Coronado & Houston, Wall Guns & Cannon
The end of 2022 has found us bouncing around through the pinball machine of Texas history. This journey begins and ends with some heavy firepower.
We started, appropriately enough, in the 16th century with the conquistador Coronado. At a private reception generously hosted by Diane and Tom Gates of Corpus Christi, we learned about new archaeological discoveries that point to Coronado encampments in Arizona that present a correction to previous scholarship on Coronado’s route. We’ve long known that Coroado ended up in New Mexico, then crossed our Llano Estacado.
There’s an important Coronado site in Texas. But what of Coronado before that?
The consensus of scholarship has had the Coronado expedition arriving in southeastern Arizona via the Rio Sonora. But independent research archaeologist Dr. Deni Seymour has discovered a trail of artifacts that strongly point to Coronado’s route through Arizona along the Santa Cruz River.
She and her dig volunteers have unearthed distinctive caret-head nails used for shoeing horses, along with other hallmark artifacts of the period that set them apart from later Spanish expeditions.
On display at the Gates’s reception were some of these Coronado-specific artifacts — a spectacular wall cannon, intact caret-head nails, a huge 16th century spur rowell, a late-Medieval horseshoe. We had the honor of inspecting the wall cannon — the oldest firearm ever discovered in North America — up close and personal. Now you can, too!
We even got to pump some iron. The gun weighs close to fifty pounds. In its current state, it resembles a slender rocket launcher, during its service life it would’ve been mounted on a wall (as the name suggests) or the gunnel of a combat vessel.
(Note: You may spy the impressive and somewhat terrifying spur rowell in each of the photos below and thank God you weren’t born a horse in the 1540s.)
Challenging the existing scholarship with confidence, diagnostic artifacts, and sound research, Dr. Seymour’s pursuit of Coronado’s route through Arizona gives us hope that a fuller picture of this first-contact expedition is emerging. You can read more about her mission and her finds here: https://www.deni-seymour.com/copy-of-coronado-artifacts
And kudos to our capable hostess, Diane Gates, for these gorgeous reception goodies, featuring Remington’s “Coronado’s March.” These little works of art are sugar cookies. She truly thought of everything!
We rolled on into November and leapt forward in history five centuries. The first Friday in November is time for Dobie Dichos, the annual Live Oak County celebration of Texas’s foremost folklorist and storyteller. It’s the best little literary festival in Texas, where rustic surroundings and love of literature collide.
Chili con carne and pan de campo are served up under the stars by the historic Oakville Jail.
There’s music and beer, then a series of short talks about Dobie and his writings. This year, our friend Justice Ken Wise was on the docket of presenters. You can spy him at the lectern off to the right of the big ol’ Lone Star banner.
This year the weather was kind to us - a cold front waited until we dispersed before enveloping South Texas. We didn’t need the campfires to keep us from shivering as we did in years past, but we required them to round out the Dichos experience. (That’s the Oakville Jail you see peeking above the fairy lights.)
Since my birthday is also in the first week of November, Dobie Dichos serves as my unofficial birthday party. There are always new friends to be made and old friends to greet. It’s a happy time, especially when the weather is fair. To learn more about Dobie Dichos and plan to join us next year, head here: https://www.dobiedichos.com/
The first week of November is a fine time to visit Corpus Christi because not only is it not 100 degrees out, but Ocean Drive is lined with American flags in the run-up to Veterans Day. My route to the office takes me past hundreds of flags every day, the bay breezes ensuring that each flag is always proudly waving.
While the flags were waving, we were busy, a few blocks away, setting up a small video studio for Texas History Trust.
Getting the camera placement and lighting just so was a process of trial and error, followed by more trial and more error. And lots of swearing, mostly on my part. We thought we were ready, so I parked myself in the hot seat and took the studio for a spin. Then I took the footage home to check the quality. This still from that trial shoot is a fair likeness of my feelings.
The audio was wonky. We needed a pre-amp thingy. The lighting was screwy. They needed to be moved. The camera settings were off. The ISO was all wrong.
But the test shoot told us what the problems were and we learned how to fix them. After two more trial read-throughs, we got all of the technical kinks straightened out. This photo accurately captures the relief I felt after conquering both the studio challenges and the material I’d prepared.
Necessity is the mother of invention and I think we are smart enough now to give y’all with some unique Texas history content! You can expect to see the first series later this month, although it’s probably not what you’d expect. It’s a series about what’s happening with Texas K-12 education and in Texas teacher colleges, all of which has a catastrophic impact on how kids learn history.
Mid-November, the board of Texas History Trust convened at the Emily Morgan Hotel.
It was a productive meeting, filled with enthusiasm, good humor and great ideas.
We thank Kole Siefkin, the sweetest hotel manager in Texas, and his energetic staff for getting everything in order for our meeting. The EM is my home away from home. As much as I’m on the road alone and dread sleeping in strange beds, I never dread a trip to the Alamo. That’s because Kole and his staff go the extra mile to make sure everyone is covered in Texas hospitality.
No matter how much work I have packed into a trip and how tired I get, I don’t fret. I know they’ll be there to help.
The new Alamo Collections Building that we broke ground on in August 2021 is built!
While it won’t open to the public until March 2023, the precious Texas history artifacts are being moved there and settling into their new home where they finally have some room to breathe. It’s the first new construction on the Alamo grounds in my lifetime (and maybe yours!) and offers enough space for the Alamo’s collections, as well as space for special traveling exhibits from other institutions. It can be seen at lower left in this photo. It is situated at the back of the Alamo complex.
On the return to Corpus, I stopped at the Witte Museum with Mark.
The day was cold and rainy, and we wanted to spend some time with good Texas art. The usual Texas art room was occupied with an exhibit of Ricardo Beasely’s excellent vaquero drawings. We asked after the Texas art and were afforded a tour of the Witte’s Collections Building. The scope of the Witte’s art collection is remarkable. The Witte staff was knowledgeable and friendly, and helped us to make the most of a funky, cold day.
This visit set the perfect tone for Thanksgiving - I am thankful for Texas, for the complexity and richness of her history, for a board that is enthusiastic about it, and for the bighearted nature of my fellow Texans.
Eat, rest, repeat. And then…
I hit the road a couple of days after Thanksgiving, this time for Huntsville.
What timing! I toured the grounds of the Sam Houston Memorial Museum amidst the changing leaves with the former director, Mac Woodward, and new director, Derrick Birdsall. We don’t have many visual representations of seasons in South Texas, so I was in heaven! The weather was still warm when I arrived and the resident turtles were sunning themselves.
It was a special treat to talk with curator Michael Sproat about the methods he uses to digitize the artifacts in his care, both to preserve them and to make them accessible to the public. I got the inside scoop on future exhibits and plans. Bravo, Sam Houston Memorial Museum, for doing such a fine job of preserving and (accurately) presenting Texas history!
The Christmas tree was set up in the rotunda the day prior to my visit, festooned with all things Texas. The tree alone could take up a couple of hours of your time. It’s not just a tree you see…it’s a tree you can read and experience. It’s erupting with Texas history and culture.
The following day, the weather stopped being fine, just in time for my presentation at the gravesites of Sam Houston and Henderson Yoakum.
It was 45 degrees and windy. I worried that the audience wouldn’t be able to hear me through my chattering teeth.
Lone Star Volunteers and Rolling Thunder to the rescue! Nothing like a crash course in cannon fire to make you forget you’re cold and nervous. The Lone Star Volunteers, whom I knew from afar as the gents firing the cannon from shore as we escorted the Texas to drydock, gave me clear instructions on how to not screw up.
“...and the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air…”
Thanks to the Rolling Thunder crew, I made the boom, didn’t blow myself or anyone else up, and didn’t end up deaf in one ear. I’d have been content to take my adrenaline rush and go, but I still had to make a speech. Ugh.
I spoke to the Henderson Yoakum Chapter, Sons of the Republic of Texas, and members of the public about the current state of Texas history. Not a happy speech, but I hope I impressed upon everyone that the problem can have a happy ending if we all keep our eyes open and strive to return to history based on evidence, not feelings.
Afterward, I was sworn in as an honorary cannoneer with the Rolling Thunder and appropriately anointed by soot from the cannon.
I went to the rest of my meetings with my sooty face. I explained it to a few people…I let others speculate, as one does.
It was a great day to be a Texan! I’m grateful for my time with the folks in Huntsville, to all who took time out of their day to share their knowledge with me, and to all who lent me their (cold) ears to hear what I had to say. I have my firing pin and a statuette of Big Sam as souvenirs.
Next day, I pointed my car south and headed back to Corpus. Texas History Trust has big plans for the Texas Rangers Bicentennial in 2023 and we have exciting new material coming to our Taproot Project. Look for the education video series to be released soon.
There is much to do, and we know we can do it with you marching beside us. God & Texas, y’all.
