Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1913-04-23

anu DIOWS anu iS-ChloIou uS BdVSS
of the fort.
Day by day the siege continued
they did all mortal man could do.
Their number was fast diminishing.
Surrender was eve thought of. At
last the inevitable came. The fort
fell. The enemy poured over the
battered and crumbling walls-not
a man was left alive.
1t is said, "Thermopylae had its
messenger of death, the Alamo had
none" know of nothing in the
annals of history comparable to this
inspiring yet bloody episode. This
band of $50 were exterminated, but
1900 Mexicans had been slain-ten
to one.
AS a corollary to the above, we
may say, Santa Anna marched his
army from the Alamo and joined the
forces which surrounded Col. Fannin
and his 400. Col. Fannin seeing
further resistance useless surrender
ed upon promise of good treatment
and parole, yet Santa Anna, eXas-
perated at his losses at the Alamo,
broke all his promises and put the
little army of Fannin to death in
cold blood after surrender. The de-
Tenders of the Alamo died, but not
in vain. Their death was the enter
ing wedge which, when driven home,
split the territory Of Mexico asunder,
resulting in the annexation by the
United States Of a vast empire, ex-
tending the territory of the Ameri-
can nation from the gulf to the Pa
cific. The battle cry, Remember
the Alamo" was the slogan which
thrilled American armies on the
battlefields during the Mexican war
and which led the victorious army at
last, into the City Of Mexico itself
and brought the bloody Santa Anna
a suppliant TO the feet OF Gen. Scott.
Where in all history have the
lives and deaths OF four such heroes
done SO much for a nation? And yet
the average historian scarce notes
these momentous events. How many
Of our school boys know the names
of Travis, Bonham, Bowie and
Crockett, or have ever heard Of the
Alamo? Few people, indeed, know
Of the connection of the first three
and their forefathers with Red Bank
church and the present town of Sa-
luda. Had the defenders of 1.-The
Alamo come from the green hills Of
New England her historians Ind
poets would not have let their deeds
remain unchronicled and unsung.
Their schools would have observed
March 9Th in commemmoration OF
the fall of the Alamo and it's far
reaching results. Their fame is hot
to be bounded by the narrow confhes
of the town or Of the State; their.
fame belongs to the nation.
But it is most fitting that thbre
should be some memorial of these
heroes in the place where they were
born. When the town of Saluda Was
established the court house square
was nalned Travis square, and dur
Representatives in Congress we're
called upon to ask for an appropria-
ton Of not less than $4,000 with
which to erect a monument upon
this square concentrating the
deeds Of the heroes of the Alamo. To
achieve this desirable result Is the
task of the good women Of Saluda.
Shame upon US if we longer neglect
so praiseworthy and dutiful an un-
~dertaking. We of the South have
been tainted with the saying that
we make history, but scarce ever
preserve 1t. Let some good lady who
loves the county and the memory of
its heroic dead start the ball rolling,
and may it's compelling force drive
the mist of %obscurity from the
names Of the heroes of the Alamo
and erect a fitting and substantial
monument to their honor.
Alvin Etheredge.