I just finished painting 500 Mexican soldiers for my diorama of the Alamo (and trying to be as historically accurate as possible)with white pants, blue jackets and white shakos. This month you have an interesting site with paintings of Mexican troops with dark pants. Most other sources (including all the films) have them in white pants.

What is the most accurate information on the uniforms of the Mexican infantry?

Michael Lynch
California

This was addressed in a previous forum.

See: Mexican Uniforms

Are there any records from the missions days of the Alamo (San Antonio de Valero)? What do they reflect of the daily lives of the priests and people?Are there records for example of baptisms and marriages? Who were the various priests assigned to the mission?

Where are they today?

P.S. Thanks for all your efforts. Deeply appreciated!

Charles J. Erion
Nevada City, Ca.

Most accounts, such as those from Father Olivares and later from Father Miguel de Paredes that describe the evolution of Mission San Antonio de Valero are part of the Bexar Archives (a massive collection of Spanish and Mexican documents related to Texas) at the Center for American History at the University of Texas at Austin.

The clerical records of the mission are fragmentary. The baptismal records of the Alamo de Parras company exist but were incorporated into the records of the San Fernando Church in 1824. The San Fernando records are a wonderful resource and go back to the eighteenth century. Unfortunately, access to them is restricted.

In the 1970's, the archivist of the Bexar County Archives compiled a loose translation of a great many of these births, burials and marriages. A critical appraisal of this work has never been done, but it's generally believed that the translations of many of the entries are inaccurate and some even contrived. For example, an 1836 death record for Alamo defender Gregorio Esparza was added where none exist in the original record. This is unfortunate. Had this been done in a scholarly manner, it would have proved to be an invaluable resource. It can be used as a general index to those records, but can't be trusted for serious documentation. Hopefully, a properly translated and cataloged compilation of the San Fernando records will be done in the future.

Concerning the information on the lifestyles at the mission, most of this is derivative from Valero's sister missions. A good source would be Carlos Casteñeda's "Our Catholic Heritage in Texas,1519-1936" or his translation of Fray Juan Augustin Morfi's "History of Texas, 1673-1779". Unfortunately, both are out of print but can be found if you're willing to pay a huge sum. Much of what we know about Valero has been pieced together through careful archaeological investigation and from civil records that are part of the Bexar Archives.

I have recently seen this forum and I have found some things that caught my eye. Sorry if my English is awful.

I write From: Spain and I have seen some funny translations and words From: Spanish language.

I would like say that the first meaning of "tienda" is shop(The person who works there is a"tendero"). [The] Secondary meaning is tent, most commonly called "tienda de campa­a".

Pabellón could be flag. Other meanings are "bell tent" or a building of a certain size.

I.G. pabellón de oficiales is an officers mess.

I [trust I] have been helpful.

Diego Fernandez

Zaragoza, Spain

[The use of] pabellon as a possible "building" established within the Alamo itself as a temporary headquarters for Santa Anna, e.g., where his officers reported to him the results of the battle etc., in an intriguing possibility. It might add weight to the credibility of Crockett's body being found in a "small fortin" along the west wall, within the roofless northern room of a block of buildings still standing there.

Gary Zaboly

Are there any detailed, specific accounts by the Mexican soldados of any of the deaths of the Alamo defenders?

[Also,] are there any respectable biographies written about the indecisive Colonel James Walker Fannin? Are there any recent biographies written about him? Are there any biographies of him in the works?

Ron D'Ambrosi

Brooklyn, New York

Major George Erath in his memoirs of San Jacinto says:

While reloading my gun after my first fire I choked the ball. A young man named Ed Blakey was mortally wounded higher up the hill; he ran along by my side until he fell; I picked up his gun and shot bag, and threw mine down. The whole Mexican line was in full flight by the time I got a second shot. (Memories of San Jacinto).

What exactly happened that he is referring to in terms of his contemporary weapon used in the battle?

Bellaire, TX

I believe "choked the ball" refers to jamming the ball in the barrel while attempting to ram the round down with the rod. He does not indicate whether or not his weapon was a rifle or smoothbore. If a rife, his patch could have been too thick or large. If a smoothbore (or a rifle), the rounds could have been too large for his weapon or his piece was fouled. Given the weather the day prior and the environment they were in, the later seems highly possible if not probable.

Alan C. Huffines

In Centralista Col.Pedro Delgado's account of the Battle of San Jacinto, he describes two individual Texians whose behavior made a particularly lasting impression on him:

1. But one of our own countrymen, who had joined the enemy's cause, assailed us in our own language with such a volley of threats, insults, and abuse that the tongue of that vile and recreant Mexican seemed to have been wrought in the very caves of hell and set in motion by Lucifer himself. "Now you shall see," he said, "contemptible and faithless assassins, if you do not pay with your vile blood for your murders at the Alamo and La Bahía. The time has come when the just cause that we defend triumphs over you; you shall pay with your heads for the arson, robberies, and depredations that you have committed in our country," etc., etc.

2. Among the Yankees who spoke Spanish a little, and came to talk with, or rather to insult, us, was a hunchback, an inveterate talker. The wretch, who did not measure a yard and a half above the ground, took a wicked pleasure in bringing us stirring and unpleasant news. He boasted much of his gallantry, and when reciting his many acts of prowess the little rascal would say: "Well, did Santa Anna believe that he could trifle with us? Not he! He can, perhaps, fight his own people, because he knows them; and knows also that they are not brave, gallant, and determined as we are. He thought us far away, poor fellow without noticing that we were on his track, keeping him in sight, counting with our spyglasses, on tree-tops, his men one by one, and allowing him to come and entrap himself in this corner with no means of escape, as we had burnt the bridge over the bayou behind him and made our preparations to bag every one of you. If he does not at once sign a treaty putting an end to the war, and removing every Mexican soldier From: our territory, it will cost not only his life but also the lives of all you prisoners." Such was the conversation of our bold little hunchback.

W.L. McKeehan
Belaire, Texas 

I have a Bowie knife from the Franklin Mint that is supposed to be an exact replica of the knife Jim Bowie had with him at the Alamo. The original knife is owned by the Moore family of Texas. The story is that the knife was purchased from a Mexican soldier who had picked it up after the Alamo battle. Does anyone have any additional information on the history/authenticity of this knife?
 

Dennis St. Andrew
Morrisville, North Carolina

The Bart-Moore Bowie is one of many Knives that claim to be the original Knife. The latest information says the knife dates to the early 1830's. I believe it was given to Mr. Moore's father to repay a debt from a man who claimed to have fought with the Mexican army at the Alamo who said he found it after the battle. Whether this particular knife is "THE KNIFE" is unknown, but his claim is probably as good as anyone's.

Your replica, while it may be an exact copy of a period Bowie, can't truly be called an exact copy of Bowie's knife for no one really knows what that knife looked like. Eyewitness accounts at the Sandbar fight called it a big butcher knife. My personal belief is that it most likely resembles the Schively Bowie in the possession of the Mississippi Dept. of Archives and History in Jackson, Miss.

Just wanted to pass along an experience I had recently while attending a function at a Masonic hall in Trenton, N.J. In the hall's lobby was a plaque embossed with the names of famous American Masons under different categories. The one that caught my eye was "At the Alamo." Here are the four names listed: Davey (sic) Crockett, Samuel Colt, Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston. As far as I know, Austin and Houston never set foot in the old girl. The inclusion of Samuel Colt is truly laughable, though he may have been confused with Alamo delegate Samuel Maverick. I'm not a Mason, so I don't know if Maverick was in fact a member.

Steve Hedgpeth
Bristol, Pa.