Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush and Texas A&M System Chancellor John Sharp will be on hand today as the last of seven cannons which were used by the defenders of the Alamo during the 1836 battle will be returned to the Shrine of Texas Liberty and placed on permanent display, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
The ceremony will take place at Texas A&M.
"The gun that will come back is the last gun," Alamo Curator Dr. Bruce Winders tells News Radio 1200 WOAI. "It is a 16 pounder. It's not the largest gun at the Alamo, that was an 18 pounder, but that gun is lost, we don't know what happened to it."
The big gun is probably buried somewhere in downtown San Antonio, perhaps under an existing building or highway, and may be discovered during a future construction project.
Santa Anna ordered his troops to bury all of the cannons they found inside the Alamo after taking the Mission, to make sure they weren't used against them.
Many of the cannons were buried in acequias where they were gradually rediscovered as the city expanded in the mid to late 19th and early 20th century.
All of the cannons have been painstakingly restored at Texas A&M's Conservation Research Laboratory, which, in addition to the restoration, has been able to determine the history of some of the cannons.
"The history of the guns, we found out, actually has much more to say than just the Battle of the Alamo,"Winders said. "It's been a learning experience for us, to know that these guns have a much greater story to tell."
Research shows that the recovered cannons come from a variety of foundries, mainly in Great Britain. Some were actually made to be installed on ships for signal purposes, and were never meant to be used in actual combat.
Others were known to have been used in the Mexican Revolution, and various European conflicts.
One cannon was as old as seventy years when it was used by the Alamo defenders in 1836.The cannons will be placed on display and used as part of living history exhibitions at the Alamo.
PHOTO: TEXAS A&M MARKETING DEPARTMENT, USED BY PERMISSION