The McArdle Scrapbooks > Dawn at the Alamo
The McArdle Scrapbooks Dawn at the Alamo
Reuben M. Potter to McArdle, August 13, 1874
Page 5 of 16
3.
chapel. This was a mistake. If there were any win-
dows there in that church, they were only a few small
ones high up; but I think there were none on the South
side. The door was in the west end, (or front) towards
the town. The church was then roofless, open to the
sky, and the top of the wall served as a parapet,
having high platforms in them for cannon & sharp
shooters. Of the guns there mounted, one fired over
the wall, and others through embrazures or notches
roughly broken out of the upper line of the masonry,
- thus - [see sketch]. The chancel was occupied by a
high platform of earth, banked against the inside of
the eastern wall, and having a slope for ascension
towards the door. On its level were mounted
three guns. One, a long twelve, pointed east, through
one of the aforesaid notches; one was aimed North
through a similar embrasure; and the other, mount-
ed in barbette, fired over the top of the south wall.
The walls of the large area (I.L.L.) were from 9 to 12 feet
high, except between the south end of the long bar-
rack (E) & the gate (M) where the barrier was but 4 feet in
height. This low portion was covered by an oblique entrench-
ment, ( R ) closing the nook between the church and the
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Reuben M. Potter to McArdle, August 13, 1874, The McArdle Notebooks, Archives and Information Services Division, Texas State Library and Archives Commission.