Charles Edward Travis

Notes:

Charles Edward Travis, Texas Ranger, United States Army officer, and son of Rosanna (Cato) and William Barret Travis, was born in Alabama in 1829. After his father's death at the Alamo young Charles lived in New Orleans with his mother and stepfather, Dr. Samuel B. Cloud, but upon their deaths in 1848 moved to Brenham to live with his sister, Mrs. John (Susan Isabella) Grissett.

After becoming a member of the Texas bar he was elected to the legislature to represent Caldwell and Hays counties in 1853? 54. He served briefly as captain of Company E of the Texas Rangers, which was stationed at Fort Clark, and was commissioned captain in the Second United States Cavalry on March 5, 1855, and appointed to the command of Company H, which he recruited at Evansville, Indiana. On August 6, 1855, he reported with his new command at Jefferson Barracks, Missouri, where Second Lt. Robert C. Wood, Jr., preferred charges of slander against him. On the march to Texas charges of cheating at cards and unauthorized absence from camp were brought against him.

Eliza G. Johnston remarked in her diary that Travis was "a mean fellow...no one respects or believes a word [he] says," and on December 10, 1855, Col. Albert Sidney Johnston relieved him of command and placed him "under arrest in quarters." To a formal charge of "conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman," Travis pleaded not guilty. He retained H. M. Lewis as his counsel; as an attorney himself, however, Travis mainly handled his own defense. Capt. Eugene E. McLean of the Quartermaster Department was appointed judge advocate, and Lt. Col. Henry Bainbridge of the First Infantry served as president. The court-martial, which convened on March 15, 1856, at Fort Mason, proved one of the most sensational in Texas history with Colonel Johnston and many of Travis's fellow officers testifying against him. After almost a month of testimony and deliberation, Travis was found guilty of all three charges on April 11 and was dismissed from service on May 1, 1856.

Claiming that the graduates of the United States Military Academy at West Point had discriminated against him as an appointee to the regiment from civilian life, Travis enlisted the assistance of the Texas legislature to help clear his name. A joint committee examined the testimony and recommended that he be publicly vindicated. On August 30, 1856, the legislature issued a joint resolution stating that "the sentence was not sustained by the testimony," and requesting that President Franklin Pierce reexamine the proceeding and reverse the findings of the court martial. When Pierce refused to reopen the case, Travis took the unwise step of attempting to force several of the officers who had testified against him to recant. This tactic led to a backlash of public sentiment against Travis, who thereupon returned to his sister's home in Washington County, where he died of consumption in 1860. William B. Travis's "little boy" was buried in the Masonic Cemetery at Chappell Hill.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Lena Clara Koch, "The Federal Indian Policy in Texas, 1845? 1860," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 28 (January, April 1925). Members of the Texas Legislature, 1846? 1962 (Austin, 1962). Harold B. Simpson, Cry Comanche: The Second U.S. Cavalry in Texas (Hillsboro, Texas: Hill Junior College Press, 1979). Amelia W. Williams, A Critical Study of the Siege of the Alamo and of the Personnel of Its Defenders (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Texas, 1931; rpt., Southwestern Historical Quarterly 36 [April 1933], 37 [July, October 1933, January, April 1934]). Amelia W. Williams and Eugene C. Barker, eds., The Writings of Sam Houston, 1813? 1863 (8 vols., Austin: University of Texas Press, 1938? 43; rpt., Austin and New York: Pemberton Press, 1970).

http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ftr04

Notes:

The following biographical sketch on William is from the book: SONS OF THE SOUTH written by Clayton Rand, and published by Holt, Reinhart, and Winston in 1961. The author elected one hundred outstanding men of the South and gave facts on each.

William Barrett Travis was the grandson of Elizabeth DeLoach(e) Travis.

"WILLIAM BARRETT TRAVIS was only twenty seven when he died in the Alamo on March 6, 1836, leading 188 fellow compatriots in the chase of Team independence and into the pages of inaperishable history.

Except for this one herculean feat there was nothing extrodinary in the brief career of this courageous young man. He was born hear Red Banks, Edgefield County, South Carolina, on August 9, 1809, the oldest of the ten children of Mark Travis and Jemima (Stallworth) Travis.

In 1818 the Travis family moved to Alabama and settled in Conecuh County where William had such schooling as the limited means of his father and the frontier afforded. He studied law in the office of Judge James Dellet at Claiborne and before his twentieth birthday was admitted to the bar. While reading law and awaiting clients he earned his living teaching school. At nineteen, he married Rosanna Cato, one of his own pupils, and to them were born two children.

The marriage was an unhappy one, for being financially embarrassed, Travis abandoned his family and went to Texas in 1831. A reconciliation was never effected, and they were divorced four years later. Travis settled in Anahuac, the legal port of Galveston Bay and the headquarters of a military garrison commanded by Colonel Bradburn, a Kentuckian in the Mexican service who was having trouble with the Americans.

These were unsettled times in Texas. Mexico had gained her freedom from Spain in 1821 to become an independent state. After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, American settlers invaded Texas, many under the impression that it really belonged to the United States or would one day. The issue was settled by the Treaty of 1819 with Spain, but the Americans continued to come in increasing numbers, even after a Mexican decree was passed in 1830 checking further immigtration. At the time Travis arrived the estimated population of Texas was twenty thousand, most of whom were from the United States.

In 1832, Travis moved to San Felipe, where he set up a law office, was appointed secretary of the ayuntamiento, and became an ardent leader in local politics and of the "war party".

The Americans were agitating for Texas independence from Mexico when Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, seized power in Mexico and became a political and military dictator under the title of "El Preidente". In 1835 Santa Anna decided to drive the Americans out of Texas and colonize the country with Mexicans.

When Santa Anna sent troops to regarrison the fort at Anahuac, abandoned since 1832, Travis raised a company of volunteers and captured and disarmed the Mexican soldiers. Though this action was repudiated by many of the Americans seeking to avoid trouble with Mexico, public opinion soon crystalized in favor of Travis' action, and the Texas revolution began.

American settlers won the Battle of Gonzales, Texans captured Goliad, they won the Battle of Conaepcion, San Antonio was captured, and the Mexican general Cos surrendered. Free of Mexicans, the Texas Declaration of Independence was issued at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 2, 1836, and Texans with the exception of Sam Houston and a few others believed the war was over. Sam Houston thought Santa Anna would send reinforcements.

Travis having performed valuable service in commanding a scouting company during the seige of San Antonio was appointed major of artillery, and shortly afterward was transferred to the cavalry with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was ordered to occupy and reinforce the Alamo, which the Texans had taken in December, 1835, in joint command with Colonel James Bowie.

When Santa Anna appeared with as many as six thousand troops, Travis answered a demand for surrender with cannon shot. Bowie was stricken with typhoid-pneumonia during the seige in which all of the 188 men under the command of Travis were killed. They fought bravely, asking no quarter in a desperate struggle, hand to hand, muzzle to muzzle, musket and rifle, bayonet and bowie knife. The "galant Travis" died beside his gun. Near his side fell James Butler Bonham, another of the ragged little garrison, a lifelong friend of Travis, who had borrowed the money to come to Texas that he might fight for its freedom. Between six and eight hundred Mexicans died in this fierce encounter that lasted an hout and a half.

Travis was six feet tall, weighed about 175 pounds, and from all reports was as charming and congenial as he was courageous. At the early age of twenty-seven, he had scaled that loftiest of peaks where the famed reside, to take his enviable place among that exclusive company of patriots willing to die that others might live.

No male defender survived. Santa Anna ordered the bodies burned. The fifteen or more who were spared were women, children, slaves, and servants. Under the cenotaph erected at Austin in memory of the defenders of the Alamo is inscribed this worthy tribute: "Thermopyhe had its messenger of defeat, but the Alamo had none."


Letter to a Nation

On February 24, 1836, the day after the Mexican Army arrived at San Antonio, William B. Travis wrote a letter asking for help and reinforcements. He had written other requests for aid, but this was different since the enemy had arrived and it was important for reinforcements to come quickly. This letter is one of the great pieces of both Texas and American history and speaks in immortal words of American courage. This letter made its way to newspapers all across America, and the inspiring appeal helped to rally the support of the American people around the Texas cause. With this letter, WBT became a hero, and with his gallant stand to the death less than two weeks later, his heroism was given permanence.

In this text of the letter, the punctuation and words are as Travis wrote.

Commandancy of the Alamo- Bejar, Feby. 24th, 1836 To the people of Texas & all Americans in the world-- Fellow citizens & compatriots--

I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna -- I have sustained a continual bombardment & cannonade for 24 hours & 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 demand with a cannon shot, & our flag still waves proudly from the walls -- I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch -- The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily & 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 & die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country -- VICTORY OR DEATH.

William Barret Travis Lt. Col. comdt.

P.S. The Lord is on our side -- When the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn -- We have since found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels and got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves.

Letter to a Son

The last letter Travis wrote to the world outside the Alamo was a letter to his son. This boy had recently arrived in Texas from Alabama and was staying with friends. It was written to David Ayers on a scrap of paper, and is one of the famous messages from the Alamo. Here is the text of the letter.

"Take care of my little boy. If the country should be saved, I may make him a splendid fortune; but if the country should be lost, and I should perish, he will have nothing but the proud recollection that he is the son of a man who died for his country."

(Above courtesy of Nanci Presley-Holley)

William married Roseanna E. Catto on 28 Oct 1828. Roseanna was born on 3 May 1812 in Cleburne County, Alabama; died about 1848 in New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

The daughter of William Catto, Sr. and Sarah Massey. She married second Dr. Samuel B. Cloud.

Mark married Jemima Stallworth on 1 Jan 1808. Jemima was born on 6 Sep 1783 in Edgefield District, South Carolina; died about 1855 in Conecuh County, Alabama. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Nanci Pressley-Holley, in the Rootsweb World Connect: Pressley-Price Family Tree instead shows Mark Butler Travis as the son of Barret Travis by his first wife Elizabeth DeLoach. She shows Barret and Elizabeth as having the following three Children:

Elizabeth Travis b 1771 m Mumford DeJarnette Perryman Mark Butler Travis b. 6 Sept 1783 M Jemima Stallworth Alexander Doniphan Travis b. 25 Aug 1890 m. Mary Ann Williams

Barret married Ann Smallwood in 1773 in Abbeville County, South Carolina. Ann was born before 1755; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Said to be the daughter of William Smallwood.