One of the most famous defenders of Texas liberty was Lieutenant Colonel William Barett Travis, a young adventurer from South Carolina. He was educated and served in a militia company before coming to Texas and putting out his shingle as a lawyer. He quickly joined the ranks of the "War Hawks" who favored a military solution to the problems with the government in Mexico City. When the Texas Revolution finally broke out he was commissioned as an officer in the Texas artillery but despite his best efforts, missed the opening battle of Gonzales. He went to San Antonio and soon became well-known in the high command of the Texas army. The provisional government promoted Travis to Lieutenant Colonel of cavalry in the regular army of Texas.
In 1836 Colonel Travis took his handful of regulars to San Antonio and assumed joint command of the garrison with the vollunteer colonel Jim Bowie. In late February the Mexican Army of Operations arrived in San Antonio and the Texans barricaded themselves inside the old Alamo mission. Bowie soon fell ill and Travis was left in sole command of the small garrison which was being surrounded by an army ten times as large. He wrote his eloquent and patriotic letters that spoke to the world of the Alamo's plight and the struggle for Texas liberty.
"I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of liberty, of patriotism, and everything dear to the American character to come to our aid with all dispatch...If this call is neglected I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor and that of his country. Victory or Death." In another letter, when hope of support seemed lost Travis wrote prophetically that his bones would admonish the country for their neglect.
In the early morning hours of March 6, 1836 the Mexican trumpets sounded the signal for no mercy and 2,000 soldiers rushed the walls of the Alamo fortress. Travis rushed to the north wall and in a few minutes was possibly the first Texan defender to fall. He was hit in the forehead by a musket ball but took several minutes to die, killing a Mexican officer with his saber before expiring. All 185 Texan defenders were killed or executed, stacked in piles and burned. True to his words Travis and his noble garrison inspired the world with their bravery and shamed the Texan government for their indecisivness. William Travis became a martyr in the cause of Texas independence and a legend in the state's history. |
