannons Buried Near the Alamo

 

    Six iron 8-pounder cannons were delivered by sea to the La Bahia presidio on the Guadalupe River around 1747.  They were moved to the new location at Goliad in 1749 and appear in several inventories there.  They were moved to San Antonio around 1795 and were noted at that location on several occasions up to and including February, 1835.  They were apparently moved into the Alamo compound during September, 1835, as the Mexican army prepared for the Siege of Bexar, and are lost to the historical record after that.  Some accounts suggest they were left on the ground after the Mexican army departed in May of 1836, and later moved to Sam Maverick's property at the former northwestern corner of the Alamo compound, and buried there.  They have not been discovered, and likely remain buried at that location today.

Missing Cannons buried near the Alamo 

The Bidai and the Coushatta, and Their Trails in Texas

The Bidai were a distinct tribe of Native Americans of broad Atakapan cultural and linguistic stock who, when first encountered by Europeans, were primarily located along the central Trinity River in Texas.  They were among the oldest of the Texas tribes, part of the Mossy Grove Tradition that has been traced back at least 2,000 years.  The Bidai were the most inland, western and northern located of the Atakapan subgroups; others such as the Akokisa and Atakapan proper lived in the coastal region between the Brazos and Achafalaya Rivers.  Bidai commonly visited and traded with other friendly tribes, both among their Atakapan cousins and others, principally the Hasanai or Tejas, who were a subgroup of Caddoan peoples living in eastern Texas near the Angelina River.

The Coushattas and their cousins the Alabamas were originally Eastern Woodland tribes allies within the Upper Creek Confederacy and spoke a Muskogean dialect.  The Alabama tribe first appeared in the historical record in 1541, when they are mentioned in the DeSoto expedition.  Both tribes migrated to Alabama where, in 1714, they were living north Montgomery. They migrated into Louisiana in the 1760s, and by 1770 most lived on the east side of the Sabine River opposite Newton County, Texas.  Some moved to Texas in the 1780s, and at the invitation of the Spanish government most moved to Texas in 1805, living along the Neches and lower Trinity Rivers.

Both tribes developed a network of trails between their villages and the Spanish / American settlements with trading posts.  Click here to learn the details of the Bedai and Coushatta tribes, and their network of trails that later became major entry routes for American colonists moving to Texas.

The Bedai and Coushatta, and their trails in Texas 

 

River crossings and army camps, Columbus, Texas, 1836

  Columbus, Texas, was established in 1836, located on the strategic road built from San Antonio to San Felipe by Byrd Lockhart in 1828.   Key events of the campaign for Texas independence from Mexico played out on the Colorado River near Columbus between March and May of 1836.  There were two primary locations where the Colorado River could be easily forded at low water — Atascosito and Dewees’crossing).  Benjamin Beason operated a crossing service called a ‘ferry’ in which some kind of a boat, from canoe to launch to raft to flatboat, could be used to assist crossings.   

Click on the link below to learn about the road network and the several river crossings and army campsites that existed here in early 1836. 

            River crossings and army camps, Columbus, Texas, 1836 

El Volcan, Santa Anna's Cannon at San Jacinto

     Santa Anna brought one bronze 6-caliber cannon to San Jacinto.  It was used extensively in skirmishes with the Texian army on April 20th, and briefly in the main battle on April 21st.  This cannon was one of nine made in Mexico City in 1778.  After the battle it was moved to Galveston Island, and then mounted on the Texas warship Independence.  This ship and its cannons were captured by two Mexican warships in 1838, and spent the next several years in the service of the Mexican Navy.  Its ultimate fate in unknown.

    This cannon is commonly known today as the Golden Standard, but that name was applied by a Texas historian in the early 1900s and was never known by that name before that time.  Its real name, El Volcan (The Volcano) was inscribed on its barrel when it was made in 1778.

El Volcan: Santa Anna's Cannon at San Jacinto

The "1842 Rio Grande" cannon

  One of the cannons in the Alamo collection today is an iron 8-pounder known as the “1842 Rio Grande Gun”.   Found near Zapata in the 1870, this gun was donated to the Alamo in 1919.  Local lore has long held that this gun was used by the Texans in the Battle of Mier in 1842, but that cannot be factual as the Texas expedition commanded by Alexander Somervell did not bring any artillery to the Rio Grande.  This cannon was not used in the Alamo in 1836, nor in the Mier battle of 1842, but still has an interesting story to tell.

Click on the following link to learn more about this cannon.

The "1842 Rio Grande" cannon 

Tangible Evidence of the 1749 Britain Incident

  A group of Acadians, French exiles from Nova Scotia, were making their way to join countrymen in Louisiana in 1749.  Things didn’t go well for them.  Instead of sailing directly to New Orleans, they ended up at a Spanish fort in Texas where they were held against their will for seven months before being allowed to walk overland to their destination.  This remarkable journey is known as the Britain Incident, after the name of the ship on which they sailed.

During their overland walk one of the Acadians, a young orphan girl named Marie Rose LeJeune, lost a piece of family memorabilia that was found more than two centuries later.  Click on the following link to read about the journey and the artifact that Marie Rose lost.

Tangible Evidence of the Britain Incident