William B . Travis William Barret Travis ( August 1 , 1809 – March 6 , 1836 ) was a 19th - century American lawyer and soldier . At the age of 26 , he was a lieutenant colonel in the Texas Army . He died at the Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution . Family life . Travis , an American of English descent , was born August 1 , 1809 in Saluda County , South Carolina , to Mark and Jemima Travis . Records differ as to whether his date of birth was the first or ninth of August , but his youngest brother James C . Travis , who was in possession of the Travis family Bible at the time of his statement , indicated that he was born on the first . Travis ' ancestry is from the line of William Travers / Travis , one of the earliest Quakers in the Carolinas whose family hailed from Lancashire England , and Sarah West , daughter of one of the founders of Rhode Island and New Jersey . When he was nine , his uncle Alexander Travis ] ] , a prominent Baptist preacher , called on his family to move to the town of Sparta in [ [ Conecuh County , Alabama , where he received much of his education . He later enrolled in a school in nearby Claiborne , where he eventually worked as an assistant teacher . Travis then became an attorney and , at age 19 , married one of his former students , 16 - year - old [ [ Rosanna Cato ] ] ( 1812 – 1848 ) , on October 26 , 1828 . The couple stayed in Claiborne and had a son , Charles Edward , in 1829 . Travis began publication of a newspaper that same year , the " Claiborne Herald . " He became a Mason , joining the Alabama Lodge No . 3 – Free and Accepted Masons , and later joined the Alabama [ [ militia ] ] as adjutant of the Twenty - sixth Regiment , Eighth Brigade , and Fourth Division . His marriage soon failed , and Travis fled Alabama in early 1831 to start over in Texas , leaving behind his wife , son , and unborn daughter . Their son was placed with Travis ' s friend , David Ayres , so that he would be closer to his father . Travis and Rosanna were officially divorced by the Marion County courts on January 9 , 1836 , by Act no . 115 . Rosanna married Samuel G . Cloud in [ [ Monroeville , Alabama ] ] , on February 14 , 1836 . However , they both died of Yellow Fever during an epidemic which afflicted the state in 1848 . Texas . [ [ File : William Travis birthdeathplaque . jpg | thumb | left | Birth / Death dates plaque at Alamo ] ] In May 1831 , upon his arrival in [ [ Mexican Texas ] ] , a part of northern Mexico at the time , Travis purchased land from [ [ Stephen F . Austin ] ] and began a law practice in [ [ Anahuac , Texas | Anahuac ] ] . He became a pivotal figure in the [ [ Anahuac Disturbances ] ] , during which Mexico City ' s increasingly arbitrary and authoritarian rule led to a series of assemblies by Texans , with subsequent civil disturbances and outbreaks of violence precipitating the war . While the assemblies began debating how best to defend their Mexican rights , a similar series of outbreaks of demonstrations , assemblies , and civil strife throughout Mexico led to a massive crackdown throughout the country by a new [ [ military junta ] ] led by [ [ Antonio López de Santa Anna ] ] . Several Mexican states in the south declared independence in response . Santa Anna immediately declared a state of martial law and ordered the execution of anyone involved in the uprising . In reply , a number of Texas militia units surrounded various arsenals and armories into which Mexican central authorities had confiscated the local militia ' s weapons . This led in October 1835 to the [ [ Battle of Gonzales ] ] in which Texas militia engaged Mexican army regulars quartered in the town and guarding the arsenal . In November , Travis played a small role in the [ [ Siege of Bexar ] ] , during which several militia units from across the state surrounded the main Mexican position at the Alamo , forced the Mexican army to leave , and secured large numbers of weapons , ammunition and supplies . Subsequently , on December 19 , Travis was commissioned as a [ [ lieutenant colonel ] ] of the Legion of Cavalry and became the chief recruiting officer for a new regular Texan army . His command was to consist of 384 men and officers , divided into six companies . Despite his rank , Travis had to recruit the men who were to serve under his command , but he had difficulty in finding willing colonists to enlist as regulars , because the majority wished to remain in their local militia units . " Volunteers can no longer be had or relied upon " , he wrote to acting governor Henry Smith . Alamo command . [ [ File : William travis . jpg | thumb | William B . Travis , painted by [ [ H . A . McArdle ] ] , years after Travis ' s death , using a stand - in as a model . ] ] Smith ordered Travis to raise a company of professional soldiers to reinforce the Texans at the [ [ Alamo Mission in San Antonio ] ] . Travis considered disobeying his orders , writing to Smith : " I am willing , nay anxious , to go to the defense of Bexar , but sir , I am unwilling to risk my reputation . . . by going off into the enemy ' s country with such little means , so few men , and with them so badly equipped . " On February 3 Travis arrived in San Antonio with eighteen regulars as reinforcements . On February 12 , as the next highest - ranking officer , Travis became the official commander of the Alamo garrison . He took command of the regular soldiers from Col . [ [ James C . Neill ] ] , of the Texan army . Neill had to leave to care for his ill family , but he promised to be back in twenty days . Meanwhile , the surrounding militia units were asked to volunteer to serve under the regulars . In turn , [ [ James Bowie ] ] ( 1795 – 1836 ) , a noted frontiersmen , soldier , duelist , and notable of the community would command the volunteers as Travis commanded the regulars . Meanwhile , the Mexican army , under dictator / General [ [ Antonio López de Santa Anna ] ] , had begun its rapid movement northward and caught the Texans unaware in early February . By the second week of February , Mexican regulars were scouting the Alamo and by February 22 began laying siege to the fort . The Mexicans began their attack on the mission on February 23 , 1836 . In a brief letter to the [ [ alcalde ] ] of Gonzales , [ [ Andrew Ponton ] ] , Travis wrote : " " The enemy in large force is in sight . . . We want men and provisions . . . Send them to us . We have 150 men & are determined to defend the Alamo to the last . " " In a letter to the Texas Convention , dated March 3 , Travis wrote : " . . . " yet I am determined to perish in the defense of this place , and my bones shall reproach my country for her neglect . " " In Travis ' last letter out of the Alamo , which reached the convention the same day on March 3 to David Ayres , he wrote , " " 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 . " " On March 6 , 1836 , following a thirteen - day siege , Santa Anna ordered the assault on the Alamo at the predawn hours . The Mexicans used ladders to climb over the wall ’ s tops and broke down the fort ' s outer defenses . After a half - hour of heavy fighting throughout the fort , Travis , Bowie , and most of the defenders were dead . Travis had been killed early in the battle by a single shot to the head . All of the militia and soldiers defending the Alamo ( under 200 men ) were killed ; however , these men ' s lives cost the Mexican army dearly : approximately 60 - 200 Mexican soldiers were killed in the battle , with an additional 250 – 300 wounded . When Santa Anna came into the fort he asked the alcalde of San Antonio , Francisco A . Ruiz , to identify the bodies of the rebel leaders to him . Ruiz later said that the body of Travis was found on a gun carriage on the north wall . Within a few hours of the final gunshots being fired , Santa Anna ordered a company of soldiers to gather wood and burn all the Texans ' bodies . By five o ' clock that evening , the bodies of Travis , Crockett , Bowie and Bonham , were burned along with the other rebels . Travis ' s famous letter from the Alamo . [ [ File : William Travis famousletterplaque . jpg | thumb | Plaque in front of the Alamo ] ] On February 24 , 1836 , during Santa Anna ' s siege of the Alamo , Travis wrote a letter addressed " [ [ To the People of Texas and All Americans in the World ] ] " : He gave this letter to courier [ [ John William Smith ] ] to deliver . The envelope that contained the letter was labeled " Victory or Death " . The letter , while unable to bring aid to the garrison at the Alamo , did much to motivate the Texan army and helped to rally support in America for the cause of Texan independence . It also cemented Travis ' s status as a hero of the Texas Revolution . Travis ' children . Charles Edward Travis ( 1829 – 1860 ) was raised by his mother and her second husband . He won a seat in the Texas legislature in 1853 . In 1855 , he enlisted in the [ [ U . S . Army ] ] as a [ [ captain ( U . S . Army ) | captain ] ] in a cavalry regiment ( which was later renamed the [ [ 5th Cavalry Regiment ( United States ) ] ] commanded by [ [ Albert Sidney Johnston ] ] ) but was discharged in May 1856 for " conduct unbecoming an officer and a gentleman " following an allegation that he had cheated at cards . He appealed the decision to no avail and then turned to studying law , earning a degree from Baylor University in 1859 . He died of consumption ( tuberculosis ) within a year and is buried beside his sister . Susan Isabella Travis was born in 1831 , after Travis had departed for Texas . Although her paternity has been questioned , Travis did name her as his daughter in his will . In 1850 she married a planter from [ [ Chappell Hill , Texas | Chapell Hill ] ] , and they had one daughter . External links . [ [ Category : Military personnel killed in action ] ] [ [ Category : Alamo defenders ] ] Category : People from Conecuh County , Alabama [ [ Category : People from Saluda County , South Carolina ] ] [ [ Category : People from San Antonio , Texas ] ] [ [ Category : 1809 births ] ] [ [ Category : 1836 deaths ] ] [ [ Category : American people of English descent ] ] [ [ Category : People of the Texas Revolution ] ] [ [ Category : Deaths by firearm in Texas ] ]