[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.

                          ____________________