Although the smoke has cleared from April’s Battle of San Jacinto reenactment, two of its biggest stars will be celebrated during a dedication ceremony conducted by members of the University of Houston College of Technology.

The replicas of the famed Twin Sisters cannons will be honored during a ceremony at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, May 26, at the San Jacinto Museum of History in La Porte. In 1985, students and alumni from the college created these two cannons, which are duplicates of the actual weapons used during the Battle of San Jacinto in 1836 and the Civil War’s Battle of Galveston in 1863.

Recently two College of Technology faculty members – Fred Lewallen, associate dean for academic affairs, and Curtis Johnson, professor emeritus – were asked by the museum to refurbish the cannons to ensure their safe operation during the 2005 Battle of San Jacinto reenactment.

“I couldn’t help but think about Texas history when working on these cannons,” Johnson said. “Although they’re replicas, I thought about how cannons just like these were used to secure the freedom of Texas.”

During the dedication ceremony, Lewallen and Johnson will be joined by William Fitzgibbon, college dean. Members of the Texas Army are tentatively scheduled to participate.

Mike Emery
memery@central.uh.edu