EVANS, ROBERT (1800-1836). Robert Evans, ordnance chief of the Alamo garrison, was born in Ireland in 1800 and traveled to Texas from New York by way of New Orleans. After the siege of Bexar (December 1835) he served as master of ordnance of the Bexar garrison. Susanna W. Dickinson stated that during the final moments of the battle of the Alamo (March 6, 1836) Evans attempted to blow up the Texans' remaining supply of gunpowder with a torch. He was shot down before he could do so. Dickinson also described him as being black-haired, blue-eyed, nearly six feet tall, and always merry.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Daughters of the American Revolution, The Alamo Heroes and Their Revolutionary Ancestors (San Antonio, 1976). Daughters of the Republic of Texas, Muster Rolls of the Texas Revolution (Austin, 1986). Bill Groneman, Alamo Defenders (Austin: Eakin, 1990). Walter Lord, A Time to Stand (New York: Harper, 1961; 2d ed., Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1978).
