Travis' letter from the Alamo, 2/24/1836

[miguelito 11346]

Commandancy of the The Alamo

Bejar, Feby. 24th. 1836

To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World-

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 Barret 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

 

 

[Hate 20164]

“Answered the demand with a cannon shot.”

Travis had balls as big as church bells.

[PRONG HORN 3164]

 

 

[WhatTheBuck 28842]

Not just any The Alamo. The The Alamo. 

[SimonBolivar 10962]

1 hour ago, miguelito said:

I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans...

- Donald J Trump

[PRONG HORN 3164]

3 minutes ago, SimonBolivar said:

- Donald J Trump

 

I don't get it.  Is the Donald at a Walmart or something?

 

Edited February 25, 2019 by PRONG HORN

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

1 hour ago, Hate said:

“Answered the demand with a cannon shot.”

Travis had balls as big as church bells.

He kept them in the basement of the Alamo. 

[SpiralOut 1867]

So basically Travis was calling play #8? 

[Bobby_Batronic 1994]

Well, some version of Curry Gas might have been on deck given all the Mexican strawberries he and his men were surely enjoying. 

Edited February 25, 2019 by Bobby_Batronic

[Post Oak 20349]

2 hours ago, miguelito said:

Commandancy of the The Alamo

Bejar, Feby. 24th. 1836

To the People of Texas & All Americans in the World-

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 Barret 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

 

 

 

[Cajun 11766]

Oh, don't worry everybody, this will be reimagined very, very soon.

Travis will be dug up and must attend 50 hours of Sensitivity Training.  Word is Steve Adler and the rest of City Council will be along for the ride

Good times!

[Wally Fairway 5609]

2 hours ago, SimonBolivar said:

- Donald J Trump

Dear DJT,

The Alamo has walls and didn't keep the brown skinned people out; and neither will a modern day wall.
Sincerely,
Surly

(I'll give my self a timeout for cloaking up this thread)

Edited February 25, 2019 by Wally Fairway
Cloak comment

[Neonmoon 38130]

[Nivek 17055]

Oh, don't worry everybody, this will be reimagined very, very soon.
Travis will be dug up and must attend 50 hours of Sensitivity Training.  Word is Steve Adler and the rest of City Council will be along for the ride
Good times!

You are such a victim.

[Cajun 11766]

Just trying to fit in with your club my man.

[XYZ 2154]

Remember when miniballer talked shit about the soldiers at the Alamo?

[Cajun 11766]

Ah, good ole Mini.

Surprised she found time in between humblebrags.

What did she say?

[Orange&White 5557]

30 minutes ago, XYZ said:

Remember when miniballer talked shit about the soldiers at the Alamo?

Remember that she was also an arrogant, self righteous, racist.cunt?

[Thetexashammer 1062]

Got it framed on the wall over to my right.

[Kyle 207]

Some things are sacred and should not be abused to prove you are in fact a retard.

Not many created like WBT. G-d Bless him and the men that fell at The Alamo.

[XYZ 2154]

1 hour ago, Cajun said:

Ah, good ole Mini.

Surprised she found time in between humblebrags.

What did she say?

She claimed that most soldiers were shot in the back.

[UTexasFight 9659]

Plug for Three Roads to the Alamo.

I’m barely 100 pages and it’s all about Crockett and Bowie so far, but read so far

[DoobieWah 1476]

3 hours ago, Wally Fairway said:

Dear DJT,

The Alamo has walls and didn't keep the brown skinned people out; and neither will a modern day wall.
Sincerely,
Surly

(I'll give my self a timeout for cloaking up this thread)

Dear Wally,

Because the Alamo had walls, less than 200 brave Texicans, (some by birth, some by choice, but Texicans all), held out for two weeks against a much larger and continuously reinforced and resupplied force some ten times their numbers.

Without those walls, they would not have lasted a day. Sam Houston wouldn't have had those two weeks to evacuate the civilians and collect and train the forces that would  decimate Santa Ana's forces a few weeks later at San Jacinto.

I suspect you're right in your inference that any wall, no matter how well constructed will permanently prevent a determined invasion, but it might buy us some time.

Bet you thought Jussie was hate-crimed too didn't you?

Sincerely,

Also Surly

 

 

 

[Orange&White 5557]

I sure hope you fucks don't Cloak Room a thread about the Alamo.

Edited February 25, 2019 by Orange&White

[Macanudo 13100]

If you have never gone down to the Alamo late at night and stood in the Plaza is quiet and sparsely populated.   You should.  You should also try and visualize the whole "fort" outline and realize how insane it was that give or take 187 men held out for as long as they did.  

[Guest]

Sam Houston trained an army in 2 weeks?

 

LOlz.  his greatness is evidently VASTLY underrated.

[phdhorn 6224]

With that crowd, I'd have gone over to the Avis line instead.

[Steamboat1874 4175]

11 hours ago, Thetexashammer said:

Got it framed on the wall over to my right.

I too have a copy on my my man cave wall.

I went and saw the real deal a few years ago when they had it on display inside the Alamo.

Was a very moving experience to see it.

[Shenanigans 31]

1 hour ago, Macanudo said:

If you have never gone down to the Alamo late at night and stood in the Plaza is quiet and sparsely populated.   You should.  You should also try and visualize the whole "fort" outline and realize how insane it was that give or take 187 men held out for as long as they did.  

I don't know how they didn't get distracted by all of the oddities on display at Ripley's Believe it or Not...

[Steamboat1874 4175]

17 minutes ago, Shenanigans said:

I don't know how they didn't get distracted by all of the oddities on display at Ripley's Believe it or Not...

Good thing all of that crap will be going away soon. The west wall would be right down the middle of those places.

[Shenanigans 31]

3 minutes ago, Steamboat1874 said:

Good thing all of that crap will be going away soon. The west wall would be right down the middle of those places.

Oh wow I didn't know that! That is great news.

[Steamboat1874 4175]

Here is a link to the restoration project......

http://www.alamoplazaproject.com/

 

[SimonBolivar 10962]

A trip to the Alamo as a kid wasn't complete without dad running ahead in the Wax Museum's horror section to find a place to hide to scare us kids. I hope to ruin my children someday.

[F250 28959]

3 hours ago, Shenanigans said:

Oh wow I didn't know that! That is great news.

Yeah, from the proposed designs it looks to be a great restoration project. All of the crap in Alamo Plaza is going to be removed to return it to how it would have originally looked during the revolution.

In the past, I've eaten lunch at the plaza more times than I can remember. I always try to envision what it looked like but with all of the riff raff it is hard to appreciate the setting. I'm glad this is being done.

[Parliament 14396]

That old hotel just south of the Alamo. What are they doing with it? Because it has a lotsa history of its own.

[Helobious 9511]

13 hours ago, DoobieWah said:

Dear Wally,

Because the Alamo had walls, less than 200 brave Texicans, (some by birth, some by choice, but Texicans all), held out for two weeks against a much larger and continuously reinforced and resupplied force some ten times their numbers.

Without those walls, they would not have lasted a day. Sam Houston wouldn't have had those two weeks to evacuate the civilians and collect and train the forces that would  decimate Santa Ana's forces a few weeks later at San Jacinto.

I suspect you're right in your inference that any wall, no matter how well constructed will permanently prevent a determined invasion, but it might buy us some time.

Bet you thought Jussie was hate-crimed too didn't you?

Sincerely,

Also Surly

 

 

 

Make no mistake, the Alamo could’ve been taken in less than a day with a more competent military commander. Santa Ana was foolishly trying to wait out the iron-willed Alamo defenders, it wasn’t a constant attack for 13 days. The Mexicans breached the walls within minutes of their only all-out assault on the Alamo. Those walls hardly did shit. 

[Helobious 9511]

17 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

Even though it’s entirely fictitious & over the top, I always loved that scene. And I know a lot of people didn’t like it but I thought the whole movie was good. Billy Bob did a great job as Crockett.

[DoobieWah 1476]

Oh please.

Santa Ana had several more than competent generals at hand.

A minimal force defended a walled fort and held off the main Mexican Army for almost two weeks. A smarter general would have left a small contingent to contain the Texans inside and merely bypassed San Antonio altogether. But Travis' cannon shot reply to the surrender demand pissed S Ana off mightily and he was not going to let that show of disrespect go unanswered.

It took him two weeks to answer it.

Make no fucking mistake about it - it took him two weeks.

[Llano Estacado 1257]

That old hotel just south of the Alamo. What are they doing with it? Because it has a lotsa history of its own.

Menger?

Is privately held by the Moody family IIRC. It’s a Nationally registered historic place, so I doubt they could do anything drastic even if they wanted to.

[Frank Erwin 203]

Gave a framed copy of the Travis Letter to my first born son for his First Christmas present.

[Helobious 9511]

20 hours ago, PRONG HORN said:

 

 

There was only 2,000 there you fucking idiot. One truckload at the max.

[Helobious 9511]

59 minutes ago, DoobieWah said:

Oh please.

Santa Ana had several more than competent generals at hand.

A minimal force defended a walled fort and held off the main Mexican Army for almost two weeks. A smarter general would have left a small contingent to contain the Texans inside and merely bypassed San Antonio altogether. But Travis' cannon shot reply to the surrender demand pissed S Ana off mightily and he was not going to let that show of disrespect go unanswered.

It took him two weeks to answer it.

Make no fucking mistake about it - it took him two weeks.

I simply don’t agree. Santa Ana frequently ignored his intelligent generals, which is why they resented him.  I always viewed it as a case of horrible battle strategy instead of some great example of heroic fortitude. The siege ended when Santa Ana decided it should and almost everyone inside was massacred. Never understood why it overshadowed what Houston was able to do at San Jacinto, which was 10x more impressive & significant than anything that happened at the Alamo.

[Richard Kimball 1505]

182 men laid down their lives when they could have run. They faced an absurdly greater number of men on the other side, and fought until they were all massacred. It meets my standard as a great example of heroic fortitude.

 

[Hugo Stiglitz 23367]

Typical rhetoric from an insurgent claiming god is on his side.

[F250 28959]

21 hours ago, PRONG HORN said:

 

 

I'm old enough to remember when the punchline referred to a station wagon and not a truck.

[BillyGoatHill 4340]

22 hours ago, PRONG HORN said:

 

 

Buddy of mine likes to tell the one of ........

What did Travis say to Bowie when they woke up one morning and saw that the Alamo was surrounded by 2000 Mexicans.....

...Are we pouring concrete today?

 

Sorry (not really), but I laugh every time.

[XYZ 2154]

1 hour ago, Hugo Stiglitz said:

Typical rhetoric from an insurgent claiming god is on his side.

Go back to the cloak room.

[Llano Estacado 1257]

Remember when miniballer talked shit about the soldiers at the Alamo?

“Most of the Alamo defenders were killed by Mexican cavalry

Slaughtered by Mexican lancers in the icy darkness beyond the walls.

Discuss.”

[Cajun 11766]

Fuck all these Battle of the Alamo remakes, this is the one that owns 'em all...

 

[phdhorn 6224]

7 hours ago, Helobious said:

Make no mistake, the Alamo could’ve been taken in less than a day with a more competent military commander. Santa Ana was foolishly trying to wait out the iron-willed Alamo defenders, it wasn’t a constant attack for 13 days. The Mexicans breached the walls within minutes of their only all-out assault on the Alamo. Those walls hardly did shit. 

 

7 hours ago, DoobieWah said:

Oh please.

Santa Ana had several more than competent generals at hand.

A minimal force defended a walled fort and held off the main Mexican Army for almost two weeks. A smarter general would have left a small contingent to contain the Texans inside and merely bypassed San Antonio altogether. But Travis' cannon shot reply to the surrender demand pissed S Ana off mightily and he was not going to let that show of disrespect go unanswered.

It took him two weeks to answer it.

Make no fucking mistake about it - it took him two weeks.

Urrea split and took a smaller force more along the coast - and absolutely fucking destroyed any resistance.  He was by far the best general Mexico had, and by good fortune, fate, luck, whatever you call it - he was the #3 commander of the entire Mexican army - under Santa Anna, who was about as shitty a general as ever lived (and under Filisola, which was again unfortunate for the Mexicans).

Had Urrea gotten his way, 1) he would have been the main expeditionary force and completely, utterly wiped out the Texian uprising.  He was tons better at tactics and understanding the nature of what was needed for battles.  In every aspect he was by far the superior Mexican commander.  2) after Santa Anna was captured at San Jacinto, Urrea begged him to let his 2,500 Mexicans finish off the Texians.  But a vain Santa Anna, who was jealous of him and his successes (and headlines), ordered everyone back to Mexico, sparing the Texians and granting them essentially their new republic.  Santa Anna told Filisola to stand down, and despite Urrea pleading with Filisola to continue the fight, he was too afraid to lose more men and material and said to go back home.  Even after that, Urrea a few months later garnered some 6,000 Mexicans and was ready to re-do the entire business and would easily have crushed the colonists - again - but again he was ordered to stand down and tend to minor border skirmishes.  So that inevitable 2nd invasion never happened.

Due to Santa Anna's vanity and jealousy (and Filisola's hesitancy to put a final blow into the Texians after San Jacinto), Texas was born.  It would absolutely not have been had José de Urrea been allowed to do what he could have done.  He would have completely destroyed the revolution.  He never lost a single battle of any size, even a skirmish, during the Revolution.

One more thing, although it was Urrea's troops that ultimately massacred the Goliad surrenderers, Urrea himself wasn't there, and even before that, he spent considerable time negotiating favorable terms for the revolutionaries.  The orders to massacre came from - you guessed it - Santa Anna.

Thank God that Santa Anna and Urrea were in their positions, else this would absolutely have been Mexico - again - for who knows how long.

Urrea was the Magnificent General Who Wasn't Allowed To Be Magnificent.

Edited February 26, 2019 by phdhorn