Travis' Alamo Plea, Early Texas Historic Diary in Jan. 25 Auction Texas Revolution comes alive at Heritage Auction Galleries with legendary Alamo commander's 1836 letter and Joseph Pulsifer's early Texas Republic diary.
Dallas, TX – Two of the most important items in early Texas history – a broadside (poster) of an urgent plea from Col. William Travis on March 3, 1836 for volunteers to defend the Alamo and a diary with nearly 150 letters from a settler describing the early days of the Texas Republic – are among the many "Texana" items to be offered in a public auction in Dallas and online by Heritage Auction Galleries (www.HA.com). The sale of the broadside, one of only three known, will raise funds to maintain a collection of artifacts now housed in a Fort Worth museum.
When reading the impassioned words of Commander Travis, writing in the last days as 184 brave fighters held off thousands of Mexican troops at the Alamo in 1836, it’s not difficult to understand where Texans got their fierce “national” pride and bred-in-the-bone state patriotism.
“The power of Santa Ana is to be met here, or in the colonies; we had better meet them here, than to suffer a war of desolation to rage in our settlements,” wrote Travis. “A blood red banner waves from the church of Bejar, and in the camp above us, in token that the war is one of vengeance against rebels; they have declared us as such, and demanded that we should surrender at discretion, or that this garrison should be put to the sword. Their threats have had no influence on me, or my men, but to make all fight with desperation, and that high souled courage which characterizes the patriot, who is willing to die in defence(sic) of his country's liberty and his own honor... God and Texas - Victory or Death!!”
