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Gonna get through this thread sooner or later...

I've been curious as to the setting wherein Jack Hays and his crew held court for those six years in San Antonio, 1841-1846.

It so happens there's an exibit on locally, featuring the
paintings of one Theodore Getilz.

Gentilz was a Paris-trained painter who arrived in Texas in 1844, finding early work as a surveyor he later spent his career as an intructor at a local university. More to the point, he painted the San Antonio area he saw in the 1840's.

Here's his depiction of the Alamo, as it appeared in 1844...



One thing common to his paintings is the depiction of the background as being open plains, in commonality with the eyewitness descriptions at that time. Intersting that he had what appears to be an Anglo talking to the local woman balancing the pot on her head.

Here's his depiction of a surveying party, note that given my old camera, pics were taken from an angle to avoid the flash...





Two rifles visible, and possibly a number of the men carrying revolvers. Some of the party remaining mounted, probably as guards.

One more from outside of town, this time at a horse race. It is known that the area "east of the Creek" (San Pedro Creek), later a notorious red light district, was in the early days used for horse racing, later serving as the site of what has been termed the first rodeo...



Note the jockeys have all stripped to the waist, lining their horses up behind a rope held by two guys.

Birdwatcher