THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER

It’s happy now. Wasn’t on this day in 1836. The Alamo was under siege by the Mexican thousands and the Texians, despite today’s issuance of their proclamation of Texas independence, were about as disorganized and fractious as you might expect a fledgling government and its ad hoc military to be. Four days from now, with [...]

For years I quite mistakenly thought the two squat little mortars that guarded either side of the main doors at the south side of the Texas Capitol were the famous Twin Sisters. The ones used to fire handfulls of musket balls, broken glass and busted horseshoes at the Mexican soldados in the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. Whatever they were [...]

For years I quite mistakenly thought the two squat little mortars that guarded either side of the main doors at the south side of the Texas Capitol were the famous Twin Sisters. The ones used to fire handfulls of musket balls, broken glass and busted horseshoes at the Mexican soldados in the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. Whatever they were [...]

For years I quite mistakenly thought the two squat little mortars that guarded either side of the main doors at the south side of the Texas Capitol were the famous Twin Sisters. The ones used to fire handfulls of musket balls, broken glass and busted horseshoes at the Mexican soldados in the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836. Whatever they were [...]

Thirteen Days to Glory, originally published in 1958, is one of the better myth books of the Alamo. But having only recently read it, at A.C. Greene’s recommendation, I see that it’s shot through with questionable stuff. None is sillier than the "line in the dust" notion foisted on the legend in the late Nineteenth [...]