Travis’ 190-year-old plea for help comes alive again
Pacing the second-floor courtroom of the old Kendall County Courthouse, Errol Flannery evoked the passion of Lt. Col. William Barret Travis 190 years ago when the soldier appealed for reinforcements at the Alamo.
Flannery read from Travis’ historic “Victory or Death” letter during a ceremony Tuesday to mark the dedication of a bronze plaque honoring the missive and the struggle for Texas independence in 1836.
“I am besieged by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under (Gen. Antonio López de Santa Anna),” recited Flannery, the fourth great-grandson of Davy Crockett who, like Travis and other defenders, perished during the pitched battle at the Alamo in San Antonio.
Originally planned for the courthouse grounds, inclement weather chased the Letter Dedication Ceremony indoors.
Many, including Flannery, consider the “Victory or Death” post to be among the most important documents in state history.
Errol Flannery, the fourth great-grandson of the legendary Davy Crockett, reads Cold. William Barret Travis’s famous “ Victory Or Death” speech Tuesday during a ceremony dedicating a plaque and monument depicting the letter.
Star photo by Jeff B. Flinn
Taylor Millard, right, Alamo Letter Society East Texas regional chairman, speaks Tuesday during the Travis “ Victory Or Death” Letter plaque memorial dedication ceremony. With Mallard is Travis Letter Soc i e t y- Kendall County chairman Rusty Busby.
“I can’t think of anything more emblematic for the state of Texas than that letter. If you can’t hear those words ... and not be inspired to be part of the state of Texas, then I can’t help you,” said Taylor Millard, a seventh-generation Texan and member of the Alamo Letter Society, which was a sponsor of the event.
Millard’s forefather, Henry Millard, fought alongside Gen. Sam Houston in the Battle of San Jacinto, which led to the defeat of Santa Anna and the Mexican Army on April 21, 1836.
The Texians under Houston, many shouting “Remember the Alamo,” which had fallen March 6, 1836, only took 18 minutes to defeat the larger force from the Republic of Mexico. Santa Ana was captured a day later.
Millard said Travis’ letter “is a plea for help ... but he doesn’t say, ‘We’re leaving,’ he says, ‘Victory or death.’” Travis and his garrison died at the Alamo, originally established in the 1700s as a Catholic mission under the Spanish empire.
The letter was recited on San Jacinto Day, a state holiday.
Kendall County is the 39th county to erect and dedicate a “Victory or Death” letter plaque on county grounds, according to Rusty Busby, Alamo Letter Society-Kendall County chair.
The society was established to place copies of the Travis letter at all 254 counties in Texas “because Bill McNutt ... was at the Alamo with his seventh grade daughter, who saw the plaque of the Travis letter at the Alamo,” Millard said.
“She turned to her dad and said, ‘This is really cool. Why isn’t this everywhere in Texas?’ She is the one that inspired this whole movement,” Millard added.
Busby narrated a history of the Mexican Army’s March 6 attack on the Alamo, some 10 days after Travis’s letter went out — answered by 32 men and boys from Gonzales who slipped through Santa Anna’s lines, the only relief force to arrive before the final assault, a battle that lasted about 90 minutes.
Dressed in period costume, Flannery carried out a fervent delivery of the “Victory or Death” letter in front of a packed house that included Mayor Frank Ritchie, Kendall County Judge Shane Stolarczyk and Kendall County Sheriff Al Auxier.
The plaque and granite stand already occupy ground between the old Kendall County Jail and the former courthouse in the 200 block of East San Antonio Avenue.
“I can’t think of anything more emblematic for the state of Texas than that letter.”
— Taylor Millard
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