Excavations at the Alamo Shrine [page 6]
population had reached 311 persons. The Indian housing at this time consisted of two rows of small houses (adjoining apartments), with adobe walls and grass thatch roofs forming a row on either side of an acequia (water ditch), and the whole complex was to be surrounded by a wall (Chabot, 1931:62; Fox, Bass, and Hester, 1976:3).
The mission church, which was under construction and nearly completed by 1757, began to crack because of poor workmanship; and by 1762 the twin towers, arched roof, Moorish dome, and upper walls had collapsed. As will be described later, a new and better-constructed church, the one standing today, was subsequently built.
In 1762, there were 275 persons, representing seven different Indian groups, at the mission (Schuetz 1966:22-24). At this tie, or by 1765, the mission pueblo is described as having "30 houses of adobe" and there were an undisclosed number of other houses of temporary character (Fox, Bass, and Hester 1976:4). What is probably meant here is that 30 Indian apartments were on the inside of the quadrangle forming around the plaza and probably also within the plaza area (Fig. 1). There was also a large granary, a two-story convento complex with its own patios, and workshops. The entire area was enclosed within a high wall, and there was a main gate entrance on the south side over which was a small fortified tower (Fig. 1).
In 1772, the control of Mission San Antonio de Valero was transferred from the College at Queretaro to the Franciscan College of Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe de Zacatecas (Leutenegger, 1977; Webb, 1952:II,568). The mission architectural complex at this time had stabilized at its ultimate development. Then, in 1793, in compliance with a royal decree issued the previous year, Mission San Antonio de Valero, along with the other missions which had been established downstream on the San Antonio River, were secularized. The mission records were transferred to the Villa de San Fernando church archives, and the mission lands distributed to the resident mission Indians. This ended the role of the Alamo as a mission. Later the building complex would serve other needs.
After Mission San Antonio de Valero was secularized and abandoned, the buildings were stripped of usable items such as doors and locks (Chabot, 1941:14). The buildings were essentially unoccupied until 1802 when, as a result of renewed French threat on the eastern frontier, the Flying Company of San Carlos de Parras del Alamo, a Spanish cavalry unit, occupied the old ruins (Smith, 1967:8). Evidently the old mission complex became known as the l'Alamo" during this occupation. In 1805, a military hospital, the first in Texas, was established at the Alamo; and by 1810 a considerable amount of repairs and structural additions had vastly improved the living and defense conditions of the complex (Nixon, 1936:17, 27-28).
At this time the Mexican Independence movement was underway south of the Rio Grande and was soon to be felt in Texas. On January 21, 1811, a group of Mexican rebels led by Juan Bautista Casas took control of the Alamo and set up operations headquarters. The following year a larger rebel force, under the leadership of José Gutierrez and William Magee, entered Texas from Louisiana. After a series of victorious encounters with Spanish troops, they arrived at San Antonio de Bejar on April 2, 1813, and occupied the Alamo (Garrett, 1939:39-40,178; Fox, Bass, and Hester, 1976:8).