North Courtyard question

[boba]

My question is "where any excavations ever done in the vicinity of the latrines?This is not a trick question.I know from past experience and from talking to other amateur archeologists ,some interesting items were often thrown into latrine or outhouse ditches besides the usual "deposits".I'm sure that during the cleanup of the Alamo after the battle,the soldato's probably chucked plenty of unwanted items into the ditches ...just wondering..bob

[Rich Curilla]

OMG! Maybe we've found the Bowie Knife!

[Rich Curilla]

Seriously, Bob, the Schuetz dig of 1973 is the only one that seems to have been done in that portion of the courtyards. I assume this from a map of digs for the Alamo showing dates and names. Unfortunately, I have no further information on its findings.

[Hollowhorn]

See here for more info

[Rich Curilla]

Sept 6, 2012 4:53:10 GMT -5 Hollowhorn said:

See here for more info

Great! I wonder what those four room foundations revealed.

[boba]

A question I would like to ask is "were there any shelters or stables built against the east walls of the granary and convent for the livestock?I believe that I saw a leanto type structure in a diagram of the Alamo in the north courtyard.It was years ago and I don't recall the book or author.It seems logical that one would have been erected to get the animals out of the weather.....bob

[Rich Curilla]

Here is my interpretation of the cattle pen, or north courtyard.

1) Looking N.N.E. from the roof of the hospital.
2) The eastern courtyards looking west.
3) The N.E. corner of the cattle pen. A brass 6-pounder fires "en barbette" over the 4.25 foot stone wall. Putting water in the outwork trenches was my choice due to the heavy rains they seem to have gotten in the area a day or two before Santa Anna arrived. If it was enough to put the Medina River at flood stage the night of February 21, stop the George Washington Fandango on the 22nd., and flood the acequia behind the Alamo, it was enough to put water in the ditches that might have lasted to March 6.

[Rich Curilla]

1) I used Mark Lemon's concept for the "comunes" (the latrines) on the eastern side of the cattle pen but gave them the dignity of a shed roof, as I'm sure any long term residents of the mission would certainly have done.
2) The roof slants down from the back, and I have provided windows at the highest point to aid in drawing air currents from front to back.
3) It seem, however, that at least that cow has gotten a whiff.

[Rich Curilla]

1) The bronze six-pounder in the cattle pen aimed at Santa Anna's N.E. Battery.
2) Santa Anna's N.E. Battery aimed at the Alamo. Four cannon and two howitzers (I haven't added the second one yet). Notice how prominent the two-story hospital is from this angle. Easy pickin's for Ampudia.

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[Rich Curilla]

1) I have indicated major damage on the N.E. corner of the 2-story hospital as the result of Santa Anna's bombardment and cannonade from his N.E. battery.




2 & 3) Both Lysander Wells and Mary Maverick depicted the left upstairs window as being white -- Wells going so far as to show remains of the back or side wall through the window. My conclusion from all this is that there is the possibility that the whole upstairs hospital was evacuated during the siege do to the bombardment. Jameson, of course, indicated that the second floor of the Long Barrack was the hospital, but not one primary battle account mentions a hospital upstairs, just the downstairs hospital in the low barrack and its wing.

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[stuart]

Some useful illustrations there Rich. I don't really see a problem with the location of the hospital. Before the siege began the sick were presumably located upstairs for the sake of the light and air, but then as your illustrations show once it began they were going to be a touch exposed and so it would then have been sensible to bring them downstairs.

[Rich Curilla]

Oct 5, 2013 5:05:12 GMT -5 stuart said:

Some useful illustrations there Rich. I don't really see a problem with the location of the hospital. Before the siege began the sick were presumably located upstairs for the sake of the light and air, but then as your illustrations show once it began they were going to be a touch exposed and so it would then have been sensible to bring them downstairs.

Indeed. Or "Can you catch a cannon ball?"