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Figure
3. Plano del Fuerte del Alamo by José Juan Sánchez-Navarro
Figure
4. Map drawn for Santa Anna in March 1836 by Colonel Ygnacio de Labastida, Commander
of Engineers. who was a prominent businessman and land speculator, began to purchase property along the north side of the Alamo. He bought the north half of the western wall from María Castañeda, the widow of Lieutenant Francisco Castañeda who had commanded the Compañía Volante during the war. The Castañedas had lived in one of the reconditioned Indian houses of the old mission since at least 1825 (Bexar County Deed Records [BCDR], Bexar County Courthouse, San Antonio, Texas, Volume F1:206; A2:415). Lieutenant Castañeda commanded the small force sent to Gonzales to retrieve the cannon in the hands of the colonists, an incident which had triggered the active hostilities of the Texas Revolution (Webb 1952: I:306). The Castañeda house became the residence of the Mavericks while Samuel built a new house on the northwest corner of Alamo Plaza (Green 1952:349).