Four Cannonballs From the Battle of the Alamo Unearthed After Nearly 200 Years: Three Bronze, One Iron
Archaeologists with the Alamo Trust have unearthed four battle-era cannonballs during an 18-month excavation along the perimeter of the Alamo Church in San Antonio, Texas. The excavation began in March 2025 and concluded in October 2026. The archaeology team estimates that between 500,000 and 750,000 artifacts were unearthed during the project. All four cannonballs were found outside the northeast corner of the Alamo Church, approximately 2? to 3 feet below the surface.
According to the Alamo Trust, historians link all four projectiles to the 13-day Siege and Battle of the Alamo in 1836, based on the surrounding soil layers, the types of cannonballs and the sizes of cannons known to have been present during the battle. The material of each cannonball may reveal which side fired it: bronze cannonballs were typically used by the Mexican army, while the iron cannonball is associated with the Texan side, according to Alamo Trust historians.
Each cannonball was measured and matched to a cannon size. The first was found on March 5, 2026 — one day before the 190th anniversary of the battle. Made of bronze, it measures 2.97 inches in diameter and corresponds to a 4-pounder cannon. A second cannonball, discovered in June, is made of iron, measures 3.28 inches in diameter and corresponds to a 6-pounder cannon. The third is bronze, measures 1.8 inches in diameter and corresponds to a 1-pounder cannon. The fourth is also bronze, measures 3.26 inches in diameter and corresponds to a 6-pounder cannon.
The Alamo Church is one of two surviving structures from the 1836 Battle of the Alamo and the focus of the large-scale excavation. In addition to the cannonballs, archaeologists found everyday items, including a tea kettle, forks, spoons and bottles. "Having a piece of history and holding it in your hand, when the last person who touched this possibly died during the Battle, that carries a lot of emotional weight to it," Dr. Tiffany Lindley, the Alamo's Director of Archaeology, said in a press release. "The Battle was not just an event," she added. "These were people. They had lives before they came to the Battle. They had families that lived after them. And remembering those individuals, that's what's important."
The battle was part of the Texas Revolution. After the revolution began in 1835, Mexican President and General Antonio López de Santa Anna sent troops to crush the uprising and retake San Antonio, where Texian forces occupied the Alamo. Mexican forces surrounded the mission on February 23, 1836, and roughly 200 Texian defenders held out for 13 days before Santa Anna's army stormed the Alamo on March 6. Nearly all the defenders were killed, but their resistance became the rallying cry for Texas independence: "Remember the Alamo!"
Source: The Alamo Trust
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：位于德克萨斯州 San Antonio 的阿拉莫教堂，Daniel Schwen 摄，CC BY-SA，来源 Wikimedia Commons。The Alamo Church in San Antonio, Texas. (Daniel Schwen, CC BY-SA, via Wikimedia Commons)
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