On Thursday, November 14, 2024, Freestone County will dedicate the Lt. Col. William Barrett Travis ‘Victory or Death’ letter plaque on the Freestone County Courthouse Lawn.
Beginning at 10:00 a.m., there will be a ceremony commemorating the sacrifices made at the Battle of the Alamo in 1836, a project created by the Alamo Letter Society.
The society’s mission is “to educate current and future Texans about their forefathers’ armed struggle for Freedom and Liberty through the placement of a large bronze plaque containing Col. William Barrett Travis’s Alamo “Victory or Death” letter, in all 254 Texas Courthouses. To honor the two leading Tejanos of the Texas Revolution, Jose Antonio Navarro and Juan Seguin.”
The “Victory or Death” letter was written on Feb. 24, 1836, and heroically dispatched through the Mexican Army to General Sam Houston by Captain Albert Martin. Only 220 words long, many Texans and other Freedom-loving people around the world hold it in the same high esteem as the U.S. Constitution and the Magna Carta.
The letter reads “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. 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 & got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves. Lt. Col. Comdt.”
Join the County in the dedication of this important historical plaque.
For more information on this project and the history of the Almao, visit https://alamoletter.com/.
