cje
Full Member
Posts: 60
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Post by cje on Apr 29, 2012 19:45:32 GMT -5
Am I right in understanding that the north wall-eastern end was finally breached on March 5th?
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Post by Allen Wiener on Apr 29, 2012 20:27:07 GMT -5
I'm not convinced there ever was a real breach, as in a hole in the wall. The wall was weakened and repeatedly shored up during the nights by the defenders. It had been shored up with wooden beams of some kind in some arrangement and soldados were able to literally climb up those beams and over the top, not through an opening in the wall. At least, that's how I understand the info we've got.
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Post by Herb on Apr 29, 2012 23:04:11 GMT -5
Thanks to Tom Kailbourn's translation of Ampudia's (the Mexican artillery commander) cover letter on his report to Santa Anna, we have first hand evidence that no breech was made in the north wall. Ampudia states that he failed to open a breech due to a shortage in munitions.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Apr 29, 2012 23:19:03 GMT -5
Thanks Herb; I don't recall seeing that document, but it may be where I got the idea from. Is there a link to it here on ASF?
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Post by TRK on Apr 30, 2012 6:43:55 GMT -5
Alamo Journal 159 (Dec. 2010)
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Post by Allen Wiener on Apr 30, 2012 8:03:34 GMT -5
Thanks Tom!
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Post by jmolini on Apr 30, 2012 10:42:23 GMT -5
Good morning..Moe here...I have been intrigued by the North Wall for quite a while..have thought that the renditions of it somehow seemed incomplete....enjoyed the back and forth between Misters Zaboly and Lemon in Alamo Journal and the exchanges between Zaboly and others here on the site...and find Zaboly's book interesting...my question is: is there a book that describes in somewhat greater detail what Cos did to fortify the Alamo from October to December of '35?
thanks
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Post by loucapitano on Apr 30, 2012 10:48:36 GMT -5
I often like to trace the manner in which conclusions about the Alamo (and virtually every other military event) get started. Since very little of the early history of the Alamo seige included Mexican sources, it appears most observations came from the Anglos occupying San Antonio. I especially note the careful military map drawn by R. M. Potter a few years later and the famous mural by Theodore Gentilz in 1885 both noting the North Wall breach. And, of course, John Wayne points to the breached North wall as the point of entry and defeat. Current research indicates that the North Wall was apparently always in a state of disrepair and both General Cos and the Texans did all they could to shore it up with dirt and timbers. I suspect that by the time Potter made his map, the timbers had disappeared and a gaping breach in the eastern end of the wall was all that could be observed. Since there was agreement that the North wall was the focus of the assault and the largest point of entry, it was not a stretch for Potter and Gentilz to conclude the breach was ultimately the fatal flaw in the defense. The most recent issues of the "Alamo Journal" has been back and forth over how the shoring up of the wall was actually accomplished. Their is a lively discussion as to whether the outer timbers were laid horizontally or vertically and good arguments support either view. I would not be surprised if it turned out both methods were used, along with a lot of dirt. Thanks for the wonderful additions Mr. Kailbourn gave us in issue 159 of the Alamo Journal.
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Post by Herb on Apr 30, 2012 13:36:05 GMT -5
One of the problems is our usage of the word breech, most of us are guilty of using breech when talking about the Mexicans army penetrating the Texan lines at the North Wall, when technically the word means a physical gap in the wall or obstacles.
Where Potter shows the physical breech was actually the site of a building. As almost none of the immediate post battle drawings depict this building, it would seem that it may have been so damaged that Andrade had the building pulled down, perhaps as early as when he was rebuilding the defenses (for building materials - we did this in Bosina). In any case when ordered to evacuate Bexar, Andrade destroyed all fortifications and pulled down all the free standing walls.
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Post by Paul Sylvain on Apr 30, 2012 18:28:43 GMT -5
I believe a lot of folks draw many of their often mistaken conclusions about Alamo events from populat culture, such as movies and such. Look at how many people visit the Alamo today and still think the Alamo was no more than just the "shrine". If they saw it in the Waynamo or the 2004 film, by golly, it has to be fact. The vision of soldatos pouring in through a gaping hole in the North Wall is just accepted as fact. I'm just as guity of that as they are --- or was --- until coming here.
Paul
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