Bison Jump Sites in Texas

 

    Native Americans hunted bison in many different ways.  One of the most unusual is called a bison jump.  This is where they caused a herd of bison to stampede over a cliff, killing many as they fell to the ground below.  Although rare, when the right conditions of geography, herd location, etc. existed this carefully planned method could produce an abundance of food which could be dried (jerked) and kept for future use.

    Texas has three known bison jump sites, ranging in time from Paleo-Indian days to historic times.  These sites are described in the following document.

Bisin Jump Sites in Texas  

Peopling the Americas

 Humans are relative late-comers to the Americas. Archaeological and DNA discoveries

during the past decade has presented strong evidence that the first humans were here at least

22,000 years ago, and that they came from Siberia, along the Bering Sea and Northeast Pacific

coast.  This article describes the details of how we know this happened.

Peopling the Americas 

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 

A Line in the Sand in Texas. Fact or Fiction?

About that famous line in the sand that Travis drew at the Alamo. It remains an integral part of Texas mystique.   Is it fact or fiction?   Did it really happen, or is it just a popular legend?   Take a look at the historical record and decide.

 A Line in the Sand in Texas. Fact or Fiction?

What Happened to the Twin Sisters and Their Imposters?

 

    There has been a lot of controversy about what happened to the Twin Sisters, those famous cannons that Sam Houston used at San Jacinto.  Were they buried in Harrisburg?  Were they sent back east after the Civil War?  And what about all of those confusing and conflicting stories about the Twins?

    The real cannons made in Cincinnati for the Texas revolution and used to good effect at San Jacinto ended the Civil War in Brownsville, after which they were given to the Mexican army and briefly used to defend Matamoros, then returned to Fort Brown.  

    The two cannons buried in Harrisburg in 1865 and searched for several times since are probably no longer there.  They were discovered and dug up only four months after they were buried. 

    Click on the following link to check out this historical update on the Twin Sisters and the four other pairs of cannons that were mistakenly though of by many as the real guns of San Jacinto.  

What happened to the Twin Sisters and their imposters? 

The Alamo Pedrero

 

    The largest caliber and perhaps heaviest cannon in the Alamo in 1836 was not the famous 18-pounder.  This gun was especially designed to fire large round stones instead of the usual iron cannon balls.  It was termed a pedrero in Spanish.  It was acquired in 1817 from a grounded ship in Matagorda Bay, left by privateers from Galveston who were aiding in the Mexican rebellion against Spain.  It was taken to San Antonio and remained there until it was mounted and used by the Mexican soldiers in the Siege of Bexar.  The next year it was effectively used by Texans in the initial stages of the Battle of the Alamo.  After over fifty years of being buried it was moved to San Pedro park and placed on public display for four months, then destroyed by pranksters in a Christmas celebration.    Read the fascinating story of this Alamo cannon.

The Alamo Pedrero

Chronology of the Alamo Cannons after 1836

 

    Twenty-one of the cannons used in the Battle of the Alamo in 1836 were later discovered where they had been buried by Mexican soldiers after the battle.  Two were recast into a church bell and replica commemorative pieces. and are with us today in those forms.  A few have been lost.  Most are in the Alamo collection today.  Read the details of exactly what happened to these guns since 1852, and where they are today.

Chronology of Alamo Cannons After 1836 

Mexican North Artillery Battery at the Alamo in March, 1836

 

    Soon after Santa Anna and the forward division of the Mexican army arrived in San Antonio they constructed artillery batteries with which to use to bombard the Alamo.  The first batteries were across the river from the Alamo near Bexar, and east of the Alamo at today's Commerce street, then the Alameda.  On March 3rd additional infantry battalions arrived and a new artillery battery was established north of the  Alamo.   Its purpose was to create a breach in the already weak north wall to allow easier access in an assault, or to convince the defenders to surrender.  The cannonading from this battery did not achieve its objective and the defenders did not surrender, leading to the final tumultuous assault on March 6th.

    Click on the following link to read all about this north Mexican artillery battery.

North Mexican Artillery Battery at the Alamo 

The Yellow Rose of Texas: Teasing the truth from a legend

  One of the most popular Texas legends is about the Yellow Rose of Texas, a young woman who helped win the Battle of San Jacinto and then had a catchy song written about her.  Fortunately, some of the legend is true.  And some was invented in the 1960s by Texas folklore journalists.  Click here to learn all about Emily West, and about that catchy tune we still enjoy!

The Yellow Rose of Texas: Teasing Truth from a Legend 

Mapping the 1759 Parrilla Expedition

 

The Indian attack on the San Sabá mission in 1758 came as a surprise and posed a significant treat to the Spanish authorities.  They had never before seen such a large group of so-called Norteños, with firearms. A year later, a punitive expedition to punish the perpetrators of the mission massacre was led by San Sabá presidial commander Diego Ortiz Parrilla.  They traveled to the Red River and fought a bloody but indecisive battle at the village fort of Tayovayas who, with allied Comanches, were the largest of the Norteño tribal groups.  A diary of this expedition was found in 1979 by Texas historian Robert Weddle while researching in the archives at Seville, Spain.  The document below describes in detail the entire route of the Parrilla expedition, and identifies for the first time the location of a Tonkawa village at a great lake (Wichita Falls and Lake Wichita) which was the first casualty of the Spanish army before the main battle on the Red River.  

Mapping the 1759 Parrilla Expedition  

Two Famous Texas Meteorites: Red River and Wichita County Irons

  Comanches and Taovaya Indians living along the upper Brazos and Red Rivers venerated two meteorites that they knew as magic rocks that could heal illness and ensure victory in battle.  Spaniards first saw them in 1759, then French traders in 1772 and later American traders in 1808.  Ultimately both were removed by Americans.  One, named Red River Iron, was found on the Brazos near Lake Possum Kingdom.  At 1,635 pounds it was the largest known meteorite in the world for many years.  The second, named Wichita County Iron, was placed on top of Medicine Mound by Comanches and was the subject of a painting by George Catlin in 1838.  

Read the fascinating story of the cultural role these meteorites held among the tribes, their find and removal by Americans who thought they were made of valuable platinum, and the subsequent realization that they were actually meteorites and of scientific importance. 

Two Famous Texas Meteorites

Lost Cannons from the Siege of Bexar

      Eyewitness accounts, a community legend, specific artillery inventories before and after the Siege of Bexar, and a detailed count of the cannons in San Antonio on December 10, 1835 at the end of the Siege, all indicate that as many as eight Mexican cannons were rolled into the San Antonio River before daylight on the day the fighting ceased.  They were discovered by city employees in 1911 but not recovered then.  This article provides the historical context for the possibility that these guns are still buried in the river near the Alamo, probably under several feet of silt.  

      Who will mount an expedition to locate them and excavate them for exhibit in the soon-to-be renovated Alamo compound?

Click here for the details.  

Lost Cannons from the Siege of Bexar 

San Antonio Arms and Ammunition in the 1830s

     Several inventories of arms and ammunition in San Antonio at various times in 1835 and 1836 provide clues as to events that occurred with the the Mexican and Texan armies in the Siege of Bexar and the Battle of the Alamo.  Click the link below to read how these inventories can be coupled with other historical archives to tell us more about what went on during those eventful few months at the start of the Texas Revolution.

San Antonio Arms and Ammunition in the 1830s  

Taovaya: From Quivera to the Red River

     The Taovaya were a tribe of Native Americans that lived for over fifty years on the Red River between Texas and Oklahoma, and played an important role in early recorded history of the region.  Their tribal predecessors lived in central Kansas, and were the first American Plains Indians visited by Spanish explorer Francisco de Coronado in 1541.  He named their villages Quivera, having gone there in hopes of finding another province like Mexico and Peru, full of gold and silver.  Soon after moving to Texas in the 1750s, Taovaya joined Comanche allies to attack and destroy the San Saba mission in 1758, then soundly defeated a Spanish army sent to their villages the next year in an attempt at retaliation.  Decimated by European diseases against which they had no natural immunity, they merged into other Wichita tribes in 1811 and lost their distinctive tribal identity.  Today many of their descendants live on their reservation in Oklahoma.

     Click here to learn about these early Texas residents:

Tayovaya: from Quivera to the Red River