The Alamo: Call for Help!

This Day in History: February 24, 1836

Anyone who knows anything about America has heard the phrase "Remember the Alamo!" It has reverberated throughout our nation's history for nearly two centuries (178 years actually). Today we are going back in time to a call for help in defense of the Alamo.

Replica of the Alamo for 1959 movie as represented in San Antonio in the early 1800's.

The Alamo, an old Spanish mission and fortress, became a bloody battle ground under attack by Santa Ana and the Mexican Army. Colonel William Travis knew chances for success were slim with so few numbers available to hold the fort and suppress the Mexican army. On this day in 1836, in San Antonio, Texas, Col. Travis urgently dispatches a call for help on behalf of Texan troops.

Today a canon roars in on Alamo Plaza in remembrance of a bold shot from the Alamo's cannon on February 24, 1836: The initial firing that answered Santa Ana's call for surrender. This move made Santa Ana furious, thus launching the siege. Immediately Col. Travis realized the inadequacy of troops to defend the Alamo. He was greatly outnumbered, out gunned, out manned. His plea for reinforcements was dispatched via couriers across Texas and the nation. 

Only 32 men from the nearby town of Gonzales responded to Travis' call for help. Addressing one of the pleas to "The People of Texas and All Americans in the World," Travis signed off with the now-famous phrase "Victory or Death."

Image Source: Associated Press

The world famous "Victory or Death" letter was penned by Lt. Col. William Barrett Travis while besieged within the Alamo by the Mexican army in San Antonio de Bexar.  The Travis letter is universally regarded as one of the most heroic letters ever written.  Facing almost certain death, Travis vowed never to surrender or retreat and to "die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country — Victory or Death."
Source: Texas Heritage Society

A Morning Salute to the Fallen
Image Source: Great American Adventures