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Post by sloanrodgers on Mar 28, 2009 1:57:17 GMT -5
When Colonel Jose Enrique de la Pena's diary/memoir was purchased and donated to my mother's old workplace at the Center for American History I was very skeptical of this document because of its content and especially its mysterious provenance. After reading Lindley's dissection of the memoir I trusted it even less. Over the years as I've studied the Alamo and Texas Revolution in greater detail I've come to believe that Col. de la Pena may have actually written this controversal piece of Texas history.
As some of you may know, Col. de la Pena stated that the Texans had 4 pounders at San Jacinto and that they were sent by 2 young women of Cincinnati. He said that he got this information from Capt. Henry Teal, who was one of the commissioners that delivered Houston and Santa Anna's treaty of armitice on May 29, 1836 to Gen. Vicente Filisola at San Patricio, Tejas. Since Capt.Teal wasn't an artillery man, a San Jacinto veteran and apparently never wrote about the Twin Sisters, I was suspicious of the author's source. He could have simply received this information from an Ohio or New Orleans newspaper. Recently I found a document that directly ties Teal to the San Jacinto Cannon. Although Teal missed the battle due to illness, members of his company helped take the Twin Sisters across Buffalo Bayou to the battleground. One of these soldiers must have told Capt Teal of the correct bore size and origin then he relayed this specification upon meeting Col. de la Pena. I guess this is further proof that the memoir is the genuine article.
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Post by sloanrodgers on Apr 21, 2011 22:16:24 GMT -5
In honor of the 175th Anniversary of the Battle of San Jacinto here is "definitive evidence" that the beautiful iron 6 pounder cannon from all the Texas history books were in reality small ordinary 4 pounders. This document also reveals what happened to the Twin Sisters Cannon after their mysterious disappearance from Austin. They were sent off for repairs in March 1842 to the Houston Armory, where blacksmith Frederick Schierman fitted the muzzles with 4 pounder tampions or plugs to protect the barrels. Two mysteries solved. Notice "Two 4 pdr tompins" (tampions) at the top of the document and "wooden parts of the Twin Sisters" in the center. tslarc.tsl.state.tx.us/repclaims/92/09200308.pdf
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Post by sloanrodgers on May 9, 2011 17:05:19 GMT -5
Well, so much for anniversaries and solving 175 year old mysteries.
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