"In Search of the Heroes": The Cost of Freedom--William Barret Travis

Line in the Sand Play

An activity that can involve an entire class or a group of students is a presentation of the incident of William B. Travis' line in the sand. This can be a simple informal presentation with a reading of WBT's speech, or it can be extensive, with costumes, a script, and individuals representing all the major characters in the Alamo drama.

Characters--Travis, Bowie, Crockett, soldiers, officers, Mrs. Dickinson, Moses Rose (the one man who legend has it did not cross the line), etc.
Setting--The Alamo courtyard in the early evening or at night.
The Action--Legend has it that Travis assembled the troops. At first he may have been overcome with emotion, but soon he regained his composure and made a speech telling them of the situation, admitting that likely it would be a fight to the death, and encouraging them to die fighting. He then drew a long line in the dust from one end of the troop formation to the other, and gave everyone a choice of crossing the line to show that they would stay and fight with him in the Alamo. Jim Bowie was sick, presumably on a litter, and asked others to carry him across the line.
Setting the Scene--Assign students their parts and have them decide on their own defiant statements to make when they cross the line. The students can then enter in parade formation; according to legend Travis had the troops parade in single file. Bowie, who was sick and invalid at the time of the battle, should be on a makeshift stretcher, or just on the ground, and a group of students can be asked to be his escorts to carry him across the line at the proper moment. Next have Travis make an appropriate speech before the assembled troops, and then with great fanfare have him draw a line across the floor. A piece of chalk can be taped to the end of a stick for this purpose, or the line can be left imaginary. When the line is completed, Travis should make a final challenge, and then the troops can cross the line making their defiant statements. Bowie is carried across next. The one man who does not cross the line is the infamous Moses Rose.
Legend has it that a man named Moses Rose refused to stay and fight. Jim Bowie, who was his friend, then urged him to cross the line, and when he did not, Travis ordered him to be passed over the wall. Instead, Rose grabbed his bundle of belongings and climbed to the top of the wall, paused for a last look, and then jumped to the ground outside. The student playing Rose can be asked to demonstrate all these actions.
The Great Debate--It should be noted that there was a great debate as to whether WBT actually drew the famous line in the sand. The story of the line was first reported in the 1873 Texas Almanac (a book of Texas facts), and was based on a letter written at that time by W.P. Zuber, the son of a Texas pioneer. Mr. Zuber's father had supposedly helped a Louis "Moses" Rose after he escaped from the Alamo and was on his way to his home in Nacogdoches, a town in East Texas. For many years there have been historians who have not accepted this story, because the information came so many years after the battle, and also because Zuber apparently embellished the story he heard from his father, providing so-called verbatim speeches from Travis and others. However, research has shown that there was a Moses Rose, a butcher in Nacogdoches during the years after the war, who had been called upon to give testimony for claims by descendents of men who died at the Alamo. Also in 1853, descendents of Moses Rose made a claim for property promised to all veterans of the Texas Revolution; this claim was denied because Rose had been a traitor for leaving the Alamo. Mrs. Dickinson, one of the survivors of the Alamo, reported that Travis gave everyone an opportunity to leave (possibly the line in the sand incident), and that a man named "Ross" (similar to "Rose") took up his offer.
The students can be asked to debate the issue of whether the line in the sand incident actually occurred. Also there is the issue of whether Rose was a traitor, or merely a soldier who thought he had permission to leave and fight another day.