Travis Draws the Line

Of the 14+ people who survived the fall of the Alamo not one of them ever mentioned Travis drawing his line in the sand they surely would have, seeing as it is SO dramatic.

Susannah Dickinson, the widow of the captain of artillery, said in an interview that the night before the final assault Travis had called the garrison and told them that any man who wants out had better go.  Only one man, Louis Rose, chose to bolt and he climbed over the wall and disappeared into the night.

He spent the rest of his life as a butcher and when people asked him WHY he had left the doomed fortress he said, "I was not ready to die."

In the legend, Rose stumbles up to a cabin, exhausted and bleeding from cactus thorns.  He is taken in by a family called the Zubers who nurse him back to health.  40 years later William Zuber, who was a child when this encounter with Rose took place, began to tell the story of Travis drawing the line, claiming that Rose told them the story.

But would have Travis even tried to do such a thing?  What if he HAD drawn the line and every man said "adios" and went over the wall!

But it does seem to at least fit the myth which suggests that every man, except Rose, had made up their mind to fight it out to the end.

"But perhaps it is just as well.  If Zuber was hiding a gentle fabrication, he was also protecting a shining legend - and what harm in a legend that only serves to perpetuate the memory of valor and sacrifice?  As matters stand, there's room to speculate, and every good Texan can follow the advice of J. K. Beretta of the Southwest Historical Quarterly: "Is there any proof that Travis didn't draw the line?  If not, then let us believe it."

--  "A Time to Stand; The Epic of the Alamo"  Walter Lord