A historical society will bring a great-grandson of legendary Alamo defender Davy Crockett to town in April to help unveil its “Victory or Death Letter” plaque on county property.
A fundraising effort is also underway on behalf of the Alamo Letter Society.
The original letter was penned in 1836 by Lt. Col. William Barret Travis, who commanded a garrison of Texian troops at the San Antonio mission during the war for independence from the Republic of Mexico.
Though the Alamo fell March 6, 1836, the deaths of the vastly outnumbered defenders spurred Gen. Sam Houston and his troops to defeat the Mexican Army at San Jacinto just weeks later, securing Texas’ independence.
At its Jan. 13 meeting, the Kendall County Commissioners Court approved the placement of the plaque in the 200 block of East San Antonio Avenue, between the old courthouse building and the historic Kendall County Jail Museum.
The April 21 ceremony will begin at noon with a cannon shot. Errol Flannery, the fourth great-grandson of Crockett, will appear in period dress and read the 220-word letter. There will be various groups and individuals present in costume.
Crockett, a former congressman from Tennessee known for his coonskin hat, journeyed to Texas to aid Travis during the Texas revolution.
Rusty Busby is the Kendall County Alamo Society chairman tasked with raising the $5,000 necessary to create the plaque and put it into place.
Busby said the fundraising campaign launches Feb. 24, the date Travis drafted the original letter and continues to April 21 — San Jacinto Day — when the committee will have its unveiling ceremony.
“When Travis penned this letter, he was prepared to, and eventually did, give his life for Texas,” Busby wrote in a prepared statement. “What a wonderful expression of honor and patriotism to show the people of Texas and all Americans the importance of freedom in order to preserve liberty.”
Kendall County Judge Shane Stolarczyk made an individual donation to have the plaque cast. The casting was done and the plaque already has been shipped to the courthouse.
Busby said placement of the plaque represents “an enduring symbol to future generations of Texans of their forefathers’ fight for liberty, freedom and the armed resistance to oppression.”
The genesis of the effort stretches across the centuries and got a helpful push in modern times from a Texas schoolgirl, officials said.
Travis began his first full day of command Feb. 24, 1836, at the Alamo, where he and 157 men were holed up, having fled the town of Bexar a day earlier, overrun and occupied by some 1,500 Mexican soldiers.
Travis put pen to paper and wrote, “I shall never surrender or retreat ... I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country - Victory or Death.”
In the predawn hours of that March day almost 190 years ago, thousands of Mexican troops descended on the Alamo, overwhelming the 180-plus men defending the former Spanish mission.
Nearly two centuries later, in January 2023, Bill McNutt and his family visited the Alamo in downtown San Antonio. Viewing the bronze plaque in front of the “Shrine of Texas Liberty” engraved with the “Victory or Death” letter led his seventh-grade daughter, Sloane, to wonder why replicas were not placed across the state.
Her question eventually gave birth to the Alamo Letter Society, with the goal of creating replicas of the 2-foot by 3-foot, 200-pound bronze plaque and donating each of them to Texas’ 254 counties.
Comment
Comments