The Battle of the Alamo holds a heroic place in American lore, nearly 200 years after its defenders were slaughtered by bullets and bayonets.
"The garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken," Alamo commander Lt. Col. William Barrett Travis, just 26, wrote in a combative statement of Texan defiance on Feb. 24, 1836, as the Mexican army began a two-week siege of the former Spanish mission.
"I shall never surrender or retreat," the defender vowed.
Travis was savagely killed at the Alamo, along with 188 other patriots in the cause of Texas independence. General Santa Anna’s vastly superior force overran the fort on March 6.
Americans remember the horrifying tale of Travis and the Alamo defenders today largely because of one man.
His name is Joe. He was a slave.
