Reenacting at the Alamo

[Birdwatcher]

A GREAT weekend 8)

First, on Friday, the famous Travis "Victory or Death" letter was returned to the Alamo for the first time since it was sent out, 177 years ago.... 8)

Having the right duds, I got to be on the honor guard. Here is a very good picture which I aint' in from the newspaper, actually, me and another nine guys were lined up offscreen to the left. Very well done, with a pretty accurate Texian and Tejanos on eitgher side of the main entrance....

Next day, Saturday, the other folks at the San Antonio Living History Assiciation went all out (I'm a new member, but cannot claim any credit for the preparation here).

Here we are lined up next to the Alamo in the morning, about to be piped in...

Thats me in grey behind the guy with the New Orleans Greys flag: Black wool felt hat blank from Chas Townsend. Fustian hunting frock and cotton pants, both from Crazy Crow, both dyed grey with sumac berries and copperas. Elk hide center seam mocassins from Chaz Townsend w/added sole on bottom. Fingerwoven sash from suttler's row at Ticonderoga or Friendship (fergit which), leather shooting bag from Ti, cheapo ball bag from the flea market. Sort-of fowler from TVM, now a "smooth rifle parts gun" with the addition of a rear sight.

Here we are marching in, actually I'm 5'6", I just look half-scale in comparison to these other guys....

Birdwatcher

 

[Birdwatcher]

The "wall" of the Alamo, courtesy of SALHA...

The two cannon crews were awesome, here's a great pic of the howitzer going off....

...and the wall during the intitial "siege"....

Ain't many pictures of me here, I was given the speaking part of Launcelot Smither, who had the immortal line of "Mexicans? There couldn't possibly be any Mexicans around here....", and ol' Launcelot was given the first message to carry out (the Mexicans didn't get him until '42, Woll's men). After carrying the message I went around back, into the tent, and came out as someone else to add my firepower to the wall.

Here I is in the foreground, about to join the action....

Thats a sumac-dyed linen cloth tied around my head, and a Chas Townsend wool vest. Actually I ain't as well-tailored as the other guys, but I think I err on the side of autheticity here. I will say I'd highly recommend the sumac/copperas mordant dye as being both easy and positive. So easy in fact that I wonder if THAT weren't the real Confederate "butternut" back then.

Birdwatcher

 

[Birdwatcher]

Who really deserves credit were the Mexicans....

The guy in the middle (a Preacher from Laredo is the same guy who was the Tejano at the door of the Alamo in the newspaper pic the day before....

The young guys are musicians in a rock band up by Dallas, the older guy a SALHA member filling in as drummer.

This here was Santa Anna, a local, who also play Cos at the Battle of Bexar...

They deserve credit on account of while being a Texian or Tejano is sort of a laid back, individualistic, hey-look-at-me-be-cool sort of endeavor, the Mexican regulars had to be stiff and formal much of the time..

Even better part for me came later in the day; they were a man short at the Alamo for their eveing candlelight tours where I was asked to be a character in the Texian camp; perfect weather, bright moonlight, good company on the grounds of the Alamo.

Birdwatcher

 

[erock1980]

Awesome!

 

[Trench]

This is great! Are the Mexican regulars a local group? The look great.

 

[Birdwatcher]

Embarrassing to relate, the exact name of the Soldados group escapes me. They are a local organization with participating members coming in from as far away as Dallas and Laredo. All can also play Tejanos as needed.

During the evening tours of the Alamo they were outstanding, serenading the visitors with traditional Spanish ballads from their camp. I must say they handily outclassed us unwashed Texians in that respect :grin:

Birdwatcher

 

[BillinOregon]

BW: Fine stuff! Saw this over on FF, too. Singing traditional Spanish ballads: how cool is that?

:applause:

 

[Birdwatcher]

Took a day off of work yesterday to take part in the anniversary of the battle.

In this pic we were lined up preparing to fire a volley at the close of an afternoon ceremony wherein the many separate origins of the Alamo defenders were recognised, with an Army contingent presenting each flag in turn.

At the start of the ceremony myself and the three gentlemen to my right had presented the two flags known to be flying over the Alamo, the two-star Coahila y Tejas flag and the New Orleans Greys flag....

This in front of a crowd among whom my buddy put it were "several full-bird Colonels". NOT a situation to fumble the drill.

So the guy in red, also skilled on the bagpipes and an active reenactor of several eras, happens to be an active-duty Coastie, and ran us through a few repetitions of circa 1830's drill commands. Hence my posture...

Now here's something really extra-double cool.

This is a replica of the 18 pounder used by Travis to fire the defiant shot in reply to Santa Anna's demand for surrender...

Here it is again set up outside the Alamo, you can see it behind me in this pic taken before dawn at the hour of the battle, us preparing to fire a volley....

...and another view from the 'net of it being set up...

I was speaking to one of the gentlemen responsible for bringing it, its a fiberglass movie prop from the 2004 Alamo movie with a steel insert for pyrotechnics.

Prop as it is, it looked magnificent set up in that context.

But here's the really cool part. The gentleman told me they've priced getting a real one made, of iron, to sit in front of the Alamo permanently...

Just $35,000...

I was told there's a campaign on Facebook called "Come Here and Make It" soliciting the funds, soon to have an online website.

Heck, at that price, oughtta be a slam dunk...

Birdwatcher