These are Texas - Size Heroes. Read about them, comment on them and
last, but not least, Remember them!
William B. Travis
In May 1831, upon his arrival in Mexican Texas, a part of
Northern Mexico at the time, Travis purchased land from Stephen F.
Austin and started a law practice in Anahuac. He played a role in
the growing friction between American settlers and the Mexican
government and was one of the leaders of the "War Party," a group
of militants opposed to Mexican rule. He became a pivotal figure in
the Anahuac Disturbances, which helped to precipitate the war.
The Texas Revolution started in October 1835 at the Battle of
Gonzales. Travis took a small part in the Siege of Bexar in
November. On 19 December, Travis was commissioned as a lieutenant
colonel of the Legion of Cavalry and became the chief recruiting
officer for the Texan army. This force was to consist of 384 men
and officers, divided into six companies. Despite his rank, Travis
now had to actively recruit the men who were to serve under his
command, and he had a hard time finding willing colonists to
enlist. "Volunteers can no longer be had or relied upon ...," he
wrote to acting governor Henry Smith.
Smith ordered Travis to raise a company to reinforce the Texians
at the Alamo Mission in San Antonio. Travis seriously considered
disobeying his orders, writing to Smith: "I am willing, nay
anxious, to go to the defense of Bexar, but sir, I am unwilling to
risk my reputation ... by going off into the enemy's country with
such little means, so few men, and with them so badly
equipped."
On February 3 Travis arrived in San Antonio with eighteen men as
reinforcements. On 12 February, as the next highest ranking
officer, Travis became the official commander of the Alamo
garrison. He took command of the regular soldiers from Col. James
C. Neill, of the Texian army. Neill had to leave to care for his
ill family, but he promised to be back in twenty days. James Bowie
(1795-1836) would command the volunteers as Travis commanded the
regulars.
The Mexican army, under dictator/General Antonio López de Santa
Anna, began its attack on the mission on February 23, 1836. In a
brief letter to the alcade of Gonzales, Andrew Ponton, Travis
wrote:
"The enemy in large force is in sight... We want men and
provisions ... Send them to us. We have 150 men & are
determined to defend the Alamo to the last."
In a letter to the Texas Convention on March 3: "...yet I am
determined to perish in the defence of this place, and my bones
shall reproach my country for her neglect." In Travis' last letter
out of the Alamo, March 3< /span> to David Ayres:
"Take care of my little boy. If the country should be saved, I
may make him a splendid fortune; but if the country should be lost,
and I should perish, he will have nothing but the proud
recollection that he is the son of a man who died for his
country."
There is a legend that, one to three days before the final
Mexican assault, Travis gathered all of the Alamo's defenders in
the main plaza of the fort. Announcing that reinforcements would
not be forthcoming, Travis unsheathed his sword and drew a line in
the dirt. He then told those men who were willing to stay and die
with him to cross the line; those who wanted to leave could do so
without shame. Most of the Alamo's defenders subsequently crossed
the line, leaving only two men behind. One soldier, Bowie, was
confined to a cot with typhoid, but asked to be carried across the
line. The other was a French veteran of the Napoleonic Wars named
Moses Rose. Rose, who later declared, "By God, I wasn't ready to
die," scaled a wall that night and escaped, thus preserving the
story of Travis's line in the sand. This account was told by Rose
to numerous people later in his life.
On March 6, 1836, following a thirteen-day siege, Travis, Bowie,
David Crockett, and James Bonham were killed in a predawn attack
along with about 188-250 other defenders during the Battle of the
Alamo. The Mexicans overran the fort, surrounded it, used ladders
to climb over the walls and broke down the fort's defenses. There
are reports that Travis died early in the assault, of a single
gunshot wound to the forehead while defending the north wall. Joe,
a freed former slave to Travis, who was present during the final
assault as a noncombatant, stated afterward that he saw Travis
stand on the wall and fire into the attackers. He then saw Travis
shot, then saw Travis kill a Mexican soldier climbing over the wall
from a ladder, with Travis falling immediately afterward. This is
the only dependable account of Travis' death.
When Santa Anna came into the fort he asked the alcalde of San
Antonio, Francisco A. Ruiz, to identify the bodies of the rebel
leaders to him. Ruiz later said that the body of Travis was found
on a gun carriage on the north wall. Within a few hours of the
final gunshots being fired, Santa Anna ordered a company of
dragoons to gather wood and burn all the Texians' bodies. By five
o'clock that evening, t he bodies of Travis, Crockett, Bowie and
Bonham were burned along with the other defenders.
UPDATE: OCTOBER 24, 2009 Several people have been unable to locate
the final stage because they missed a few of the ABC stage
coordinates. The bonus cache is now at the specified location. In
order to log this bonus cache, you MUST first locate and sign both
bonus stage caches! Happy caching!