Posted on 02/23/2013 8:22:03 PM PST by Rabin
When it left the Alamo in the dark of night 177 years ago, William Barret Travis' "Victory or Death" letter had to be slipped past the Mexican army before courier Albert Martin could deliver the besieged commander's stirring call for help that never came.
(Excerpt) Read more at star-telegram.com ...
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 Barrett 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 ++++++++
R.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/texdec.asp
“The Mexican government, by its colonization laws, invited and induced the Anglo-American population of Texas to colonize its wilderness under the pledged faith of a written constitution, that they should continue to enjoy that constitutional liberty and republican government to which they had been habituated in the land of their birth, the United States of America.
In this expectation they have been cruelly disappointed, inasmuch as the Mexican nation has acquiesced in the late changes made in the government by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who having overturned the constitution of his country, now offers us the cruel alternative, either to abandon our homes, acquired by so many privations, or submit to the most intolerable of all tyranny, the combined despotism of the sword and the priesthood.
...
It has demanded us to deliver up our arms, which are essential to our defence, the rightful property of freemen, and formidable only to tyrannical governments.
...
It has, through its emissaries, incited the merciless savage, with the tomahawk and scalping knife, to massacre the inhabitants of our defenseless frontiers.
Well, it's nice to see somethings never change. /s
Thanks for posting. My great-great-great uncle was one of the few who answered the call to reinforce the Alamo — the Immortal 32!
The Alamo....Back when men of backbone stood up to tyrants and answered the call to fight for freedom.
I had two ancestors who fought in the Texas Revolution. One was a Colonel in the Texian army (later a rep in the Republic’s Congress and Secretary of the Navy). He was also the grandson and great-grandson of American Revolution Virginia patriots.
We have lost most of what these men fought, bled and died for.
Travis, Bowie, Crockett....Americans by birth. Texians by choice. Also at the Alamo were Mexicans by birth and Texians by choice. And numerous other countris were represented. All sought liberty.
Proud to be an American but prouder to be born Texan!
Terry, “at the Alamo were Mexicans by birth.”
In the rip, the blood is all red, valor, is of a single language. If your ever down in Texas do a quiet week @ Alamo. Its like The Custer in Montana. It will Change you, for the better.
Rab loves Mexicans.
Its hard to imagine more patriotism and love of Liberty than voluntarily going into a situation like the Alamo.
All Texans and patriotic Americans are indebted to your Great Great Great uncle.
.Thanks for posting. God Bless Texas - Fighting terrorism since 1836!
DU seriously mourns this. They’d have preferred no anglos and the southern US always be a part of Mexico. It’s getting to the point that’ll it will be that way again, sadly. And they wanted it for the natives before that. Back to the 3rd world for 1/3 of the country. That’s what the left wants.
Thirty-two of our men heroically volunteered at the Alamo and died there.....one of them, of course, Davy Crockett.
If you've never visisted there, it should be on your 'must visit' list....
There is a sense of awe and chill bump patriotism when you step into the inner sanctum where many died.----People are very reverent.---These men deserve our honor and respect!
Been to the Alamo many times. Definitely something special about that place. Many new visitors are surprised when they see the national birthplaces of those 187 brave men.
Many historians point out that Travis and his men did not know of the Declaration of Independence having been signed at Washington on the Brazos. So, they were not fighting for a “new country”. They were fighting for what they had been promised.
Was it a sword or flag that George Bush felt the need to give back to Mexico? Whatever it was, one good turn deserves another.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/alamo/article/Bring-back-the-flag-1115613.php
But take out the word “temporary”.
You can stand right where Crockett fell. Ms. Dickinson said she recognized the coon skin cap on the body as she walked past. So, this crap about him surrendering and trying to convince the Mexicans he was a tourist is just that. Crap! If he had been taken alive Santa Ana would have used him to bargain with since he was convinced the U.S. Government was behind the whole thing.
..the servant left behind who is the eye witness to Crockett's heroic death....
.. or the Mexican Army.....or even worse, tag along reporters
REMEMBER THE ALAMO!
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