Post by alamoglenn on Jan 16, 2019 20:00:15 GMT -5
On Jake’s suggestion, I asked Tom Kailbourn and Jim Boylston to create this new board on Alamo architecture. Jake recently rejoined the forum, and he seems interested in posting items from time to time. My hope is also that other members will find this board interesting, for in my mind “architecture” encompasses every aspect of the physical and structural Alamo, church and compound, and all the recent technological studies that are going on there. For example, I think the fresco discoveries and the use of photogrammetry to reveal layers of history should be regarded as part of the Alamo’s architecture I have many questions about that architecture that I plan to post in the future.
I wanted to kick things off with a question about the wooden planks used by the Mexican army to construct the artillery emplacements on the west and north walls and for the ramp and platform in the nave of the church. I’ve long wondered where milled planks could have come from. Well, in discussing this new board with Tom, he pointed out that the planks could have come from the Dupont sawmill in Gonzales before the battle of Bexar. But Gonzales is 75 miles from San Antonio (although I believe the sawmill was 65 miles from the Alamo). That quite a trek that would have involved many round trips of wagons carrying timber to the mill and cut planks from it. Does anyone know of a closer sawmill in 1835?
I’ve toyed with the idea that the Mexican army might have had a portable military sawmill with it in San Antonio, but my own research has not successfully given me any good answers. If we judge from Mark Lemon’s superb diorama, the Mexicans—even with a mill close at hand—must have been sawing and sawing and sawing all the live long day.
And then there’s the question of how those planks were kept in place. We know that the church ramp and platform were probably built on stone rubble, presumably from the demolished arches in the nave. It seems to me that there must have been a layer of packed earth above the rubble. Otherwise how could the planks be kept level? Were the planks secured by simply pressing them into the packed earth or, less likely, simply laid down on the constructed mounds? Surely the Mexican engineers were more adept than that.
I’ve also wondered if, in fact, the ramps and platforms might have been constructed using puncheon timbers rather than milled wood. The result would have been like the corduroy roads built during the Civil War. The Mexicans could have used split rails, much easier to make than milled wood. The curved side of the puncheon could have been pressed into the packed earth and the smooth side would form the basis of level ramps and platforms. This is only speculation on my part. I don’t know of any evidence of this. But I am also unaware of any direct evidence of the Mexicans using milled wood for the artillery emplacements. Maybe someone could enlighten me.
Glenn
I wanted to kick things off with a question about the wooden planks used by the Mexican army to construct the artillery emplacements on the west and north walls and for the ramp and platform in the nave of the church. I’ve long wondered where milled planks could have come from. Well, in discussing this new board with Tom, he pointed out that the planks could have come from the Dupont sawmill in Gonzales before the battle of Bexar. But Gonzales is 75 miles from San Antonio (although I believe the sawmill was 65 miles from the Alamo). That quite a trek that would have involved many round trips of wagons carrying timber to the mill and cut planks from it. Does anyone know of a closer sawmill in 1835?
I’ve toyed with the idea that the Mexican army might have had a portable military sawmill with it in San Antonio, but my own research has not successfully given me any good answers. If we judge from Mark Lemon’s superb diorama, the Mexicans—even with a mill close at hand—must have been sawing and sawing and sawing all the live long day.
And then there’s the question of how those planks were kept in place. We know that the church ramp and platform were probably built on stone rubble, presumably from the demolished arches in the nave. It seems to me that there must have been a layer of packed earth above the rubble. Otherwise how could the planks be kept level? Were the planks secured by simply pressing them into the packed earth or, less likely, simply laid down on the constructed mounds? Surely the Mexican engineers were more adept than that.
I’ve also wondered if, in fact, the ramps and platforms might have been constructed using puncheon timbers rather than milled wood. The result would have been like the corduroy roads built during the Civil War. The Mexicans could have used split rails, much easier to make than milled wood. The curved side of the puncheon could have been pressed into the packed earth and the smooth side would form the basis of level ramps and platforms. This is only speculation on my part. I don’t know of any evidence of this. But I am also unaware of any direct evidence of the Mexicans using milled wood for the artillery emplacements. Maybe someone could enlighten me.
Glenn
