The Travis Letter- the letter written by Lt. Col William Barrett Travis after the beginning of the siege of the Alamo to rally support and reinforcements- has been on display at the Alamo since February 24. Somehow I missed that until last week. Once I found out, I had to rectify the situation, and my family and I went to San Antonio yesterday to view the letter. I think it's still there today, but will be gone tomorrow. So if you're not already pretty near there, you're out of luck.
Much of the exhibit was information about Travis himself. There were legal documents regarding his land-grant as a soldier in the Texas Army, then his heirs' expanded land-grant for him being a Hero of the Alamo. There was even a document he filed with a court- he was a lawyer before he was a soldier.
It was actually kind of sad to see the letter itself. It was humbling. The reverence of most who viewed it was positively palpable. But it was sad. One hundred seventy-seven years is a long time for ink to stay on paper, and it wasn't exactly super-well preserved early on. As a result, most of the writing has faded. You can still pick out clips and phrases of the letter, but much of it has faded to the point where you can't read it anymore.
Nevertheless, the text of that letter still stirs the blood. I encourage all of those who are looking to take our liberty to Remember the Alamo. It would probably be a good idea to remember Gonzales, Goliad, and San Jacinto, too.
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