Post by bmoses on Sept 12, 2009 21:54:36 GMT -5
Legend
A. Plaza of Arms
B. Main gate; taken on the day of assault by Col. Juan Morales, and completed by Col. José Minon with the active Battalion of San Luis.
C. Ruined church, with cemetery, with a ramp formed in the nave to a high battery of three cannons, named Little Fort Cos. (It was) not very practical because it could be used for firing down only toward the east (and because of) a slight and cumbersome declivity towards the north, this would preclude the gun's being run back after each firing, as the gunners would have to, quite literally, push the gun uphill in order to service it. It could however, be possible to service a gun on such a surface, if the gun was oriented towards the east. The gun in such a position would have been slanted somewhat off level towards the north, but could conceivably be run back and forward again, although at an odd angle.
D. This is the weakest part of the fort. It is defined only by a stockade and a bad tree fall; from this port, in vain, when all was lost some colonists attempted to escape.
E. High barracks with corridor and corral, with its construction and the nearby church, formed the “Caballero Alto” (High Horseman, the tallest part of the fort).
F. Barracks for the troops. Col. José Maria Romero with the Battalions “Jimenez” and “Matamoros” assaulted and entered.
G. Battery of two cannons in the assault, where Col. Dugue was wounded. Gen. Castrillon continued the assault and entered the fort with Battalions of 500 men of Toluca and Zapadores. On the ramp of this batten, Travis, Chief of the Colonists, died like a soldier.
H. This point was intended for assault by Gen. Martin P. Cos, with a column made up of Cazadores, Fusileros of Alameda, and Active of San Luis, but having lost many men, Cos elected an oblique movement made to the right and entered the plaza.
I. (Y) Living quarters provided with loopholes.
J. Circular trenches with ditches and stakes.
K. Ditches that defended the main gate.
L. Hospital – James Bowie died here.
M. Kitchens
N. “Espaldon” (entrenchment or barrier to defend one from attack, a barrier of fagots, basket, bag, etc., to guard the artillery; a half-bulwork, generally of one face and one flank).
O. Well for providing water.
P. Interior ditches and banquettes (walkway behind a parapet).
Q. Site at which 250 bodies of the colonists were burned.
R. Battery under construction on the night of March 4 and finished on the 5th. At this site, the reserve column, made up of the battalions at the direction of Gen. Santa Anna.
S. Beginning position of the first column of Gen. Cos and the direction of its march for the assault.
T. San Antonio River.
V. Battery established in Bejar on the 1st of March.
X. Wood Bridge.
BB. Three iron cannons, dismounted, were encountered in the interior of the Alamo.
1836 - José Juan Sánchez Navarro, “Fuerte de San Antonio de Valero, llamado comunmente del Alamo . . . 1836.” Sánchez Navarro kept a private record in his ledgers detailing his observations both of the siege of Béxar in 1835 and the assault on the Alamo in 1836. In one ledger he drew this plan of the Alamo, identifying the fort's physical components and its defenses, with comments on their relative strengths. Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.