Trenches in the Long Barracks!

[RebAl]

I have often wondered what use they would have been in the actual battle. I even thought they might have been dug and covered as a hiding place in the event of the fort being overrun. Does anyone think it would have been possible to construct a safe hiding place and how long would they have had to hide before it was safe to come out?

[neferetus]

rebal said:

I have often wondered what use they would have been in the actual battle. I even thought they might have been dug and covered as a hiding place in the event of the fort being overrun. Does anyone think it would have been possible to construct a safe hiding place and how long would they have had to hide before it was safe to come out?

Well Alex, although there is some historical evidence that they existed, the trenches didn't seem to serve any useful purpose in THE ALAMO (2004). From the film's viewpoint, the trenches actually put the defenders at a disadvantage. They may have been a safe place to jump down into when the Mexicans were blowing down the doors of the rooms in the Long Barrack with captured artillery.

The problem here is, do we really think that the defenders imagined they would actually be overrun and need fallback positions? They certainly did not have a preconcieved plan about spiking the artillery in such an event. As it turned out, the defenders' own artillery spelled their doom.

I have to admit, the thought has crossed my mind as to where would be the best place in the Alamo to hide out. As you may be aware of, one room of the Long Barrack was roofless and filled with debris. Were a pit dug in that room, a defender could draw some loose boards over the top and perhaps not be discovered. A hollow could've also conceivably been made in the long rampway inside the church. There was a lot of junk debris there, too. As a last minute hiding place, perhap some defender could even have jumped down into a latrine. When a person is trying to save his life, he will unhesitatingly resort to things he would never do under ordinary, everyday circumstances.

[neferetus]

Oh, P.S. The hidden defender(s) could probably leave the fort on the evening of March the 6th. With the coming of night, this place of death would be avoided by the local Bejarians and even the soldados. They'd be too busy dealing with their dead and wounded comrades in town, at any rate.

[Greg C.]

They could have also hid in Bowie's silver mine....

[neferetus]

admin said:

They could have also hid in Bowie's silver mine....

Oh yeah, the Alamo well. Lay down there all day and well into the night with a reed in your mouth for air, ay?

[RebAl]

Thanks for the replies I had thought more or less the same. It makes you think that if no one had thought about constructing a safe hiding place they must have been under the impression that they wouldn't be overrun and that help would get to them long before this situation ever happened.

[neferetus]

In the novel TWO SIEGES OF THE ALAMO, by Robert Alan Alter, defender Henry Warnell survives the Alamo battle after a section of the palisade collapses on him. He hides in the resulting small recess until the coming of night when he makes his escape.

[Greg C.]

neferetus said:

In the novel TWO SIEGES OF THE ALAMO, by Robert Alan Alter, defender Henry Warnell survives the Alamo battle after a section of the palisade collapses on him. He hides in the resulting small recess until the coming of night when he makes his escape.

Now that is something that I have never heard. Is there any prrof at all to prove it?

[neferetus]

admin said:

neferetus said:

In the novel TWO SIEGES OF THE ALAMO, by Robert Alan Alter, defender Henry Warnell survives the Alamo battle after a section of the palisade collapses on him. He hides in the resulting small recess until the coming of night when he makes his escape.

Now that is something that I have never heard. Is there any prrof at all to prove it?

It's a novel, Greg. You can do whatever you like in a novel. (Just don't make it too implausible.)

[Greg C.]

neferetus said:

admin said:

Now that is something that I have never heard. Is there any prrof at all to prove it?

It's a novel, Greg. You can do whatever you like in a novel. (Just don't make it too implausible.)

So I guess a gatling gun wouldnt work? ;D

[seguin]

admin said:

neferetus said:

It's a novel, Greg. You can do whatever you like in a novel. (Just don't make it too implausible.)

So I guess a gatling gun wouldnt work? ;D

Nope! - And neither would a nuclear bomb... ;D

[Greg C.]

seguin said:

admin said:

So I guess a gatling gun wouldnt work? ;D

Nope! - And neither would a nuclear bomb... ;D

Maybe thats why the publisher hasn't contacted me yet...