Alamo-Related Items for Sale

Gunpowder receipts and other Alamo-related battle preparation documents will be offered for sale online in November.

The items belonged to Robert E. Davis of Waco, a private collector who died in 2003, the San Antonio Express-News reported Sunday.

Two promissory notes signed by Alamo commander William Barret Travis are the most historically prominent, according to Bobby Livingston, vice president of sales and marketing with RR Auction.

"Travis documents written from the Alamo are certainly the most valuable in the auction," Livingston said.

A hand-drawn battle map of the Mexican state of Zacatecas that Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna took to San Antonio will also be offered.

The two Travis receipts reveal that Tejano merchants loaned lumber and supplies to help the cause for Texas independence in the days prior to the arrival of Santa Anna's army on Feb. 23, 1836.

One note dated Feb. 21 is for $85.25, owed to Eugenio Navarro, for 50 beams of black walnut, for a structure to support at least one of the Alamo's 21 cannons.

"There is now in use in the Alamo six hundred and eighty two feet of walnut scantling as platforms for the cannon," Travis wrote.

Another receipt dated Feb. 20 promises payment of $450.13 to Luciano Navarro, for 640 pounds of coffee, 370 pounds of tobacco, three bars of lead and 25 pounds of gunpowder.

All 189 known Alamo defenders died in the March 6, 1836, battle. The merchants' debts were repaid by the Republic of Texas within two years, Livingston said.

Online bidding begins Nov. 10 as part of the Texas & Western Autograph & Artifact Auction. Some proceeds will benefit the Children's Bereavement Center of South Texas. Several items up for bids will be displayed at a Nov. 3 fundraiser at the center.
 

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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