[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 5, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H2195]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     THE ULTIMATE PRICE FOR FREEDOM

  (Mr. OLSON asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, on March 6, 1836, nearly 200 Texans took 
their last breaths at the Alamo. A week before that, their commander, 
William Barret Travis, sent a final plea for help. Here are parts of 
that inspiring letter:

       To the people of Texas and all Americans in the world, I am 
     besieged by a thousand or more 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.
       I call on you in the name of liberty, of patriotism, of 
     everything dear to the American character to come to our aid. 
     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, that of his country, victory or 
     death.

  May God and history always remember the Alamo.

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