WOODVILLE – On Feb. 24, 1836, Col. William Barret Travis wrote a letter that would spell out the plight of the Texan Army at the Alamo, and echo into the future, to help tell the story of what those Texians were up against.
The letter, referred to commonly as the “Victory or Death” letter, put forth the only possible outcomes the battle could have, and in it Travis, who had only 157 men under his command, wrote of how the Texians were “besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna,” and constantly bombarded.
That letter, which was delivered, through Mexican lines by Capt. Albert Martin, to Texas President Sam Houston, is held up “in the same high esteem as the U.S. Constitution and the Magna Carta” among some, according to the Alamo Letter Society.
The organization has made it a goal, since 2024, to get a plaque of Travis’s letter installed in all 254 courthouses throughout Texas. According to the organization’s website, the idea came about when the organization’s chairman, Bill McNutt was touring the Alamo with his daughter, who was then in seventh grade. When McNutt’s daughter saw a plaque with Travis’s letter upon it, she asked her father why similar plaques were not “all over Texas.”
On Monday morning, the Tyler County Commissioners Court unanimously approved the go-ahead to get Tyler County on board with the Travis Letter plaque. The initiative came from a push by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is serving as the honorary chair of the Alamo Letter Society.
The Alamo Letter Society has put forth the mission of getting the plaques into all of the state’s courthouses as a means to educate current and future Texans about the state’s struggle for freedom and liberty, and to honor two leading Tejanos of the Texas Revolution, Jose Antonio Navarro and Juan Seguin.
A letter from Patrick to Tyler County Judge Milton Powers articulated those goals. Patrick offered up in his letter to Powers a voice of support to get the plaque placed in the Tyler County Courthouse. At current, 25 other courthouses have the letter plaque installed and displayed.
“The Travis Letter tells the Texas story, and exemplified how liberty, perseverance and the determination to succeed were crucial to Texas’ independence,” Patrick wrote. “Our goal is to provide all Texans access to this letter within the heart of our communities.”
Patrick has been writing letters to counties that have not yet organized efforts, to challenge them to get plaques dedicated.
The goal, according to Patrick’s letter, is to get the Travis Letter plaque installed in every Texas courthouse by Texas Independence Day next year.
The Alamo Society recruits a chairman in each county toward the plaque efforts. According to its website, each county chair will donate or raise $5,000 for the cost of the bronze plaque, and the chairman will work with the county judge in the efforts.
