WILLIAM BARRET

TRAVIS
Victory or Death

No. 4 of 7

Copyright 2015 by Texas State Historical Association

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TABLE OF
CONTENTS
Chapter 1 William Barret Travis
Chapter 2 Joe
Chapter 3 Anahuac Disturbances
Chapter 4 Angelina Elizabeth Dickinson
Chapter 5 Travis Guards and Rifles
Chapter 6 Camp Travis
Chapter 7 Travis: A Potential Sam Houston

William Barret Travis

William Barret Travis, Texas commander at the ba#le of the Alamo, was
the eldest of eleven children of Mark and Jemima (Stallworth) Travis. At the
?me of his birth the family lived on Mine Creek near the Red Bank
community, which centered around the Red Bank Bap?st Church in
Edgeeld District, near Saluda, Saluda County, South Carolina. There is
some confusion regarding the date and circumstances of his birth. Many
sources give the date as August 9, others as August 1, 1809. The family
Bible, however, records the former date. Others have confused the date of
his birth with that of his elder,
and illegi?mate, half-brother,
Toliferro Travis. The rst
Travers, or Travis, to sePle in
North America landed in
Jamestown, Virginia, in 1627.
Edward Travers became a
member of the house of
burgesses and amassed
signicant holdings of land.

Travis Family Bible.

Subsequent genera?ons of the family driXed southward to the Carolinas,

where Barrick or Barrot Travers established a farm in the Edgeeld District.

Somewhere in the journey Travers became Travis, and Barrot came to be
spelled Barret. Barrot Travis's sons, Alexander and Mark, became farmers,
and Alexander also became a prominent clergyman.

Travis's boyhood centered around the work of the family farm, aPendance
at the Red Bank church, home schooling, and playing with area
children. James Butler Bonham, who also served in the defense of the
Alamo, was one of these, but it is dicult to establish a strong rela?onship
between Bonham and Travis in these early years. Alexander Travis, the
family patriarch, traveled to Alabama in 1817 and decided to move the
en?re family to Conecuh County the next year. There they helped found the
The William B.
Travis House at
Perdue Hill,
Monroe County,
Alabama.
Courtesy of Je
Reed
Photography.

communi?es of Sparta and Evergreen. Travis aPended an academy in

Sparta un?l he learned all that was taught there; then Alexander Travis
enrolled his nephew in a school in nearby Claiborne, Alabama. Travis
eventually assisted in the instruc?on of the younger students. James Dellet
(DelleP, DeleP), the

leading aPorney in Claiborne, accepted Travis as an appren?ce. Under his

instruc?on Travis became an aPorney and partner, and for a brief ?me
operated a joint oce across the river at Gosport, Alabama. On October
26, 1828, Travis married Rosanna Cato, one of the students he had helped
to teach, when he was twenty years old. Their rst child,
Charles Edward Travis, was born on August 8, 1829. For a year Travis gave
every evidence that he intended to remain in Claiborne. He began the
publica?on of a newspaper, the Claiborne Herald, joined the Masonic
order at Alabama Lodge No. 3, and accepted a posi?on as adjutant of the
Twenty-sixth Regiment, Eighth Brigade, Fourth Division, of the Alabama
Mili?a. A year later he abandoned his wife, son, and unborn daughter
(Susan Isabella) and departed for Texas. The story has been told that
Travis suspected his wife of indelity, doubted his parenthood of her
unborn child, and killed a man because of it. The story is probably correct,
given its persistence, but hard evidence of it is lacking.

Travis arrived in Texas early in 1831, aXer the Law of April 6, 1830, made
his immigra?on illegal. He arrived at San Felipe de Aus?n, and on May 21
obtained land from Stephen F. AusGn. He listed his marital status as
single, although he was s?ll married. He established a legal prac?ce in
Anahuac, a signicant port of entry located on the eastern end of
Galveston Bay. The purpose of the move there was to establish himself in
an area where there were few aPorneys while he learned the ocial
language, Spanish. He traveled the country doing legal work and became
associated with a group of militants who opposed the Law of April 6,
6

1830, Bradburn, a Kentuckian in the service of Mexico. Bradburn enforced

the an?-immigra?on law, refused to allow state ocials to alienate land
to American sePlers arriving aXer the passage of the law, and allegedly
used materials and slaves belonging to the sePlers to build his camp.

The principal dispute at Anahuac occurred in 1832, when
William M. Logan of Louisiana engaged Travis to secure the return of
runaway slaves being harbored by Bradburn. Logan returned to Louisiana
for proof of ownership and threatened Bradburn that he also would
return with help. Travis alarmed Bradburn with a note passed to a sentry
that Logan had returned with a large force. Bradburn turned out his en?re
garrison to search for Logan, who, of course, was nowhere near the area.
Suspec?ng Travis as the perpetrator of the prank, Bradburn sent soldiers
to his law oce to arrest Travis and his partner, Patrick C. Jack. They were
held in a guardhouse and later in two brick kilns. Word of their arrest
spread, and men assembled to demand their release. The group draXed
the Turtle Bayou ResoluGons, which pledged their loyalty to the states'
rights ConsGtuGon of 1824, but not to the current Centralist regime, and
demanded the release of the prisoners. John Aus?n traveled to Velasco to
obtain a cannon to force Bradburn to comply. Col. Jos de las Piedras,
commander at Nacogdoches, hurried to Anahuac. Although in sympathy
with Bradburn, he realized that the Mexican forces were outnumbered.
He ordered Travis and Jack released to civil authori?es, who soon
released them altogether. This incident began the
Anahuac Disturbances of 1832, which resulted in armed clashes at
Velasco and Nacogdoches later that
7

summer and produced the

conven?ons of 1832 and
1833 with their pe??ons for repeal
of the Law of April 6, 1830, and
separate statehood. Travis moved
his legal prac?ce to San Felipe in
the aXermath of the clash at
Anahuac. In 1834 he was elected
secretary to the
ayuntamiento there and was
accepted, despite his youth, into
the councils of government. He
also met Rebecca (Rebeca)
Cummings, who lived at Mill

Sites of Major Events in the

Texas Revolu?on.

Creek, and began a courtship that resulted in a decision to marry once

Travis was divorced. Rosanna Travis began divorce proceedings against
her husband in 1834, charging him with deser?on. They were divorced in
the fall of 1835, and she remarried early the next year. She had permiPed
Charles Edward Travis to move to Texas, where he lived with the family of
David Ayers, so that he could be near his father. Travis may not have
known when the divorce became nal, for he became embroiled in the
rapidly moving events of the Texas RevoluGon in July 1835, and was
constantly occupied un?l his death. In any event, he made no aPempt to
marry Rebecca Cummings.

AXer Stephen F. Aus?n carried the pe??on of the Conven?on of 1833 to

the government in Mexico City and was incarcerated, fears for his safety
cooled poli?cs in Texas un?l the summer of 1835. By then
Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna had asserted full Centralist authority and
reestablished a customhouse and military garrison at Anahuac under the
command of Capt. Antonio Tenorio. A war group led by
James B. Miller met and authorized Travis to return to Anahuac to expel
Tenorio. In late June, Travis led some twenty-ve men by way of
Harrisburg and Galveston Bay on an amphibious assault on Tenorio's
posi?on and captured the Mexican
soldiers easily. The ac?on
alarmed the peace party, and
for several months Travis was
regarded by many Texans as a
troublemaker. Gen.
MarXn Perfecto de Cos,
Mexican military commander
in the north, moved his
command to San Antonio. He
branded Travis and the other
par?sans at Anahuac outlaws
and demanded that the Texans
surrender them for military

Marin Perfecto de Cos.

trial.

Replica of Gonzales Cannon at the Gonzales Memorial Museum

When Cos demanded the surrender of the
Gonzales "come and take it" cannon in October 1835, Travis joined the
hundreds of Texans who hastened there, but arrived too late to take part
in the ac?on. He remained with the mili?a and accompanied it to besiege
Bexar. He served as a scout in a cavalry unit commanded by
Randal Jones and later commanded a unit himself. He did not remain at
San Antonio through the nal assault in early December, but returned to
San Felipe. He advised the Consulta?on on the organiza?on of cavalry for
the army but turned down a commission as a major of ar?llery. He later
accepted a commission as a lieutenant colonel of cavalry and became the
chief recrui?ng ocer for the army. Governor Henry Smith ordered Travis
to recruit 100 men and

10

reinforce Col. James C. Neill at San Antonio in January 1836. Travis was
able to recruit only twenty-nine men, and because he was embarrassed
he requested to be relieved. When Smith insisted, Travis reported to Neill
and within a few days found himself in command of about Xy men when
Neill took leave. When James Bowie arrived with 100 volunteers, he and
Travis quarreled over command. They were able to eect an uneasy truce
of joint command un?l Bowie's illness and injury from a fall forced him to
bed.

Travis directed the prepara?on of San Antonio de Valero Mission, known
as the Alamo, for the an?cipated arrival of Santa Anna and the main
command of the Mexican army. With engineer Green B. Jameson he
strengthened the walls, constructed palisades to ll gaps, mounted
cannons, and stored provisions inside the fortress. He also wrote lePers
to ocials reques?ng reinforcements, but only the thirty-ve men came
from Gonzales to his relief, thus raising the number of the Alamo's
defenders to approximately 183. Travis's lePer addressed "To the People
of Texas and All Americans in the World," wriPen on February 24, two
days aXer Santa Anna's advance arrived in San Antonio, brought more
than enough help to Texas from the United States, but it did not arrive in
?me. When Santa Anna had his forces ready, he ordered an assault on the
Alamo. This occurred just before dawn on March 6, 1836. The Mexicans
overpowered the Texans within a few hours. Travis died early in the baPle
from a single bullet in the head. His body and those of the other
defenders were burned. The nature of Travis's death elevated him from a

11

Layout of the Alamo mission prior to the

BaPle of the Alamo on March 2, 1836.
mere commander of an obscure garrison to a genuine hero of Texas and
American history.

12

Joe

Joe, slave of William B. Travis and one of the few Texan survivors of
the ba#le of the Alamo, was born about 1813. He was listed as a resident
of Harrisburg in May 1833. Joe claimed that when Gen. Antonio Lpez de
Santa Anna's troops stormed the Alamo on March 6, 1836, he armed
himself and followed Travis from his quarters into the baPle, red his gun,
then retreated into a building from which he red several more ?mes. AXer
the baPle, Mexican troops searched the buildings within the Alamo and
called for any blacks to reveal themselves. Joe did so and was struck by a
pistol shot and bayonet thrust before a Mexican captain intervened. Sam,
James Bowie's slave, was also reported to have survived the baPle, but no
further record of him is known to exist. Joe was taken into Bexar, where he
was detained. He observed a grand review of the Mexican army before
being interrogated by Santa Anna about Texas and its army. Accounts of his
departure from the Alamo dier, but he later joined
Susanna W. Dickinson and her escort, Ben, Santa Anna's black cook, on
their way to Gen. Sam Houston's camp at Gonzales. On March 20, Joe was
brought before the Texas Cabinet at Groce's Retreat and ques?oned about
events at the Alamo. William F. Gray reported that Joe impressed those
present with

the modesty, candor, and clarity of his account. AXer his report to the
Texas Cabinet, Joe was returned to Travis's estate near Columbia, where
he remained un?l April 21, the rst anniversary of the
ba#le of San Jacinto. On that day, accompanied by an uniden?ed
Mexican man and taking two fully equipped horses with him, he escaped.
A no?ce oering Xy dollars for his return was published by the executor
of Travis's estate in the Telegraph and Texas Register on May 26, 1837.
Presumably Joe's escape was successful, for the no?ce ran three months
before it was discon?nued on August 26, 1837. Joe was last reported in
Aus?n in 1875.

14

Anahuac Disturbances

Two major events at Anahuac, in 1832 and 1835, upset those who wanted
to maintain the status quo with Mexican authori?es and thus helped to
precipitate the Texas RevoluGon. Both dicul?es centered around the
collec?on of customs by the na?onal government of Mexico.

Col. Juan Davis Bradburn and approximately forty ocers and men landed
at the blu overlooking the mouth of the Trinity, called Perry's Point, on
October 26, 1830, with orders to establish a garrison and a town. The
garrison was originally chosen as a protected, strategic point from which to
prevent smuggling on the Trinity and San Jacinto rivers; accordingly, it also
aided the collector of customs, George Fisher, aXer he arrived in November
1831, to collect na?onal taris and prevent smuggling. Bradburn was also
charged with preven?ng the entrance of immigrants from the United States
in accord with the recently passed Law of April 6, 1830, which was
designed to encourage Mexican and European sePlement of Texas and to
restrict Anglo-American sePlement.

The rst trouble for Bradburn came in January 1831, when a stateappointed land commissioner, Jos Francisco Madero, arrived to issue
?tles to those residents of the lower Trinity who had sePled prior to 1828.
Although both the state and na?onal governments had previously
approved gran?ng ?tles, Bradburn believed that the Law of April 6, 1830,
had annulled the earlier grants. The maPer was complicated by poli?cs
because Bradburn represented the Centralist administra?on, which
believed in a strong central government and weak states, and Madero
stood for the opposi?on, the states'-rights-minded Federalists of northern
Mexico. Bradburn arrested Madero, but he was soon released by the
state authori?es, who appealed to Bradburn's superiors, and the land
commissioner quickly issued more than Xy ?tles to local residents before
he returned to his home near the Rio Grande. Madero also organized
an ayuntamiento at the Atascosito Crossing of the Trinity and named it
Villa de la Sanisima Trinidad de la Libertad, shortened to Liberty by Anglo
sePlers (see LIBERTY, TEXAS [Liberty County]). Although this was an act
within his powers, it roused the ire of Bradburn and the Centralists, who
saw it as a challenge to the na?onal government's control of the area.

Another crisis followed the visit of Gen. Manuel de Mier y Tern, the
commandant of the eastern interior provinces, in November 1831. He did
not want the ayuntamiento at Liberty and ordered it moved to Anahuac.
Because he did not approve of Anglo-American lawyers prac?cing before
the court without cer?ca?on from Mexican authori?es, he ordered

16

Bradburn to inspect their licenses. The general also ordered an inspec?on

of land ?tles. But his greatest oense, as far as the colonists were
concerned, was ordering George Fisher to begin collec?ng du?es from all
ships already in the Brazos River and Galveston Bay. The ship captains
complained about retroac?ve laws. Moreover, the assistant collector for
the Brazos had not yet arrived, and all vessels would have to clear their
papers at Anahuac for the ?me being. This arbitrary decision was
inconvenient for Brazos captains. Several leX the river without stopping
for clearance at the mouth, where a small number of soldiers were
garrisoned, and shots were exchanged between the ships and the troops.

Further trouble stemmed from Anglo-American animosity against
Bradburn and his troops, some of whom were former convicts sent to the
fron?er to do heavy construc?on work in order to earn their freedom. At
peak strength, Bradburn had fewer than 300 men under his command
both at Anahuac and at Fort Velasco on the Brazos, and of these probably
fewer than twenty were convicts. But Anglo neighbors aPributed pePy
thievery and an aPack against a woman to the presence of prisoners
among the military. Bradburn had also incorporated two or three
runaway slaves from Louisiana into his garrison. Mexico allowed
no slavery but had permiPed Aus?n's colonists to bring blacks in as
indentured servants; thus Bradburn acted correctly when the fugi?ves
applied for asylum. A slave catcher arrived but was unsuccessful in his
eorts to recover the Louisiana runaways, and he hired
William B. Travis to aPempt to recover the escaped slaves. Travis and his
law partner, Patrick C. Jack, had already
17

antagonized Bradburn by star?ng a civil mili?a, contrary to Mexican law,

to ght the "Indians," a euphemism for Mexican soldiers. Bradburn briey
incarcerated Jack for parading this mili?a. Later Travis decided to trick
Bradburn into releasing the runaway slaves. A man, perhaps Travis,
wrapped in a concealing cloak, delivered a note purportedly from an
acquaintance of the commander warning that a force of Louisianans was
on the march to recover the fugi?ves he was harboring. When he realized
that he had been given false informa?on, Bradburn arrested Jack and
Travis; because the jail was not adequately secure he placed them in an
empty brick kiln. Brazos valley hotheads organized a rescue force of
perhaps 200 men, who reached Turtle Bayou, six miles north of Anahuac,
on June 9, 1832. On their way, they captured Bradburn's en?re cavalry
force of nineteen men and held them hostage, planning to exchange them
for Travis and Jack and a couple of others Bradburn had arrested. AXer a
day of skirmishing, an exchange was arranged by the rebels, most of
whom withdrew to Turtle Bayou, where they released the captured
cavalrymen. When Bradburn discovered that not all the insurgents had
evacuated as they had promised, he refused to release his prisoners and
instead announced that he would re on the town. AXer a skirmish
between Bradburn's men and the remaining Anglos, the laPer also fell
back to Turtle Bayou to await the arrival of ar?llery. A large party bringing
the ordnance up from the Brazos sePlements met Mexican troops in a
major engagement at the ba#le of Velasco. Meanwhile, the party on
Turtle Bayou composed and signed the Turtle Bayou ResoluGons, which
explained their rebellion against Bradburn as part of the reform
18

movement of Federalist general Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna, who had

recently won a victory over administra?on forces at Tampico. The maPer
was resolved when Col. Jos de las Piedras, Bradburn's immediate
superior, arrived from Nacogdoches and, thinking he was outnumbered,
bowed to the wishes of the insurgents. He removed Bradburn, reinstalled
the ayuntamiento at Liberty, and turned over the Anglo-American
prisoners to this body. The prisoners were soon released, and aXer
Piedras leX, Travis, Jack, and the others returned to Anahuac, where they
incited the garrison to rebel against its Centralist ocers. A Federalist
ocer, Colonel Subarn, assumed command of the troops and, within a
month, boarded the garrison on ships and moved to the Rio Grande.
Merchants returned to Anahuac, and business con?nued without na?onal
taris un?l 1835, when the government sent collectors and support
troops back to Texas. The na?onal government depended en?rely upon
customs du?es for revenue, and Texas had to pay its share.
Andrew Briscoe, a local merchant, complained that the du?es were not
collected uniformly in all the ports and refused to cooperate at Anahuac.
He inten?onally tricked the new commander, Capt. Antonio Tenorio, by
loading his boat in such a manner as to excite curiosity, while stowing
bricks, not smuggled goods, in the hull. Tenorio, much aggravated,
arrested Briscoe and his associate, DeWi# Clinton Harris, on June 12, but
Tenorio's force of some forty troops was no match for the Anglo
response. When Travis learned of Briscoe's arrest, he raised volunteers
who marched to Harrisburg from the Brazos and commandeered a vessel
to sail for Anahuac. Tenorio surrendered on June 20, to twenty-ve Anglo
19

insurgents, who disarmed the government troops and returned with them
to Harrisburg. But Travis had acted without real community support. He
felt the necessity to make a public apology for his rash ac?ons in order to
keep from endangering Stephen F. AusGn, who was in Mexico City.

20

Angeline Elizabeth
Dickinson

Angelina Dickinson, called the Babe of the Alamo, daughter

of Almeron and Susanna (Wilkerson) Dickinson (also spelled Dickerson),
was born on December 14, 1834, in Gonzales, Texas. By early 1836 her
family had moved to San Antonio. On February 23, as the forces of
Gen. Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna entered the city, Dickinson reportedly
caught up his wife and daughter behind his saddle and galloped to the
Alamo, just before the enemy started ring. In the Alamo, legend
says William B. Travis ?ed his cat's-eye ring around Angelina's neck.
Angelina and Susanna survived the nal Mexican assault on March 6, 1836.
Though Santa Anna wanted to adopt Angelina, her mother refused. A few
days aXer the baPle, mother and child were released as messengers to
Gen. Sam Houston.

At the end of the revolu?on, Angelina and her mother moved to Houston.
Between 1837 and 1847 Susanna Dickinson married three ?mes. Angelina
and her mother were not, however, leX without resources. For their
par?cipa?on in the defense of the Alamo, they received a dona?on

cer?cate for 640 acres of land in 1839 and a bounty warrant for 1,920
acres of land in Clay County in 1855. In 1849, a resolu?on by
Representa?ve Guy M. Bryan for the relief of "the orphan child of the
Alamo" to provide funds for Angelina's support and educa?on failed. At
the age of seventeen, with her mother's encouragement, Angelina
married John Maynard Grith, a farmer from Montgomery County. Over
the next six years, the Griths had three children, but the marriage
ended in divorce. Leaving two of her children with her mother and one
with an uncle, Angelina driXed to New Orleans. Rumors spread of her
promiscuity.

Before the Civil War she became associated in Galveston with Jim BriPon,
a railroad man from Tennessee who became a Confederate ocer, and to
whom she gave Travis's ring. She is believed to have married Oscar
Holmes in 1864 and had a fourth child in 1865. Whether she ever married
BriPon is uncertain, but according to Flake's Daily Bulle1n, Angelina died
as "Em BriPon" in 1869 of a uterine hemorrhage in Galveston, where she
was a known courtesan.

22

Travis Guards and

Rifles

Several military units in Texas history have been named for

William B. Travis. The Travis Guards were organized at Aus?n on March 1,
1840, for home protec?on and speedy campaigns against the Indians.
Ocers were elected annually, and the rst roster listed as ocers a
captain, two lieutenants, four sergeants, four corporals, a secretary, and a
treasurer. In 1840, the group was called to San Antonio to repel Indians. On
December 8, 1841, the Guards escorted Sam Houston into Aus?n for his
second inaugura?on as president of the Republic of Texas. In August 1851,
aXer disintegra?on of the original unit, a volunteer infantry company called
the Travis Guards was organized at Aus?n to protect the fron?er.
John S. Ford was its captain. During the Civil War, in November 1861, an
infantry company called the Travis Ries was recruited in Travis County
by Samuel Rhoads Fisher and was mustered into the Confederate Army at
Victoria. The group formed Company G of the Sixth Texas Infantry. It was
sta?oned in Arkansas in 1862, was captured in January 1863, and was
imprisoned in Ohio and Illinois un?l May 1863, when the Texans were
exchanged and aPached to Pat Cleburne's division. They were again
captured and

imprisoned from November 1864 un?l July 1865. During the

Coke-Davis controversy at the close of the ReconstrucGon period, the
Travis Ries, organized at Aus?n in January 1873, under M. D. Mathew,
were called out to protect Edmund J. Davis, who refused to concede the
elec?on to Richard Coke. The company refused to obey the order to
protect Davis and instead captured the legisla?ve halls and protected the
inaugura?on of Coke as governor. Another group, organized on July 4,
1876, formed Company A of the Second Regiment of Infantry, Texas
Volunteer Guard, in 1890. In that year it was known as the Travis Ries,
though the preceding year it had been known as the Aus?n Greys.

24

Camp Travis

Shortly aXer the United States entered World War I, the war department
ordered the establishment of thirty-two divisional training camps-sixteen
tent camps for the Na?onal Guard and sixteen camps with wooden
buildings for the United States Army. Since the South Texas climate was
favorable to uninterrupted training, and since Camp Wilson could easily be
prepared to handle a division, San Antonio was chosen as one of the sites.
Camp Wilson was ve miles northeast of downtown San Antonio on the
northeastern adjacent boundary of Fort Sam Houston. In May 1916, it
became the mobiliza?on point for the Texas NaGonal Guard during the
Mexican border crisis. On July 15, 1917, aXer its selec?on as the training
site for the Nine?eth (Texas-Oklahoma) Division of the army, it was
renamed Camp Travis, in honor of Alamo hero William B. Travis. The camp
was ready for occupancy on August 25, 1917. Addi?onal land was
subsequently acquired for vital training facili?es, and numerous structures
were erected by the soldier welfare agencies. Camp Travis comprised
18,290 acres, of which 5,730 were on the main campsite adjoining Fort Sam
Houston.

The Nine?eth Division was organized at Camp Travis in September and

October of 1917. The ranking ocers, including Maj. Gen. Henry T. Allen,
the division and camp commander, were regular army ocers. The junior
ocers were primarily Texas and Oklahoma graduates of the ocertraining camp at Camp Funston. The enlisted personnel consisted of Texas
and Oklahoma draXees. Hispanics and Indians were intermixed with
Caucasians in the new draX division, but blacks were assigned to the
camp depot brigade. By mid-October 1917, the Nine?eth Division
numbered more than 31,000 ocers and men. Equipment shortages,
illness, and transfers to other commands interfered with training,
however. At the ?me the division departed for Europe in June 1918, it
was composed in considerable part of recent conscripts, many from states
other than Texas and Oklahoma. During General Allen's absence in the
late fall and winter of 191718, the division and camp were commanded
successively by brigadier generals Joseph A. Gaston and William H.
Johnston.

During the summer of 1918, Camp Travis served as an induc?on and
replacement center, with an average strength in July of about 34,000
white and black troops. In August and September the Eighteenth Division
was formed of old and new units at the post under the command of Brig.
Gen. George H. Estes. The Eighteenth was s?ll in training when the war
ended on November 11. On December 3, Camp Travis was named as a
demobiliza?on center. The facility was also designated a local recrui?ng
sta?on and a regional recruit depot in March 1919. Some 62,500 troops
26

were discharged at Camp Travis in about eight months. The camp then
became the home sta?on of the Second Division. Its service as a separate
en?ty was terminated, however, upon its absorp?on by Fort Sam Houston
in 1922.

27

SPECIAL BONUS ARTICLE FROM THE

Travis: A Potential Sam Houston

Written by Robert H. William Jr.
Volume 40, No. 2, October 1936

28

Travis: A Potential
Sam Houston

Inves?gators into the history of the Texas Revolu?on during recent years
have wriPen voluminously about the Alamo and its leader, William Barret
Travis; but an extensive search of history shelves has failed to reveal any
introspec?ve study of Travis, more than an occasional paragraph. This lack
is easily explained: Travis, though at ?mes ery and impulsive, apparently
kept his own counsel on personal maPers, exposing such emo?ons as
ambi?on and disillusionment only to the more silent Bonham, if to anyone
at all. Furthermore, Travis was scarcely to be called an outstanding gure
?ll the last few days of his life-and who was there to gather historical data
about him in perturbed revolu?onary Texas? Ruby Mixon, in her
unpublished thesis in the Texas University Library, did a highly
commendable job of gathering shreds of per?nent data and compiling
them into a biography from which the careful reader may reconstruct for
himself a sketchy drama?za?on of Travis during his few years in Texas.
Amelia Williams' admirable search into Alamo annals likewise presents
salient facts about Travis. But not much has been found that directly
exposes the aims, ambi?ons and emo?ons of Travis.

From the above men?oned sources and others it is my purpose to

aPempt briey to dene Travis' ambi?on and probable reasons for his
courses of ac?on to meet rapidly changing condi?ons during the last few
months of his meteoric career. It is hoped that the limited informa?on
available will not be considered inadequate for the deduc?ons, though
some deduc?ons depend on interpola?on. In speaking of Travis' selsh
ambi?on no conict is found with his patrio?sm, and no in?ma?on of
such conict is intended.

A much published manuscript called "CrockeP's Diary" quotes Colonel
William B. Travis as saying, when the handsome young Bee Keeper was
presented to him at the Alamo, "Give me ve hundred men like him and
I'll march to Mexico City." While the last part of this so-called diary is
rather generally considered spurious the remark nevertheless is worth
inves?ga?ng, partly because a good case can be made out in support of
such an ambi?on on the part of Travis, and partly because the
manuscript, if spurious, must have been wriPen within a few years aXer
Travis' death, to be marketed in Europe while Alamo copy was s?ll in
demand, and, showing evidence of research by the author, may be
accurate as to Travis' military dreams.

Did Travis, along with Aaron Burr and Sam Houston, dream of libera?ng
Texas and thereby establishing himself as the George Washington of a
new country? Some data are per?nent. One of the few available
comments on the character of Travis by a personal acquaintance says he
was very ambi?ous but put Texas before self. The commentator doesn't
30
say

whether Travis ambi?on was poli?cal or nancial or social; but much of

the man's ac?vi?es in Texas dealt with maPers of colonial poli?cs-and it
was he more than any other Texan who brought about the rise of the war
party. That he looked forward to wealth is indicated in his lePer to a
friend regarding the care of his liPle son, "If the country should be saved, I
may make him a splendid fortune. . . ." There is liPle indica?on that he
had any social ambi?on other than that aPending a good name.

A search of his lePers shows that he diploma?cally concealed selsh
ambi?on, if such he had; but a glimpse of his manoeuvres during the
Revolu?on leads to a plausible conclusion. Travis was a peaceful young
lawyer in Aus?n's colony, rapidly climbing in clientele and inuence, but
speaking his mind more and more forcefully in opposi?on to Mexican
tyranny. In May, 1832, Colonel Bradburn's imposi?ons irritated him to the
point of outspoken opposi?on; and from the ?me of his arrest and
imprisonment, as the probable "tall man, covered with a cloak," he was a
militant leader of the war party. In the spring of 1835 there was again
fric?on at Anahuac. On his own ini?a?ve Travis raised a small company of
volunteers and took the fort. He unhesita?ngly assumed authority to
demand and accept the surrender of the military forces, to take their
arms and send them back to Mexico on parole, like a duly appointed
general.
For a few weeks colonists were loud in denuncia?on of his "rash" act,
while Travis quietly, diploma?cally went about reestablishing himself in
the good graces of important men, without, however, compromising his
stand for military opposi?on.
1
31
Ruby Mixon, "Life and LePers of Travis." Manuscript, University of Texas.

In this colorful coup did Travis think he foresaw an opportunity to make

himself military leader of the opposi?on? And, believing as he did that
military ac?on, not councils, was the necessary course for Texas, did he
look forward to poli?cal leadership as the natural result of military
success? Without going into detail it may be pointed out that he had been
successful in building up a following, a strong personal following and a
considerable law clientele; and that he had unbounded self-assurance.
That he was "ambi?ous" already has been men?oned. To such a person,
with a weather eye out for opportuni?es, the foregoing deduc?on would
not be out of character and would not be illogical. In fact, it seems quite
plausible. He could more easily have sided with older colonial leaders in
protes?ng to the Mexican governor, instead of boldly assuming military
authority and rashly throwing the colonies into revolu?on. And aXer
taking the fort he might at least have asked for a council of these leaders
to authorize disposi?on of the prisoners and their arms. At that early
stage of the revolu?on he must have felt heavily the responsibility for
libera?ng his countrymen.

If Travis had calculated to precipitate revolu?on his aim was not too bad-the explosion only being delayed. Rapidly growing fric?on between the
colonists and Mexican authority brought about a landslide for the war
party, cri?cism of Travis subsiding, and he nding himself in a more
advantageous posi?on than before, as the diligent sponsor of the armed
opposi?on movement for liberty. He lost no ?me in furthering the cause
of the military. His posi?on must have looked rosy. But when Aus?n

32

returned from long imprisonment in Mexico and declared for military

resistance, there was no name but Aus?n on the lips of the colonists.
There is no evidence that, when an army was raised in October, Travis
objected to Aus?n's selec?on as commander-in-chief; it may be supposed
that he favored it. At least, he gave up a seat in the consulta?on, called
for October 15, in order to go with the army as a captain of scouts under
Aus?n. In this capacity, by the way, records show him to have been
extremely ac?ve, accomplishing a remarkable feat of courage, endurance
and determina?on to win, in his pursuit and capture of a Mexican
caballada of three hundred horses across the hard stretch of country past
the Nueces.

There is no record of Aus?n's having given his ac?vi?es any recogni?on
other than congratula?ons in a lePer ordering Travis back to
headquarters camp; and it seems probable that Travis, like many others
who craved ac?on, became impa?ent with the general's inac?vity before
Bexar. He may, quite conceivably, have been discouraged also at his lack
of advancement or recogni?on. At least he leX the army on November 26.
Not content, however, to go peacefully home and look aXer private
interests, as scores of other soldiers were doing, Travis immediately got in
touch with some of the council members and "at their request" drew up
and submiPed to Provisional Governor Henry Smith the proposal that a
cavalry unit be organized. It is obvious, on reec?on, that such a proposal
might have been submiPed by any one of the councilmen without wai?ng
to have Travis or any other soldier do it; and the assump?on may
33

therefore be made that such a unit was originally Travis' proposal. The
plan was submiPed early in December and on December 24, Governor
Smith authorized crea?on of the unit and commissioned Travis
"Lieutenant Colonel of the Legion of Cavalry"-this ?tle going with him to
the Alamo. What more potent bet could have been dreamed of as a
conquering war machine in those days, for either defense or invasion,
than a cavalry legion?

When the "Matamoras fever" began to rage, about the turn of the year,
Travis favored the expedi?on and was scheduled to par?cipate; but by
January 12, when Governor Smith authorized him to raise a hundred men
and relieve Colonel Neill at the Alamo, Travis was glad to be out of the
Matamoras business. It may be he saw no chance to make himself leader
of the invasion; it wasn't his invasion; and there were already two leaders!
A more probable reason for his sudden change of autude may have been
the fact that, holding his nger on the pulse of the colonists, he realized
that without money and centralized command they were backing o from
the revolu?on. In his three January lePers to Governor Smith he pleads
for money, declaring the cause could not be won without a regular army,
properly provisioned and equipped. On January 28, aXer trying for more
than two weeks to raise the authorized hundred men, spending his own
money and involving his credit in supplemen?ng ve hundred dollars sent
him by Governor Smith, Travis wrote the Governor that he had succeeded
in raising only thirty-ve men. He added, "I shall, however, go on and do
my duty, if I am sacriced, unless I receive new orders to counter march.

34

This is the brand of patrio?sm which can never be ques?oned in Travis.

But it may be pointed out that he had not been overlooking his own
opportuni?es through recent manoeuvres; that he had not failed to ask
for what he wanted. In the early fall he had "asked for and received a seat
in the consulta?on." In December he had proposed the organiza?on of
the cavalry unit and, it may be supposed, expected the appointment as its
commanding colonel. Successively he had wanted to join the Matamoras
expedi?on and the Alamo stand as each looked to him like a favorable
posi?on; but in his lePer of January 28, to the Governor, lamen?ng the
imprac?cability of going to the support of Bexar with a handful of men, he
all but pleaded to be relieved of the assignment. His plea throughout his
January lePers was for sucient money to raise a regular army. It may be
noted that his correspondence was all addressed to Governor Smith, not
to Houston, even though he referred to Houston as commander-in-chief
and wanted "to get in communica?on with him." Houston could not raise
money for Travis; Smith, as governor, might be able to. With money Travis
could-or evidently thought he could-raise his own army, and, apparently
wielding inuence with the Governor, might not inconceivably become
the recognized military leader. These deduc?ons may seem of the
Sherlock Holmes variety; yet certainly Travis was wide-awake to every
alterna?ve, as indicated by his correspondence; and it must be supposed
that he knew what he was about.

On arriving at Bexar he became convinced that the point was the key to
Texas independence --and he evidently determined thereby to stand or

35

fall. Never again did he ask to be relieved; he was nowhere so well

sa?sed as in the center of re, in the spotlight of the revolu?on. His one
plea thereaXer was for more men. He gave no opportunity for advice or
counsel from Houston or Smith; in fact, he uPerly disregarded Houston's
orders, previously issued to Colonel Neill and again to Bowie, to destroy
the Alamo and retreat. His mind was made up. Undoubtedly he believed,
as did nearly everyone else at Bexar by early February, that Santa Anna
would converge his invading forces on that point-which would make
Travis, as commander of the Bexar forces, the leader of the resistance. In
those days generals were not made in the "service of supply"; they sprang
up in the "zone of advance.

Reference is again made to the so-called "CrockeP's Diary" in which Travis
said of the Bee Keeper, "Give me ve hundred men like him and I'll march
to Mexico City." A remark in Travis' own lePer of March 3, probably to
2

David Ayres, reads: "With ve hundred more men, I will drive Sesma
beyond the Rio Grande, and I will visit vengeance on the enemy of
Texas . . ." "I" will drive Sesma . . . "I" will visit vengeance. . . Surely he
must have seen himself as the liberator of oppressed Texas.

The lePer referred to, as well as all his correspondence from the Alamo,
shows one thing denitely revealing in regard to Travis' ambi?on: he
drama?zed himself in the most heroic fashion. A passage in the same
lePer reads, ". . . and if my countrymen do not rally to my relief, I am
determined to perish in the defense of this place, and my bones shall

2

Amelia Williams, A Cri?cal Study of the Siege of the Alamo.

36

reproach my country for her neglect." Another message of March 3,

previously referred to herein, regarding his seven-year-old son, reads in
part, ". . . but if the country should be lost and I should perish, he will
have nothing but the proud recollec?on that he is the son of a man who
died for his country." The heroic lines from his famous appeal of February
24, for men are in like vein: "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 his own honor and that of his country. VICTORY or DEATH."

This sort of dream-stu-seeing himself on the triumphant altar of
sacrice-in combina?on with his known daring and leadership, made him
a poten?al Sam Houston, and serves as the key to his inner self. The
highly personal pronoun "I" is inescapable. "I" will drive Sesma beyond
the Rio Grande . .. . "I" am determined to sustain myself . . . "I" am
determined to perish . . "my" bones shall reproach my country . . . yet
Travis was surrounded with men as prominent as himself, doubtless with
their full support in his plan to resist rather than retreat. In this loXy,
burning self-drama?za?on is it not permissible, in view of known facts of
Travis' life, to envision a spirit determined not to die in ignominy, reaching
desperately for the only remaining chance, that chance the greatest open
to any would-be hero-the chance to die for a cause?

The supposi?on that Travis' original resolu?on not to retreat was the
result of his belief that his desperate posi?on would bring response, and
the revolu?on would are gloriously, is a supposi?on doubtless shared by
37

many. Surely he must have believed it possible for his men to escape, a
few at a ?me, during the early days of the siege, his messengers having
consistently succeeded in geung in and out through Mexican lines. Even
aXer hope of relief virtually was abandoned there was the alterna?ve of
aPemp?ng escape. It is reported in the famous address he supposedly
made his men the night before the nal assault that he oered them that
alterna?ve. The address, whether spurious or authen?c, at least is in
character.

But if Travis originally let himself be trapped as bait for the revolu?on he
soon made it clear that he was willing to go through with the sacrice. A
plausible conclusion as to his state of mind is that he saw his des?ny
hanging in the balance at the Alamo: If, by some miracle, he con?nued to
beat o the invaders, wore them down to starva?on, or held them ?ll
colonists rallied to the ag, he would be the king-pin, the undisputed
leader of the revolu?on; if, on the other hand, he and his band were
wiped out in defense of the place-in defense of Texas' liberty-his sacrice
not only might s?r Texans and United States sympathizers to ac?on but
would doubtless immortalize the name Travis.

It may be repeated that no conict between his personal ambi?on and his
patrio?sm has been in?mated in this analysis; the purpose rather being to
point out the conscious, selsh ambi?on that must have accompanied
Travis' intense love of liberty and his inevitable challenge of what he
considered tyranny.

38