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