Rock star Collins’ Alamo collection on display
Dozens of artifacts and documents donated by music star Phil Collins are key attractions among the 500 historical items on display at the Alamo’s new Ralston Family Collections Center.
Collins’ influence is seen throughout the building. A display panel in the lobby, “From Rock Star to Collector,” highlights the British musician’s passion for collecting relics connected to the 1835-1836 Texas Revolution.
“In 2014, Phil Collins generously gifted his collection to the people of Texas with the hope that the artifacts will inspire curiosity and offer new ways to learn about the history of the Alamo,” the panel states.
Nearly nine years later, the March 3 public opening of the collections center, with 10,000 square feet of gallery space, has allowed the Alamo, for the first time, to display dozens of items from the Phil Collins Texana Collection.
Here are five objects on display that Collins wrote about in detail in his 2012 book, “The Alamo and Beyond: A Collector’s Journey.”
Mexican Cavalry Officer Helmet
Made of leather, brass and horsehair, this headgear is a “pristine example” of a cavalry officer’s helmet of the 1830s. In his book, Collin suggests it was worn by an officer in the Mexican army’s Dolores Battalion, stationed southeast of the Alamo to chase and kill defenders running from the fort during the battle.
The helmet’s brass detailing depicts a Mexican eagle with a snake in its mouth. But Collins notes its resemblance to French military apparel.
“Even the uniforms worn by the Mexican troops were styled on those worn by Napoleon’s huge army,” he wrote. “Antonio López de Santa Anna, a great admirer of the French emperor, thought of himself as the ‘Napoleon of the West.’ “
Henry Schively Bowie Knife
Collins traces a long, interesting story of this knife and says it’s believed to have been at the
Alamo in 1836 — though how it got there, “we will never know.” It was made by Schively, a renowned cutler who lived from 1784 to 1863.
The knife is said to have been given to Mexican Brig. Gen. Antonio Gaona at the Alamo by his infantry troops, then gifted by Gaona to U.S. Navy Lt. Elisha Kent Kane more than a decade later during the Mexican-American War.
Kane, who went on two Arctic expeditions in search of British explorer Sir John Franklin, had the knife fitted with a reindeer antler he found at the grave site of Franklin and his crew. A silver plate on one side of the handle was inscribed, “Reindeer Antler from ‘The Graves.’ “
Mexican 7-inch Howitzer Shell
Collins called the intact, 26-pound shell “one of the rarest items of battle weaponry” in his collection. It was recovered from the “Sea of Mud” archaeological site in Wharton County in 2000, believed to have been discarded by troops under Mexican Gen. Vicente Filisola.
Only seven intact howitzer shells of its kind have been unearthed — one from the Alamo and six from the Sea of Mud site, Collins wrote. The shell has markings, perhaps a personalized touch added by Mexican soldados or relating to its origin — “in this case, England.”
“When the shell was found, it still had the fuse attached and its gunpowder inside,” Collins added.
Original Alamo Muster Roll
A January 1836 muster roll listed 114 men in the Alamo garrison, including at least 60 who stayed at the fort during the siege and died in the early morning March 6 battle, according to Collins.
“It’s a fantastic document to own and tells much about the constant ebb and flow of volunteers in and out of the garrison just weeks prior to the final hours of March 6, 1836,” he wrote.
Collins theorized the document was likely seized after the 1836 battle, then recovered six weeks later at San Jacinto before ending up in possession of Thomas William Ward, who became a commissioner of the General Land Office and an avid collector.
Receipt for 30 Head of Beeves
Collins called Alamo commander William Barret Travis’ receipt “one of the jewels of my collection.”
Travis wrote the promissory note in Spanish on Feb. 23, 1836, at the start of the 13-day Alamo siege, to Ignacio Pérez for beef to feed the men, women and children inside the compound. It promised Pérez payment of 413 pesos from the provisional government of Texas by September 1836.
The purchase of the “thirty heffers” was referenced the next day in a postscript in the famous “victory or death” letter that Travis sent out in a plea for reinforcements, noting “20 or 30 head of Beeves” in the fort.
The receipt also involved two prominent Tejano families in San Antonio: the ranching Pérez clan and the politically connected Ruiz family. Francisco Antonio Ruiz, mayor of San Antonio, paid Pérez the money owed on Sept. 8, 1836.
“Although a very small piece of parchment and knowing the circumstances under which it was written, this receipt is a truly remarkable piece of Texas history,” Collins wrote.