Tell me more! Spiking The Guns

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I was under the impression it was the real gun and not a mock up. The original was recovered off of the wreck of the ship that sank in Matagorda Bay. I think the spelling of the ship is the Helen Tooker. The Spaniards took the gun to San Antonio. (Texas beloved to Spain at the time). The Mexicans took it from them and The Texicans took it from the Mexicans .
Yes, yes, and yes. You are precisely correct about that gun, and the illustration is of that gun.

That gun is original, and was indeed apparently taken from the wreck of a privateer in Matagorda Bay from when the pirate/corsair/privateer Aury was backing Xavier Mina in 1817. It is thought that that gun was on the northwest bastion, not too far from the north wall where Travis was killed early in the final battle. The gun carriage is of a basic "field type" but it did put the gun at an exaggerated height for display purposes so people can't try to climb on it. (guilty confession: Once, while visiting 1898 battlefields in eastern Cuba, I scaled a monument and hopped on a cannon for a photo opportunity at El Caney...)

The modern reproduction gun is at a temporary exhibit that will eventually be removed/ taken down. It's at the site of the southwestern bastion, while the original gun in your photo is near the main entrance, the Shrine of Texas Liberty/ old Mission chapel, and the Long Barracks.

Here's the temporary 18-pounder (reproduction)
https://www.thealamo.org/visit/calendar/18-pounder-losoya-house-exhibit

The thing is so heavy that the wheels of the carriage have to be rotated periodically to avoid a "set" in the axle and other parts of the carriage. The carriage was hand made by an outfit in South Dakota, which caused some issues, because when the gun tube arrived from Ohio, there were variances in where the trunnions were, along with other now-forgotten "fitting" issues between gun and carriage.

Thanks for the picture of the original gun.
 
Regarding spiking muzzle loading cannon - They were all pulled by horse and horse shoe nails were abundant. Larger nails would be carried by the forge team and artificers. The notion of using a bayonet to spike a gun refers to infantry over running an artillery position and the men wanting to disable the guns and so cease their firing.
 
Spiking a gun was a method of temporarily disabling a cannon by hammering a barbed steel spike into the touch-hole; this could be removed only with great difficulty. If a special spike was unavailable, spiking could be done by driving a bayonet into the touch-hole and breaking it off, to leave the blade's tip embedded.Guns could also be rendered useless by burning their wooden carriages or blowing off their trunnions.

Can someone post a photo of the spike nails used for spiking the guns in the Civil War?

Does anyone know of a detailed account written by an artilleryman describing how they spiked their cannon in the midst of battle? Does anyone know of an instance where bayonets were used to spike the guns?

Artillerymen dreaded leaving their guns to the enemy. It was considered a loss of honor, as well as a possible court-martial offense, not to mention a handover of firepower to the enemy.

In circumstances where there was an immediate danger of being overrun and infantry support had suddenly collapsed, artillery crews would continue to man their cannon as long as possible, if they could not get them away.

Before abandoning their weapons, however, they would usually endeavor to render the guns inoperable by the enemy. They might spike their cannon. Or instead of spiking them, they may have removed the firing tools (friction primers, sights etc). For example this occurred with Captain Smith's three guns above Devil's Den, at Gettysburg.
 
Another simple way was to fire the last round into the enemy then quickly reload it — but this time without a powder charge attached to the projectile. Problem solved (at least long enough to make a clean escape before the enemy figured out the problem).
 
The chains are attached to wedges that lock the caps in place. No axe necessary, they are intended to be removable. The chain is there to keep them from getting lost.
I should clarify this - I meant to break the chains that held the cap square to the carriage ( They were also attached to the carriage with a chain) , then either take it with you or throw it away somewhere away from the gun. You could easily find a replacement for the pin, but not for the cap square.
 
I was just reading the diary of a Union artillerymen at Vicksburg. At one point he mentions that in preparation for the possibility of a Confederate attempt to break out, sergeants in command of guns were directed to equip themselves with spikes to disable their guns if overrun.
 
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