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Travis pens his famous letter from the Alamo
On this day in 1836, William Barret Travis, commanding the Texans under
attack in the Alamo, wrote his famous letter addressed "To the People of
Texas and All Americans in the World." In the letter, he pledged that he
would "never surrender or retreat" and swore "Victory or Death." The
predominant message, however, was an entreaty for help: "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." Travis knew that his
men, besieged by Mexican forces under Martín Perfecto de Cos, could not
hold out long without reinforcements. Inspired by his letter, more
troops did make their way to San Antonio, but too few and too late to
avert disaster. Travis was among the first to die in the battle of the
Alamo, on March 6.
- Links to Related Handbook of Texas Online Articles
- TRAVIS, WILLIAM BARRET
- ALAMO, BATTLE OF THE
- ALAMO
- TEXAS REVOLUTION
- Other Texas Day by Day Articles for This Date
- Future Texas leader born in Sweden (1861)
- Rangers sent to Wiley College in response to student demonstrations (1969)
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