Historic Alamo cannons stop in Bastrop
Two state icons converged recently at the intersection of Texas 71 and Texas 95 in Bastrop, leaving some drivers bewildered by a curious sight.
Two of the Alamo’s historic cannons were parked at the Bastrop Bucee’s on their return trip to San Antonio after receiving extensive conservation work at the Texas A&M Conservation Research Lab in College Station, where they had been since February.
“An Alamo cannon tradition — a pit stop at Buc-ee’s for gas and beaver nuggets!” read a post on the Alamo’s Facebook page.
The two battle cannons — a 12-pounder carronade and a small swivel cannon — are the second pair to return to the San Antonio mission as part of the Remember the Alamo Battle Cannons Campaign, a preservation initiative launched last year funded in part by donations and a GoFundMe page. To date, the campaign has raised more than $20,000 for conservation of the Alamo’s seven cannons.
The process can take up to eight weeks depending on the cannon’s size and condition, said the Alamo’s curator and historian, Bruce Winders. First, the cannons are physically cleaned of any dirt or loose rust, then put in a water bath where they undergo electrolysis. They are then put in a vat of hot microcrystalline wax to seal the metal and give it a deep protective coating, along with a coat of paint, so they can be touched by the public.
“We’re trying to restore a lot of the aspects of the Alamo and the cannons specifically,” said Kevin Femmel, content editor with Alamo Trust, the nonprofit that manages daily operations. “It’s kind of a slightly newer thing; it’s the first time we’re restoring these specific cannons.
The carronade dates back to the 18th century, Winders said, while the swivel cannon “appears to be pre-Civil War,” and wasn’t present during the Alamo siege.
“This is an important project because it is making us think of the human element of these cannons. After all, history is a human endeavor,” Winders said.
The first pair of cannons to be sent to Texas A&M — known as the Rio Grande Cannon and the Spanish Cannon — contained a surprise for researchers as they underwent preservation work: an unfired cannon ball loaded inside the Spanish Cannon, researchers announced this year.
“The Spanish gun was more than 100 years old by the time it was used in the battle,” Texas A&M lab manager Jim Jobling said in the announcement. “While we can’t say for sure, it is possible that the cannonball we found in the gun was loaded during the 1836 Battle of the Alamo, but of course, never fired.”
The Alamo’s fifth and largest cannon also was recently sent to the A&M lab. Complete restoration of the seven weapons is expected to be completed this summer, Femmel said.