[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 30 (Wednesday, March 2, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1114-S1115]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TEXAS INDEPENDENCE DAY AND THE LETTER FROM COLONEL WILLIAM BARRET
TRAVIS
Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I rise to read the letter from COL
William Barret Travis from the Alamo, something I have done every year
since Senator Phil Gramm retired. He read the letter on Texas
Independence Day every year after Senator Tower left office. So we have
a tradition every Texas Independence Day of a Texas Senator reading the
very moving speech from William Barret Travis.
Today is the 175th anniversary of our independence from Mexico.
This past Sunday, I had the honor of participating in the Washington-
on-the-Brazos' 175th anniversary celebration of the Texas Declaration
of Independence signing. It was a special occasion that brought
together almost all the 59 signers' descendants. Thousands of proud
Texans came to commemorate this most pivotal event in Texas's legacy of
freedom and patriotism.
My great-great-grandfather, Charles S. Taylor, was willing to sign
the document that declared Texas free from Mexico. I am humbled to
occupy the Senate seat from Texas that was first held by Thomas
Jefferson Rusk, who was another signer of the Texas Declaration of
Independence.
Those 59 brave men did not just come in and sign a paper. They took
great risk. They put their lives, their treasures, and the lives of
their families on the line to do this. One hundred seventy-five years
later, sometimes you do not think of how hard it was for them to
declare this separation from Mexico and know that there was going to be
a war fought over it because the Mexican Army was in San Antonio at the
Alamo, getting ready to take the Alamo from William Barret Travis and
the roughly 180 men who were there who were trying to defend that
fortress.
The accounts of the revolution have been some of our most dramatic
stories of patriotism in both Texas and America.
We remember the sacrifice of William Barret Travis, Davy Crockett,
Jim Bowie, and the others who died bravely defending the Alamo against
Santa Anna and his thousands of trained Mexican troops.
They were outnumbered by more than 10 to 1. For 13 days of glory, the
Alamo defenders bought critical time for GEN Sam Houston, knowing they
would probably never leave the mission alive.
The late Senator John Tower started the tradition of reading a
stirring account by Alamo commander William Barret Travis, and Senator
Gramm and now I have continued that tradition.
From within the walls of the Alamo, under siege by Santa Anna's
Mexican Army of 6,000 trained soldiers, Colonel Travis wrote this
letter to the people of Texas and all Americans:
Fellow Citizens and Compatriots: I am besieged with 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 surrender at
discretion, otherwise, the garrison is to be put to the
sword, if the fort is taken. I have answered the demand with
a cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly over the
wall. I shall never surrender our retreat.
Then I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism,
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 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 his honor and that of his
country--Victory or Death.
--William Barrett Travis, Lt. Col. Commander.
Steadfast to the end and independent to the core, that is the essence
of Texas.
Had Colonel Travis and his men not laid down their lives in the
Battle of the Alamo, Sam Houston's victory at San Jacinto just 2 months
later would never have been possible. Texas's freedom might not have
been won.
It is important that every generation of Texas pause to remember the
patriots of the Texas revolution: each soldier who gave his life at the
Alamo, Goliad, and San Jacinto; the 59 men who met at Washington-on-
the-Brazos, putting their lives in danger by signing that Declaration
of Independence and becoming heroes for a cause; and the bravery of the
women who gave up an easier life in the East to join the struggle to
make Texas the marvelous place it is today.
My great-great-grandmother was one of those brave women. She took her
four children in what was called the Runaway Scrape, trying to flee
eastward from Nacogdoches, where they lived, to try to escape the
advancing Mexican Army and the Indian raids that were happening all
over east Texas.
My great-great-grandmother lost all four of her living children
during that sad and hard time for Texas. But that was not the last
chapter in the revolution. She came back to Nacogdoches, met my great-
great-grandfather, who was there signing the Texas Declaration of
Independence, and had nine more children.
So the women also were heroes and heroines of this time.
It is my honor to memorialize the Texas legacy of freedom and
patriotism in this way.
I ask unanimous consent that my speech at the Washington-on-the-
Brazos celebration this past weekend be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
Washington-on-the-Brazos Celebration Remarks
(Delivered February 27, 2011 at Washington-on-the-Brazos Historic Site)
Thank you so much. What a great representative Lois
Kolkhorst is for this area
[[Page S1115]]
and so fitting to have someone who loves the history. Thank
you, Lois, and thank you for that lovely introduction and
thank you for this welcome.
I wanted to say especially thank you to the Washington-on-
the-Brazos Association and all of the associations that keep
our Texas history alive. Thank you from the bottom of our
hearts because we are passing it through the generations
because of you. Thank you all.
You know it is so special that you have honored all of us,
the descendants, on the 175th anniversary, because those 59
brave men did not just come in and sign a paper.
They took great risk. They put their lives, their
treasures, and the lives of their families on the line to do
it. And sometimes, 175 years later, sometimes we don't think
about the risk that they were willing to take.
They were actually elected as delegates by their peers in
the little towns throughout Texas because every one of those
people wanted to govern themselves.
In Texas, independence is not merely a state of being free
from tyranny; it is a spirit instilled within us, anchored in
our knowledge that we are part of something truly unique.
Across the nation, Texans have earned the reputation for
being exceptionally proud--a little too much, some people
think! But Texans earned it; they earned it 175 years ago,
and we have passed it from generation to generation.
We are the only state that came in to our nation as a
nation, and with that distinction comes a vivid history and a
storied past unlike any other.
What some interpret as a brazen stubbornness--we know to be
a fierce and steadfast will to live in freedom.
When that will was tested, Texans rose up and rebelled
against oppression.
In the time leading up to the Texas Revolution, colonists
were living under the centralized power of the Mexican
government. Its steel grip on trade, religion, and heavy
taxation, conflicted with the yearning for independence that
drew the early American settlers to Texas.
The accounts of our revolution have become some of the most
dramatic stories of patriotism in both Texas and American
history.
We remember the sacrifice of Colonel William Barret Travis,
Davy Crockett, Jim Bowie, and the 189 men who died bravely
defending the Alamo against Santa Anna and his thousands of
trained Mexican troops.
Outnumbered by more than 10 to one, for 13 days of glory,
the Alamo defenders bought critical time for General Sam
Houston, knowing they would never leave the mission alive.
Had they not laid down their lives in that seminal battle,
Sam Houston's victory at San Jacinto just two months later
would never have been possible. Texas' freedom might not have
been won.
Those who signed the Texas Declaration of Independence,
where we stand today, were akin to those who signed the
American Declaration of Independence in 1776. They were the
leaders of this area. They risked their lives and those of
their family when they put pen to paper.
And the 59 Texans who are so ably represented here today
were considered traitors to Mexico as they used their voices,
their professions, and positions of influence to wage
critical battles in the revolution.
My great-great-grandfather, Charles Taylor, was one of
these patriots whose principles and will to survive were
tested.
In 1836, he was land commissioner in East Texas,
responsible for issuing titles and collecting taxes. He
served as alcalde, essentially the mayor, of Nacogdoches
Territory.
This position of course made him a representative of the
government of Mexico, but he was witnessing firsthand the
widening rift between Texans and Mexico's emerging autocracy.
As the movement for independence from Mexico began to grow,
he sided, of course, with Texas in the dispute with the
central government over taxation.
Secretary of War Thomas Rusk asked Taylor to allow the fees
entrusted to him to be used to purchase weapons for the Texas
army.
He was technically obligated to pass the money to Mexico,
so Rusk's request presented him with an ethical dilemma.
But Taylor ultimately agreed, believing that the people who
paid the taxes wanted and deserved freedom to govern
themselves.
With this money and every penny they could collect all over
Texas from the towns everywhere, they were armed for the
battle. But remember they had no money for uniforms, they
were not formally trained. What they did have was the will to
fight for something greater than themselves.
As he prepared his men for the final stand in the fight for
freedom at San Jacinto, these were Sam Houston's words, ``We
view ourselves on the eve of battle. We are nerved for the
contest, and must conquer or perish. It is vain to look for
present aid: for it is not there. We must now act or abandon
all hope! Rally to the standard, and be no longer the scoff
of mercenary tongues! Be men, be free men, that your children
may bless their father's name.''
After the victory at the battle of San Jacinto and Santa
Anna's surrender, Secretary of War Rusk wrote the report. I
love these words. His description:
``The sun was sinking in the horizon as the battle
commenced; but at the close of the conflict, the sun of
liberty and independence rose in Texas, never, it is hoped,
to be obscured by the clouds of despotism . . . The unerring
aim and irresistible energy of the Texas army could not be
withstood. It was freemen fighting against the minions of
tyranny and the results proved the inequality of such a
contest.''
I now want to bring attention to another contingent of
brave Texans whose involvement in the revolution was
significant, but sometimes overlooked: the women. They
struggled to keep their families together, or even alive.
One of our state's first historians, Mary Austin Holley,
who was the cousin of Stephen F. Austin, chronicled the
daring, enterprising nature of Texas' women settlers.
She wrote that these hardy women hunted with their husbands
and rode long distances on horseback to attend social events
with their ball gowns stuffed in their saddlebags.
During the Texas Revolution, their vigor and free-
spiritedness translated to steadfast courage and unshakeable
resolve to survive and protect their families in the face of
extreme trial.
Thomas Rusk himself wrote, ``The men of Texas deserved much
credit, but more was due the women. Armed men facing a foe
could not but be brave; but the women, with their little
children around them, without means of defense or power to
resist, faced danger and death with unflinching courage.''
The Runaway Scrape of 1836 swept every family in Central
and East Texas. My great-great-grandmother, Anna Maria
Taylor, was one of the thousands of refugees fleeing eastward
from the Mexican advance and the threat of Indian raids.
With her husband, Charles Taylor, attending the convention
of delegates right here, Anna Maria, like many of your great-
great-grandmothers struggled to escape on foot.
Anna Maria fought to feed her four children. Despite
widespread food shortages, she did everything she could to
shield them from seasonal rains and disease.
Tragically, like so many mothers of the time, she lost
every one of her four children.
But the trials of the revolution were not the final
chapters in their lives.
After the War of Independence ended, Anna Maria and Charles
went right back to Nacogdoches, and she bore nine more
children.
The families of all of you here today, as descendents,
recovered and rebuilt their lives after independence was won,
and they started building Texas at the same time.
I inherited Thomas Rusk's world atlas dated 1850 which is
now in my office reception room in Washington, DC.
According to the atlas, in 1850, Texas had just over
212,500 people. And we learned just last week that our
state's population today is over 25 million.
I think the 59 signers of the Declaration of Independence
would be awestruck by this staggering figure. Oh, how far
we've come!
When I finish my term, I will bring Thomas Rusk's world
atlas back to its rightful home in Texas, to Stephen F.
Austin University, which is built on land he owned. There it
will be on display for future generations to see.
In order to secure our bright future, we must preserve our
rich history.
Each year on March 2, I read William Barret Travis' letter
from the Alamo, because it is so stirring and so amazingly
brave.
The late Senator John Tower started the tradition of
reading it every single year. Senator Phil Gramm continued
it, and I took it when Phil retired.
Colonel Travis wrote in that letter, ``I shall never
surrender or retreat.'' And displaying the ultimate courage
in the face of certain demise, he wrote, ``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.''
Steadfast to the end and independent to the core--that is
the essence of Texas.
Finally . . . the cliff notes to my speech today are:
That we, the descendents of these great 59 men and their
wives and all of those who followed, and all of those in
these associations who have no descendents but know that
Texas is special, it is important that every generation of
Texas pause to remember the patriots of the Texas revolution:
Each soldier who gave his life at the Alamo, Goliad, and
San Jacinto;
The 59 men who met at Washington-on-the-Brazos, putting
their lives in danger by signing that Declaration of
Independence and becoming heroes for a cause;
And the bravery of the women who gave up an easier life in
the East to join the struggle to make Texas the marvelous
place that it is today.
It is our challenge to pass their spirit to our children
and our grandchildren. This gathering today and the annual
celebration that we have of Texas Independence Day do just
that.
Thank you! And God bless Texas!
Mrs. HUTCHISON. I yield the floor.
____________________