Ever wonder where/how San Antonio got it's name?

[ranchodrive]

Originally Posted by SATX56

Sony Walkman? Kidding! His trusty Bowie knife or sword I assume. Thanks for righting my wayward photo.

In Photobucket in the "edit" mode ....click on the word Rotate.


The photo will rotate to where you want it.

Btw: Mr. Bowie is holding a "Mexican" eagle knife with a guard on the
handle. The painting is from an image of him holding the knife. I don't
know if it was a daguerreotype or drawing. But I remember seeing it.
Here are some samples of similar Mexican knives.

[Merovee]

Originally Posted by ranchodrive

In Photobucket in the "edit" mode ....click on the word Straighten.




This will appear. Next, click on the center & slide to the left (Angle) or
to the right ( 0')...you will see the photo adjust to where you prefer.
When satisfied click 'Done"


Btw: Mr. Bowie is holding a "Mexican" eagle knife with a guard on the
handle. The painting is from an image of him holding the knife. I don't
know if it was a daguerreotype or drawing. But I remember seeing it.
Here are some samples of similar Mexican knives.

It is an oil painting. Daguerreotypes were invented around 1837 in France a bit after the fall of the Alamo.

[ranchodrive]

Originally Posted by Merovee

It is an oil painting. Daguerreotypes were invented around 1837 in France a bit after the fall of the Alamo.

Thanks for the update.

May 22 in San Antonio history...
1846
The first U.S. Post Office is established in San Antonio with James L.Trueheart as first
postmaster. This was my wife's great-great-grandfather. Her mother gave
me a copy of Mr. Trueheart's diary. When he was captured by Mexican troops
under the command of General Woll (1842). During the period he was held in
Perote Prison he kept a diary that was edited by Frederick C. Chabot. (1934).
Very fascinating material about San Antonio & Texas history which sparked
an interest about our past. I love this forum , which I have learned so much
from folks like you. Thanks.

[SATX56]

Originally Posted by ranchodrive

In Photobucket in the "edit" mode ....click on the word Rotate.


The photo will rotate to where you want it.

Btw: Mr. Bowie is holding a "Mexican" eagle knife with a guard on the
handle. The painting is from an image of him holding the knife. I don't
know if it was a daguerreotype or drawing. But I remember seeing it.
Here are some samples of similar Mexican knives.

Thanks for the info ...But, I've edited thousands of photos in photobucket. It's just their new software is a huge failure. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. I edited ...reduced size and rotated the statue photo and posted it a dozen different times. Fail,fail,fail. I think I'm gonna switch back to the old system.

...as for the knife. I can't imagine Crocodile Dundee saying "that's not a knife".

[ranchodrive]

Originally Posted by SATX56

Thanks for the info ...But, I've edited thousands of photos in photobucket. It's just their new software is a huge failure. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesn't. I edited ...reduced size and rotated the statue photo and posted it a dozen different times. Fail,fail,fail. I think I'm gonna switch back to the old system.

...as for the knife. I can't imagine Crocodile Dundee saying "that's not a knife".

I know what you mean about the " bucket ". It seems that once in a while
when I have to "update software"...issues arise.

Also...do you know if when you receive an "update software" ...is it required
to update or can we stay with the current system ? Not sure on this .
Last time I spent all day & into the night before I figured out what was the
issue....but by then I was like this...

[ranchodrive]

Originally Posted by Merovee

Thank you for reposting this as I missed it the first time.

Other interesting notes is Garza being spelled as Garsa, Louisiana as Luciana, and Jones as Yons.

Also you are right in that during Bowie's time the city was known as the Ciudad de San Fernando de Béjar. Before 1811 it was known as the Villa de San Fernando de Béjar. In 1811 a rebellion against the Spanish occurred under the command of Juan Bautista de las Casas but some who remained loyal to the Royalist struggled back. Because of their success the Villa was then turned into a Ciudad as an upgrade.

In 1837, after the Texas Revolution, San Fernando officially became San Antonio and the seat of the newly established Bexar County.

Before all this San Antonio was the official name of the Alamo, San Antonio de Valero. So letters written from there would name the municipality and not the single building they were in.

Also at one time there was a clear difference between San Antonio de Béjar, the military presidio, and San Fernando de Béjar, the civil settlement or municipality which only came later. To complicate it even further when Alamo de Parras came to town they were to be stationed in one area, but since that area already had soldiers they set up shop in the abandoned San Antonio de Valero building, first a mission, then a military building, and then abandoned before once again serving as a military building by becoming the headquarters of Alamo de Parras which it was also nicknamed for.

Update: The first newspaper account of the Fall of the Alamo was in
the Telegraph & Evening Register-March 17, 1836. Also in this link
is the " Mexican battle Plan " drawn by the commander of engineers for
Santa Anna's army. What is significant is that the first line on this map
reads..."Plano de la ciudad de San Antonio de Bejar y fortificacion del Alamo. Meaning plans for the fortification of the Alamo of the city
" San Antonio of Bexar" . So perhaps it was known as San Antonio or just
Bexar...I don't have permission to duplicate the original Battle Plan.

[Merovee]

Originally Posted by ranchodrive

Update: The first newspaper account of the Fall of the Alamo was in
the Telegraph & Evening Register-March 17, 1836. Also in this link
is the " Mexican battle Plan " drawn by the commander of engineers for
Santa Anna's army. What is significant is that the first line on this map
reads..."Plano de la ciudad de San Antonio de Bejar y fortificacion del Alamo. Meaning plans for the fortification of the Alamo of the city
" San Antonio of Bexar" . So perhaps it was known as San Antonio or just
Bexar...I don't have permission to duplicate the original Battle Plan.

Thanks, I found the map, nice.

It would make sense that the military plans were against San Antonio de Béjar which was the military presidio aka the Spanish Governor's palace and the official seat of power. The marriage certificate would list San Fernando de Béjar because that is where the church is at aka San Fernando Cathedral. The Alamo was an abandoned building before the Texians chose it over Military Plaza. I believe people lived outside of it such as the neighborhood of those from Los Adaes who were ordered to leave Los Adaes and come to San Antonio. As a side note some of those from Los Adaes disobeyed and moved in with the French.

Page 18 of San Antonio de Béxar by Ione William Tanner Wright explains the difference in names this way:

The documents transmitted to Spain relative to the proceedings of the first lawsuit in the history of Texas, filled thirty volumes of manuscript. In them San Antonio is called San Antonio de Vejar o Valero; the name San Antonio de Bexar seems to have become attached particularly to the presidio, the mission and pueblo being called San Antonio de Valero, while the villa was known as San Fernando.

Page 31 of San Antonio de Béxar: A Community on New Spain's Northern Frontier by Jesús F. de la Teja has this to add after explaining that even if much land was available in Texas that those living here chose to live as close as possible to the settlements making competition for water and farmland quite competitive:

While circumstances and customs fostered compact living, they also bred a disregard for the formal rules and theoretical principles of Spanish urban development embodied in the Laws of the Indies. Mutual dependence gradually blurred the lines between the community's different entities, so that by the end of the century the presidio of San Antonio de Béxar, the town of San Fernando de Béxar, and the secularized mission of San Antonio de Valero were essentially one.

Page 106 of The Way West: True Stories of the American Frontier edited by James A. Crutchfield has this:

Travis rode to San Antonio de Bexar, or simply Bexar as it was known...

Page 154 of Eyewitness to the Alamo by Bill Groneman has an excerpt from the San Antonio Daily Express stating why the Defenders chose the Alamo instead of Military Plaza.

After Cos surrendered, that portion of the army of Constitutionalists that remained for a while was quartered in the barracks vacated by the Mexicans on Military Plaza, but soon after the arrival of Davy Crockett the small band moved over to the Alamo, because the defenses were better and more substantial than the ones on the West Side of the city. The weaknesses of the military fortress or Presidio, as it was called, on Military Plaza, had been demonstrated by the facility with which Milam's forces had dislodged the soldiers under General Cos.

[Merovee]

I have some more information regarding Los Adaesanos and their neighborhood was called Barrio del Alamo.

On February 25-26, members of the Alamo garrison set fire to homes in the Barrio del Alamo to prevent Santa Anna's troops from using them as cover.

...

The Barrio del Alamo was located in an open area just south of the compound.

The Houses in Barrio del Alamo

In 1774, the Adaesanos, outcasts/refugees from the Spanish outpost of Los Adaes in East Texas, were ordered to San Antonio.

...

In the 18th century, this area was known as the Barrio del Alamo, a small community of former mission Indians, Adaesanos, Spanish settlers, military soldiers, and their families.

http://www.sanantonio.gov/planning/p...te_history.pdf

[ranchodrive]

Thanks Merovee. Yours is a source of welcomed information. Especially
having a loss in the family recently. This keeps me positive & I know my Dad
would have enjoyed this as well. I hope others who read what I write will not
judge me. We all have our ways of coping.