I needed to know if you have a picture of the Alamo [chapel] before they repaired the roof.

Corey Range
Texas

There are several images available of the Alamo chapel before the roof was added by the U.S. Army, but most of these are paintings and are made from a straight-on perspective. There is only one known photograph of the chapel without the roof, but it too is made from this perspective.

Alamo de Parras has several images that show the open roof from alternative perspectives. (From the Main menu, choose "Mission Valero" then choose "Alamo Fort".) This painting was rendered by Theodore Gentilz and shows the entire compound from a slightly elevated angle. Under "Alamo Images" there is a nice interior view by artist Edward Everett.

I would highly suggest that you get a copy of George Nelson's "The Alamo, An Illustrated History". Mr. Nelson has provided some excellent resource material for anyone working on a scale model of the Alamo compound. He has included illustrations of the chapel in various stages of construction and disrepair.

If you aren't near a book store, the book is available through our on-line bookstore.

The Alamo, An Illustrated History

Subject: Alamo Revolvers
Date: 01/04/99
From: Ron D'Ambrosi

 I know that the six shot/pepperbox revolver was created in 1835. Is there a possibility of any revolvers finding there way into the Alamo and used by the defenders?

Ron D'Ambrosi
Brooklyn, N.Y.

The possibility of revolvers being used at the Alamo is remote. To be sure, the double action Ethan Allen pepperbox was patented in 1834 but it was an ungainly and sometimes hazardous handgun (Great Britain had a four-year advantage in pepperbox production) that made it unpractical on the frontier.

The true revolver was patented in 1835, but it wasn't until a year later that Samuel Colt received additional patents (one was coincidentally issued on Feb.25, 1836, during the Siege of the Alamo!) on the highly-regarded first five-shot piece. These New Jersey-made weapons ("Patent Arms Mfg. Co, Paterson,N.J. Colt's Pt.") ranged in caliber from .28 to .36. But, again, the possibility of any of these being west of the Mississippi River in 1836 is highly unlikely.

William Chemerka

Sounds like the six-shooter and Gatlin gun were just a tad late to help at the Alamo, but the latter was almost there at Goliad.  In the words of Kathyrn O'Connor:

"He [Joséph Chadwick] was assisted by Captain Brooks and Polish engineers. It was Brooks who designed a half-moon to the fort, and also he invented an infernal machine, sixty-eight old muskets which Collinsworth had captured in October, and which could all be fired with a single match; an early nineteenth century version of the machine gun fire. What a pity Brooks never had an opportunity to try out his scheme!

Wallace L. McKeehan

Despite the recent Lind poem on the Alamo, [there were] no Colt revolvers at the Alamo. As to them being highly regarded, after Lysander Wells of the Texas Dragoons had his Colt fall apart at the Council House Fight of 1840, an Austin paper started refering to them as Colt's Revolving Wheel of Misfortune. They were too light, did not carry enough punch, and were prone to jam or fall apart on active service. Which is one reason Sam Walker made his design suggestions to Colt in 1846 which led to the vastly improved Colt-Walker Colt in 1847.

A few pepper boxes may have made their way into the Alamo, but did not make a difference. Former Marine Corps Corporal and aide to Colonel Fannin at Goliad, Captain John Sowers Brooks created what one period writer called "an infernal machine".  This was a early flintlock volly gun using surplus musket barrels cut down fired by a common prime trough.  It was placed just inside the salle port of the Presidio La Bahía and was designed to help protect the gateway if it was breeched.  One of the barrels survives
in the collection of the Presidio today, unearthed during the restoration of the site.

Kevin R. Young

Subject: Gates of the Alamo
Date: 01/04/99
From: Ron D'Ambrosi

I have seen, in many documentaries about the Alamo that the Mexican Soldados opened the north wall gate of the Alamo during the final assault. However on many maps drawn of the Alamo in books, I have never seen such a gate. Was there a north wall gate? Were there gates also on the eastern wall/corral/cattle pen and the western wall?

Ron D'Ambrosi
Brooklyn,N.Y.

You may have seen documentaries that used stock film footage from less than accurate Hollywood films. The walls were built for defense and multiple openings would not have been part of their construction. If you'll examine the various maps that were made of the compound (as well as Gary Zaboly's drawings) you'll see no gate opens out from the compound other than the single gate on the southernmost wall that was surrounded by a lunette during the siege.

I would suggest you read Jake Ivey's Excavations at the Western Wall and Southwest & Northwest Wall Gun Emplacements in the Alamo Archaeology section.  Both articles will give you a better idea of how the walls were constructed. Next month we'll be examining the archaeology surrounding the Northern wall.

Randell Tarín

Subject: Convento Well
Date: 01/07/99
From: Larry W. Ricketts

In looking at a 1745 picture of the Alamo [from George Nelson's book, The Alamo an Illustrated History] it shows there being a well in what was called the Convento. This looks to be in the same place as the present day well just outside the long barracks under the oak tree. Is this the same well and was in use through the battle of the Alamo. Also has there every been an excavation of this well.

Larry W. Ricketts
Edinburgh, In.

The existing well is of modern construction. If you'll examine other maps from later periods, such as Navarro, Jameson and Potter, you will notice that this well is conspicuously missing. Also, later photos of the site clearly show that there was no well. My guess is that this was a "proposed" well for the Convento, much the way the San Antonio de Valero chapel was the "proposed" church for the Mission. When the chapel collapsed and mission was abandoned in 1794, more than likely any plans for the well were abandoned too. With the presence of a nearby acequia and the close proximity of the Rio de San Antonio, such a well would have only been necessary in time of siege.

According to Navarro's map, the well that was present during the battle was in the larger compound area and much further to the West. Presently, the city of San Antonio has encroached upon this area. It's doubtful that any excavations will take place in the near future. (Although, there are a few treasure hunters that are waiting like buzzards for the buildings to collapse.)

The Convento area was examined by archaeologists in 1967, but little of military significance was found. In 1995, archaeologist Herb Ucker made an unsuccessful attempt to find the well described on the Green Jameson map. This was located immediately in front of the chapel at the southwest corner of the long barracks. This excavation yielded little more than some interesting geological data and a few mission-period artifacts. So Jameson's well was either incorrectly drawn or was, like the Convent well, only a proposal.

Randell Tarín

The 1772 Inventory of San Antonio de Valero by Frey Pedro Ramirez (see Nelson, page 7) notes:" the convento...is a patio in the center of which is a well with its curbstone and arch surmounted by an artistically carved stone cross..." This is not the same well as is there today(added probably by the US Army in 1846-1850) but there was a well in the center of the Alamo/Valero convento courtyard(where the big oak tree is now).

Kevin Young