On this day in 1836 a 26 year old William Barret Travis, Commander of a group of Texians who had fortified abandoned Spanish Mission they called the Alamo, wrote a plea reinforcements in the face of a siege by overwhelming forces in the command of General Antonio López de Santa Anna.

The Letter is considered by some to be one of the finest examples of prose in the English Language.

God bless the fallen heroes of Texas!
Remember The Alamo!

The text of that letter follows. It retains Travis' spelling and format.

Commandancy of the The Alamo

Bejar, Feby. 24th. 1836

To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World-

Fellow Citizens & compatriots-

I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna - I have sustained a continual Bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & have not lost a man - The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken - I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls - I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch - The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country - Victory or Death.

William Barret Travis.

Lt. Col.comdt.

P. S. The Lord is on our side - When the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn - We have since found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels and got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves.

Travis

When they finally captured Santa Anna, they should have exacted appropriate retribution.

Grizz

Makes me wonder. What percentage of men today would fight to the death rather than surrender. I fear we have become a nation of weaklings.

Dave

nopride 2 you are partially correct. There has been an advance in a nation of pussies,but don't lose faith,there are still a LOT of good men + women out there you are willing to lay it down on the line.Thanks for posting Rusty. We Texicans are proud of our heritage.The Alamo is sancrosanct.

For those that enjoy reading or listening to Audio Books and are interested in the history of Texas during the period leading up to the Alamo and San Jacinto, you might want to check out "Lone Star Rising" by William C. Davis.

Really interesting account of those times.

Thank you Rusty for posting the letter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eyu3OIn5A00

You're right Randle' that is a great book, For someone wanting a great novel on the same vein I recommend "Gates Of The Alamo" by Stephen Harrigan. I met him during a book signing + he is very knowledgable on the subject plus writes a good entertaining book.

Grizz, don't know this for a fact, but I read some years ago that when Santa Anna was captured some of our men had to be stopped from nailing his cojones to a stump and pushing him over backwards. GW

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Grizz, don't know this for a fact, but I read some years ago that when Santa Anna was captured some of our men had to be stopped from nailing his cojones to a stump and pushing him over backwards. GW

From all the sources I have checked out over the years, that is pretty accurate. Many folks wanted revenge for the Alamo and Goliad and actually it was a miracle that Santa Anna was not killed when the troops figured out who he was.

My ancestors did not come to Texas from Georgia until some time in the 1840s, but I still appreciate the history very deeply.

At the battle of San Jacinto,Deaf Smith rode his dun pony along the bank shouting to the Texan soldiers concerning the Mexicans who wanted to surrender. "Take prisoners like the mexicans do.Remember the Alamo."It was a slaughter,but then if you have ever been in San Jacinto in April you would understand.100 degrees,100% humidity,mosquitos out the ass,+ a bunch of already pissed off men.

The Alamo is one of the most moving places I have ever visited. It is so much smaller than I had imagined. So much history there.

This is a really good short read which covers San Jacinto and the aftermath of the Alamo.

http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/cc...tt/batsanjacinto.htm

From the above:

quote:

General Houston, realizing that his few hundred green troops were no match for the well-drilled hordes from Mexico, evacuated Gonzales and had the rear guard put the town to the torch. The Texans crossed the Colorado River on the 17th at Jesse Burnam's, and camped there for two days. Then the army resumed its march down the east bank to Benjamin Beason's crossing, some twenty miles below, near the present town of Columbus. Camp was pitched at Beason's on the 20th. Had the retreating column been fifty miles farther south, the troops might have heard the distant rumble and crackle of gunfire. On March 19, Colonel James Walker Fannin Jr., commanding about 450 volunteers withdrawing from Goliad toward Victoria, was defeated in battle on Coleto Creek by General Jos� Urrea's forces (photo at left) of 1200 infantry and 700 cavalry. Fannin surrendered. On Palm Sunday, March 27, he and 352 of his men were marched out on the roads near Goliad and brutally shot down, by order of Santa Anna.

Being a Texas Freemason I consider the Alamo as a shrine for more than one reason. There were approximately eleven known Freemasons there that we know of including David Crockett and Jim Bowie.

The principal reason Sam Houston would not allow Santa Anna to be harmed was he was to used as a political prisoner for several years to prevent any Mexican army from invading Texas again.

Santa Anna's leg is in the Illinois military museum. Didn't realize he had a wooden leg till fairly recently, but he went on to return as Mexico's president president till the Mexican American war and the leg was captured by American forces when he fled.

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/18808

Grizz

Other Alamo defenders who were Freemasons were commander William Barrett Travis, James Bonham, and Alamaron Dickenson. Dickenson's wife and small child were given safe passage out of the Alamo because she wore her husbands masonic apron over her head.

Susanna Dickenson moved to Austin,then her house was owned by O. Henry. It is an historical landmark + the site of the annual O.Henry 'pun-offs'. Santa Anna was a dictator (or in power,however you want to say it) for 11 times. That's a record. The reason for his success is that he was from Vera Cruz. When the opposition got bad he would retreat to Vera Cruz + the following adversaries would die by the thousands due to the malaria that the Cruzanos were used to.

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Originally posted by nopride2:
Makes me wonder. What percentage of men today would fight to the death rather than surrender. I fear we have become a nation of weaklings.

Dave

I am not persuaded we are. I was in Cairo when the militants murdered our men in Benghazi as Hillary and Obama sat on their hands. The bravery there and by our marines in Cairo when the embassy was att led the same day gave me great in our people, but not in some of our leaders like Kerry, Clintons (both), Pelosi, Reed, Obama and their ilk.

Dogcat,I agree wholeheartedly,can we have a standing ovation?

God Bless Texas..As a native son of Texas and proud to no end of it..

My great grandfather was on my fathers side was burned alive by Apaches in the desert of El Paso, my grandfather on my mothers side was a Texas Ranger on the famous Nueaces strip, My great grandfather on dads side was a civil war hero and his tombstone in Mullen,Tex reflects that, furthmore he was on the first grand jury in Goldwaite,County Tex. where they hung 37 cattle rustlers and murderers..I have historical pictures of my grandfather on moms side as a Texas Ranger dragging dead bandits they had shot to funeral fires on the King ranch, The didn't have shovels and burned the bodies to prevent desease..I have pictures of this and of the grand jury..I have all of moms dad Texas Rangern guns, all first year of production Winchesters and Colt pistols, and Ranger documentation, and documentation of his shooting a notorious bank robber between Marfa and Presidio and his impression of the Catarina war in So. Texas. In his later years he was a deputy sheriff in Marfa, tex. I have a lot of historical documentation. Im am a Texas history buff. My collection at some point soon, probabl m next trip to Texas will go into the Texas hall of fame..