What Was He Like?

• Appearances--William Barret Travis (WBT) was tall--six feet or more--and fair, with dark, curly red hair. According to the writer T.R. Fehrenbach, he had what the Mexicans came to call "blue-grey killer's" eyes.

• He Never Turned Back--A single statement in WBT's diary says it all about the Travis legend. On Sunday March 9, 1834, almost exactly two years before he was to die at the Alamo, WBT wrote in his Diary: "started to Mill Creek waters all swimming & prairie so boggy--could not go--The first time I ever turned back in my life." WBT was the the man who would not turn back.

• At the Center of Conflict--WBT's personality was such that he was always at the center of a conflict. Even when the fight was not directly his, there he was in the middle, drawing the focus of the action. At the start of the first Anahuac disturbance (see the section on "The Life of William B. Travis") he was involved only as a lawyer, but he was so active in the conflict that soon he was personally threatened by the Mexicans, with guns pointed at his head; and after the battle, he was the one most historians have come to associate with the disturbance. Later at the Alamo, he arrived only as an officer reporting to others, but in the final battle he was the central figure and had become the leader of the garrison.

• Deep Friendships--WBT maintained friendships over long years. One of WBT's close boyhood friends was James Butler Bonham, who later joined him in the fight at the Alamo, and was his key messenger and confidant. They both were born in the area of Saluda, South Carolina, although WBT moved to Alabama when he was nine. They both died together at the Alamo.

• A Hero--WBT was a hero, and all sorts of places are named in his memory, particularly in Texas.

• A Reader--WBT loved to read, borrowing the books that were available among individuals on the Texas Frontier. His diary and records indicate that he read quickly, sometimes reading a major work in only a few days.

• A Father--WBT was a father. His only son, Charles Edward Travis, came to live in Texas with his father a short time before the battle of the Alamo.

• A Young Man--WBT was only 26 when he died.