What swords might have been used at the Alamo battle?

[fernando]

Originally Posted by kronckew

...The San Jacinto Battle site, Its Museum, and the nearby Battleship USS Texas (BB-35) are well worth visiting, and the traffic is probably a lot less than the Alamo...

Yes indeed, Wayne. Visiting the Sky-High Monument and the Battleship were unforgettable experiences. Interesting, Museum too.

[Jim McDougall]

Thank you Wayne! Outstanding detail!!
Thats great abut George Hockley and his carrying a Starr saber at San Jacinto. He was a Colonel and apparently in command of the emplacement with the 'Twin Sisters', the cannon that provided decisive support in the battle.

This well illustrates the fact that many weapons found use in these campaigns, from many sources. I recall once someone in the museum in Austin asking why British M1821 sabers were found at San Jacinto.......these had clearly come with 'the package' as the huge volume of surplus British guns were sold to Mexico in 1820s. It is surprising that more 1796s didnt turn up .

Another item that seems to come up in these contexts are the M1832 foot artillery sword, a 'gladius' type brass hilt thing that was lousy as a weapon but used more as a tool. In post #2 (Fernando_) in the swords shown one is seen at top, and apparently cut down blade.

The San Jacinto 'Bowie' photos have one with turned back pommel (hook like). This seems to correspond to some espada anchas attributed to Potosi regions north of Mexico City (Adams, 1985).

One source notes that the relative scarcity of the Starr sabers is because of the 'Bowie' knife rage post Alamo, where many of these (along with numbers of full size swords) had blades cut down to become full hilted frontier knives.
This was undoubtedly of course the origin of the familiar "Confederate Bowie" with its hilt with knuckleguard.
Notice that it seems the M1832 brass hilt artillery swords were often cut down in this fashion.

Again, while we cannot be certain of what swords were in the hands of the defenders at the Alamo at that final seige in 1836, by seeing the assortment of assembled sword forms in circulation overall in these events during the Texian Rebellion gives us a good idea of what they might have been.

The first illustration: The British M1821 light cavalry saber. These branched hilts had become favored in Europe by this time, and Mexican sword hilts followed accordingly in the 1820s(see post #10).
Next" the brass hilt M1832 infantry/artillery sword, of gladius form following the neo classic French favor.
The 'Bowie' from San Jacinto.
The 'Potosi' form of espada ancha with turnback pommel (as included in my article on espada anchas (2023, Stockholm).

[Hotspur]

1830s U.S. militia. There were a great many 1826 Bavarian looking swords listed as Mexican and even some in the states. The sabres quite common but some straight, This one marked to Horstmann, in his new NYC shop. The unmarked brass dove head sabres quite ubiquitous. Eagles galore by the 1830s

A Starr 1818 nco at the top of the racks

Santa Anna's troops had briquet

Basically any sword made before the conflict might have been involved.

Cheers
GC

[Jim McDougall]

Wanted to bump this, and hope to bring perhaps some new views.
One thing I seem to have overlooked is that there was a large volume of the M1796 light cavalry sabers which became surplus after the end of the Napoleonic campaigns. Also in 1821, about the time the new model light cavalry sabers were introduced, Great Britain was selling off huge numbers of guns to the Mexican army. In these notable transactions there was likely a degree of other weapons including swords which may have gone into Mexican context.

Texas in these times was of course part of Mexico, and in the American frontiers it is known M1796 sabers were known, even being used by numbers of Indian tribes.

While not of great significance overall, it is just a matter of curiosity on what swords, however few, might have been at the Alamo. As has been noted, the Starr sabers of 1812 are known to have been in use by Texians in the campaigns of 1835-36, so it seems possible that a few were there.