Howdy and welcome to Wise about Texas, your award winning Texas History Podcast. I'm your host Ken Wise. Thank you very much. Texas Texas history. This is the 185th anniversary of the Texas Revolution in 2021 when I'm

recording this podcast and I hope you're remembering the brave men and brave women

who fought for the freedom of Texas.

This podcast is being released on February 24, 2021.

The 185th anniversary of one of the most famous letters in history and arguably the most famous

letter, maybe the most famous document in Texas history.

It's called the Travis Letter. So let's go back to 1836 and get wise about

Texas. On February 23rd, 1836, Santa Ana ordered his army to lay siege to the Alamo,

where the Texan troops had sought refuge.

It became obvious fairly quickly that things were not looking good.

William Barrett Travis commanded the garrison at the Alamo, and he knew how dire the situation was. The day

Santa Ana appeared he wrote to the citizens of Gonzales seeking assistance and

the same day Travis wrote a letter to Goliad asking the commander there, James Fannen, to come to the A to the Alamo.

But it was the next day, February 24, 1836, that Travis wrote the words that would inspire people around the world and make

a hero of William Barrett Travis.

Let's set the scene. Over a thousand Mexican troops and that was Travis's

estimation on February 24th. The real number ended up being much higher. They

surrounded the Alamo. The Mexican cannon were shelling the fort continuously.

Santa Ana demanded a surrender at discretion, no terms, and Travis answered that demand

by firing the largest cannon in the alamo right back at the Mexican

Army. So Travis had a decision to make at that point, fight or run, and he decided he would fight. Now truthfully, he probably held out hope

that reinforcements were on the way and indeed would arrive any minute. And he wanted Travis, wanted the decisive

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