What swords might have been used at the Alamo battle?

[Jim McDougall]

One of the most notable events in the history of Texas is the 13 day siege of the Alamo mission from Feb. 23 to Mar. 6, 1836, and the story of this conflict has been debated, analyzed and retold pretty much endlessly ever since.

While having a personal interest in this fascinating topic myself since watching the Disney series with Fess Parker as Davy Crockett as a kid in the mid 1950s (no I did not wear a coonskin cap)...as a sword enthusiast, I have often wondered....were there swords there? What kinds would they have been?

In the naturally huge corpus of literature on the Alamo topic, at the fore is often the depiction of bristling lines of the famed 'Kentucky long rifles', and mountain men skillfully wielding them in pitched battle with overwhelmingly numbered Mexican forces.

This scenario has long since been 'readjusted' as the numbers of both 'mountain men' and the 'long rifle' have been found to have been far less than portrayed.

However, despite the tenacious revisions and study of the battle, including well documented examination of the cannon there, the guns actually used, especially the powder.......but aside from the legendary Bowie knife, NO edged weapons are noted, let alone described.

That is until Phil Collins (who many of us know from his musical fame) who has always been an avid 'Alamo' collector (afflicted by the Disney TV series contemporary to myself), wrote a book on his amazing collection. ..."The Alamo and Beyond" (Buffalo Gap Texas, 2012). In his book he illustrates 4 swords, 3 of which were to Mexican figures, but the espada ancha at top in pages shown was found at the Alamo in 1878.

The suggestion was that perhaps used by Juan Seguins contingent of Mexicans fighting on the Texian side there. It must be remembered that this was not a war between America and Mexico, but a Texian rebellion wishing for the restoration of Mexico's 1824 Constitution. The independence issue evolved during the rebellion. Texas was being ruled by the dictator Gen. Santa Anna.

My question is, while there clearly may have been espada anchas there as speculated, could there have been other types with the Texians?

My guess would be the most likely candidate would be the relatively little known US M1812 Nathan Starr saber. These were from an 1812 contract to this Connecticut maker, who had been supplying some swords responding to the Militia Act of 1808. While there were early contingents of dragoons in US military for which these were intended, the larger volume of the 5000 on order went to local and state militias.

Two of these were in New Orleans and Tennessee, which are important as these two places furnished a number of the volunteers comprising the defenders at the Alamo. These sabers, well used during the War of 1812, remained in stores and private holdings of course and were still notably present when units were forming to go to Texas in the uprising in 1835.

I know of one example with provenance to that effect, belonged to an individual from Kentucky who had gone to Texas to fight and had returned there. While the numbers of the Alamo defenders are relatively small to the entire forces fighting overall in Texas, it would be hard to imagine that swords would not have been part of the outfitting. Much of this may have been of course to exuberance at the outset, but still, there is plausible notion that some may have actually had and used these.

Another remote contender is the British M1796 light cavalry saber, whose surplus after Waterloo resulted in many being exported, of those many to US trading networks (they were known in use in numerous Indian tribes in limited degree).


This is what I have found, and I am hoping will give perspective to the question in the heading,
So what do you guys think?

Anyone else with interest in the Alamo who has encountered any mention of swords there?
Also, I cannot recall discussion anywhere here on the Starr sabers.......any insights on their distribution and use (I have heard of them even in the Civil War).

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