[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 33 (Monday, March 3, 2003)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3014-S3015]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                         Texas Independence Day

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, March 2 is Texas Independence Day. 
Every year I have been in the Senate, I have carried on the tradition, 
started by Senator John Tower, of reading on or about March 2--Texas 
Independence Day--William Barret Travis's letter from the Alamo.
  I just want to give a little background because, of course, Texas is 
the only State that came into our Nation as a nation. Texas was a 
republic for 10 years, having fought very hard for its independence 
from Mexico.
  In fact, William Barret Travis's letter was dated February 24, 1836. 
His letter was an appeal for support because he only had 184 men in the 
Alamo, in the garrison, and, of course, he was vastly outnumbered by 
the Mexican Army. So he was asking for help. He was pleading for help.
  All of this was happening around the time that the duly elected 
members of the Declaration of Independence Congress were coming to 
Washington-on-the-Brazos to sign the Texas Declaration of Independence 
from Mexico.
  It was a trying time between February and April of 1836 for these 
Texans who were trying to gain their independence and who eventually 
became a part of America.
  It was at the Alamo, in San Antonio, TX--Tejas at the time--that 184 
Texas rebels, led by William Barret Travis, made their stand against 
Santa Anna's vastly superior Mexican Army.
  These Texas patriots did not even have uniforms. They barely had 
arms. In fact, they only had about $1,000 to fund this entire army. So 
they did not waste any money on uniforms. They needed arms, and that is 
where they spent their money.
  On the second day of the siege, February 24, 1836, Travis called for 
reinforcements with this heroic message:

       Fellow citizens and compatriots: I am besieged by a 
     thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna--I have 
     sustained a continual bombardment and cannonade for 24 hours 
     and have not lost a man--the enemy has demanded a surrender 
     at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the 
     sword, if the fort is taken--I have answered the demands with 
     a cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the 
     wall--I shall never surrender or retreat.
       Then, I call on you in the name of liberty, of patriotism 
     and of everything dear to the American character, to come to 
     our aid, with all dispatch. The enemy is receiving 
     reinforcements daily and will no doubt increase

[[Page S3015]]

     to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call 
     is neglected, 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 and that of his country--Victory or Death.
                                            William Barret Travis,
                                              Lt. Col., Commander.

  This went out on February 24, 1836. Those 184 brave men held the 
Alamo, with no reinforcements, until March the 6th of 1836. They held 
all that time against exactly what William Barret Travis thought would 
happen. Thousands of Mexicans in the army were gathering steam to 
attack the Alamo. He never got reinforcements.
  The Alamo fell on March 6. Just four days earlier, the men who were 
elected to the convention signed the Texas Declaration of Independence. 
My great-great-grandfather was one of those, elected from Nacogdoches 
County. He was alcalde of Nacogdoches County at the time. He went, 
along with Thomas Rusk, the first man to hold the seat that I now hold 
in the Senate, to Washington-on-the-Brazos, and they both signed the 
Texas Declaration of Independence.
  It was during that time that women and children in the Nacogdoches 
area were being besieged by Indians, and they were concerned that the 
Mexican Army might also be coming there. So they fled in what is called 
the Runaway Scrape toward Louisiana. All four of my great-great-
grandfather's children died in the Runaway Scrape. All four of his 
living children died. And yet those brave settlers went back to 
Nacogdoches and raised nine more children. So they were the kind of 
stock that settled our State and our country.
  It was April 21 that Santa Anna finally was defeated at the battle of 
San Jacinto, led by Gen. Sam Houston, who was the commander there. So 
the time period between February and April 21 was key in the Texas 
independence and the beginning of the new republic. Texas was a 
republic, an independent nation, for 10 years before they joined the 
United States as a State in the United States.
  So I always try to remember the brave people. Obviously, in my family 
we have a lot of stories and a lot of lore about that time because my 
mother grew up in Nacogdoches, and it is the oldest town in Texas, and 
it is one that is rich in our Texas history and is very much a part of 
my family and so many of the generations who came before us to settle 
our great State.
  So I am going to continue the tradition as long as I am in the Senate 
because I think it is worthy of note that we had our own fight for 
independence and that we have such a unique character in our State.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from California.
  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished Senator from 
Texas for her remarks. I think, indeed, they were very interesting. I 
had no idea about her family lineage and her interest in the particular 
day. I salute her for her comments on the floor.