[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 25 (Thursday, March 2, 2006)]
[House]
[Pages H539-H540]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           NO PLACE BUT TEXAS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Poe) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POE. Madam Speaker, today is my favorite day in Texas history. 
March 2 marks Texas Independence Day. On this day, 170 years ago, Texas 
declared independence from Mexico and its evil dictator, Santa Anna, 
the 19th century Saddam Hussein, and Texas became a free nation.
  In 1836, in a small farm village of Washington-on-the-Brazos, 54 
``Texians,'' as they called themselves in those days, gathered on a 
cold rainy day like today to do something bold and brazen: They 
gathered to sign the Texas Declaration of Independence and once and for 
all ``declare that the people of Texas do now constitute a free, 
sovereign, and independent republic.''
  As these determined delegates met to declare independence, Santa Anna 
and 6,000 enemy troops were marching on an old, beat-up Spanish mission 
that we now call the Alamo. This is where Texas defenders stood defiant 
and determined. They were led by a 27-year-old lawyer by the name of 
William Barrett Travis. The Alamo and its 186 Texans were all that 
stood between the invaders and the people of Texas. And behind the 
dark, dank walls of that Alamo, William Barrett Travis, the commander, 
sent a fiery, urgent appeal requesting aid.
  His defiant letter read in part: ``To all the people in Texas and 
America and the world, I am besieged by a thousand or more of the enemy 
under Santa Anna. I have sustained a continual bombardment and cannon 
fire for the last 24 hours, but I have not lost a man.
  ``The enemy has demanded surrender at its discretion; otherwise, the 
fort will be put to the sword. I have answered that demand with a 
cannon shot, and the flag still waves proudly over the wall. I shall 
never surrender or retreat.
  ``I call upon you in the name of liberty and patriotism and 
everything that is dear to our character to come to my aid with all 
dispatch. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself 
for 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,'' signed William Barrett Travis, commander of the 
Alamo.
  Madam Speaker, after 13 days of glory at the Alamo, Commander Travis 
and his men sacrificed their lives on the altar of freedom. The date 
was March 6, 1836.

[[Page H540]]

  Those lives would not be lost in vain. Their determination for the 
cause paid off, and because heroes like William Barrett Travis, Davy 
Crockett, Jim Bowie and others held out for so long, Santa Anna's 
forces took such great losses they became battered and demoralized and 
diminished. As Travis said in his last letter, ``Victory will cost the 
enemy more dearly than defeat.''
  He was right.
  General Sam Houston, in turn, had devised a strategy to rally other 
Texas volunteers to ultimately defeat Santa Anna at the battle of San 
Jacinto on April 21, 1836. The war was over. The Lone Star flag was 
visible all across the bold, brazen, and broad plains of Texas. Texas 
remained an independent nation for over 9 years.
  The Alamo defenders were from every State in the United States, 13 
foreign countries. They were black, brown, and white, ages 16 through 
67. They were mavericks, revolutionaries, farmers, shopkeepers, and 
freedom fighters. They came together to fight for something they 
believed in. Liberty. And, Madam Speaker, they were all volunteers.
  In 1845, Texas was admitted to the United States by only one vote. 
Some have said they wished the vote had gone the other way. Be that as 
it may, every day, each school day, kids across the vastness of Texas 
pledge allegiance to not only the American flag but they also pledge to 
the Texas flag; and by treaty with the United States, the Texas flag 
flies next to the American flag but never below it.
  We all know that freedom has a cost. It always has. It always will.
  And we also pause to remember those who lost their lives so that 
Texas could be a free nation. And as we do so, we remember the brave 
Americans in our military that are fearlessly fighting in lands far, 
far away to preserve and uphold freedom from a new world threat of 
terrorism.
  Texas Independence Day is a day of pride and reflection in the Lone 
Star State. Today we remember to pay tribute to heroes like William 
Barrett Travis, Jim Bowie, Davy Crockett, Juan Seguin, Jim Bonham, and 
General Sam Houston and the rest of those volunteers who fought the 
evil tyrant and terrorist, Santa Anna.
  Madam Speaker, I hope that Congress and the rest of the country will 
join me in celebrating Texas Independence Day. In Colonel Travis' final 
letter and appeal for aid, he signed off with three words that I leave 
you with now. ``God and Texas.'' ``God and Texas.'' ``God and Texas.''
  And the rest, as they say, Madam Speaker is Texas history. And that's 
just the way it is.

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