1. The author wishes to thank Stephen Hardin, Gary Zaboly. Alan Huffiness. George Nelson. David McDonald and the staff the library of he Daughters of the Republic of Texas for their kind assistance in this work.

2. The issue of historical interpretation and documentation at the Alamo have been explored by several authors in the past., including Walter Lord in his now classic book, A Time to Stand (New York: Harper & Bros., 1961) and Wallace O. Chariton in Exploring the Alamo Legend (Plano: Wordware Publishing, 1990) Lord published further on the subject in. "Myths and Realities of he Alamo" published in The Republic of Texas, edited by Stephen B. Oates (Palo Alto., Calif.: American West Publishing). and Texas State Historical Association. 1968. Recent attempts have included Susan Predergast Schoelwer in Alamo Images (Dallas, Southern Methodist University Press, 1985) and an imaginative, if not highly negative look at the Alamo by Holly Bear, Enhert The Alamo (Austin, University of Texas Press, 1994). None of these works attempt to look into the question addressed by this study.

3. Article 326 United States Army Regulations, 1841. There is little difference with this regulation and that in the 1821 U S. Army Regulations.

4. The file maintained on this subject at the Library of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas is labeled as "water closet".

5.There is no modern book-length history of the Alamo from its establishment as a Spanish mission to the present day. A good recent overview history is Robert J. Hard editor, A Historical Overview of Alamo Plaza and Campo Santo (San Antonio, Center for Archaeological Research, The University of Texas at San Antonio, 1994.)

6. The best overview history of the Spanish borderlands Presidio System is Max L. Moorhead's, The Presidio (Norman, The University of Oklahoma Press, 1975.) Moorhead does not explore the placement of sanitation facilities at any of the presidios.

7. For an overview of the various histories and interpretations of the Alamo 1836 plats, see Schoelwer, Alamo Images and the same author's article. "The Artist's Alamo" in Southwestern Historical Quarterly (Volume XCI, No.4. April. 1988). While Schoelwer's appraisals are authoritative, there are interpretational errors. See Craig Covner's article, "Before 1850: A New Look at the Alamo Through Arts and Imagery" in The Alamo Journal (Issue #70, March, 1990). Covner, an Alamo historian, who has centered his study on the physical structure, corrects some of Schoelwer's conclusions.

8. For more on Sanchez-Navarro see. Carlos Sanchez-Navarro, La Guerra de Tejas: Memorias de un Soldado (Mexico City, Editorial Polis, 1938). A partial account of Sanchez -Navarro's notes translated in English was done by Helen Hunnicutt and appears under the title, "A Mexican View of the Texas War: Memoirs of a Veteran of the Two Battles of the Alamo," in Library Chronicle (Volume IV, Austin: University of Texas, Summer 1951).

9. The original of Sanchez-Navarro" attack map" is in his field order book now in the collection of the Center for American History Barker Center University of Texas at Austin. The location of the original "vista" plat is currently unknown, but a copy done by Jean Luis Berlandier is in the Western History Collection at Yale University. Berlandier was a contemporary of Sanchez-Navarro in the Mexican Army.

10. See Diccionario General Etimblogico de la Lenguar España (Madrid, 1887) and Diccionario Manual Ilustrado de la Lengua Espanola(Madrid, 1950). Roughly translated "the privy or place where the filth is deposited." General Miguel A. Sanchez-Lamego, on page 26 of his work, Sitio y Toma del Alamo, notes that #16 is, "ademas e enontiaban alli los retretes, conocidos vulgarmente con el nombre de 'comunes' " J. Hefter translated this on page 47 of the English version of the book as "they contained sanitary installations, popularly known as commons, comunes."

11. A good example of the current trend to debate period Spanish terms can be found in the series of articles written by Thomas Ricks Lindley and Dr. James Crisp in The Alamo Journal.

12. Historical artist, Gary S. Zaboly, in his Alamo overview illustrations for Stephen Hardin's award winning book, Texian Iliad (Austin, University of Texas Press, 1994) interprets Sanchez-Navarro's #16 on the "vista" plat as a series of hornos (bee hive ovens). Zaboly has since changed his interpretation, concluding that these are in fact, the sinks. Sanchez-Navarro shows the kitchens as being attached to the South Barrack.

13. The two best modern interpretations of the 1836 Alamo, using all of the various plats are Gary Zaboly's and George Nelson's which appear on the new Wall of History display at the Alamo. Oddly enough, the set designed by art director Al Ybarra for the 1960 film, "The Alamo," which attempted to replicate the 1836 Alamo, was correct in its placement of the bathrooms. The movie set, now called Alamo Village, is located on the ranch of the late James T. "Happy" Shahan outside of Brackettville, Texas. This location of the bathrooms there is the same as the comunes Sanchez-Navarro placed at the real San Antonio site.

14. In 1994-1995, Frank Buschbacher, an amateur researcher, acting on information he had received from a faith-healer in Mexico, commenced a project to find the 1836 Alamo well. Buschbacher was convinced that James Bowie had placed silver he had taken from the old Spanish silver mine at Mission San Saba down the Alamo well for safe keeping. The placement of this silver, according to this theory, was the main reason the Texians defended the Alamo and why Santa Anna was so intent on capturing it. Buschbacher received support from San Antonio mayor Bill Thornton, and with St. Mary's University Archaeological department. The resulting dig, which was supported by T-Shirt sales and an exclusive film rights agreement with the television program, Unsolved Mysteries, produced few historical artifacts and no well.

15. For more on the modern Alamo bathrooms see the Alamo Water Closet file in the collection of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library at the Alamo.