Joe Travis facts for kids
Joe Travis (born around 1815 – died at an unknown time) was a brave man who survived the famous Battle of the Alamo. Joe was an enslaved person, meaning he was forced to work without pay and was treated as property. He was sold four times in his life. His most well-known owner was William B. Travis, a lawyer and soldier who became a leader at the Alamo.
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Joe's Early Life
Joe Travis was born in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1815. His mother's name was Elizabeth. He had five brothers and sisters. One of his siblings was William Wells Brown, who later escaped slavery and became a famous writer and activist against slavery. William Wells Brown was the first African American to publish a novel, called Clotel, in 1853. Some stories say that Joe's grandfather was Daniel Boone, a famous American pioneer.
Joe grew up working in farm fields with his family. In his free time, he enjoyed fishing and hunting. He also worked extra jobs to earn money to help his family. Their owner was Dr. John Young. Dr. Young later moved Joe and his other enslaved people to Marthasville, Missouri, a town Young helped start. Joe worked as a farmhand for Dr. Young until he was 14. Then, he, his mother, brother, and sister were sold to Isaac Mansfield, a businessman from Connecticut.
Joe lived in St. Louis, Missouri, for several years. In 1832, Mansfield decided to move to New Orleans. Later, Mansfield moved his family and enslaved people to Texas. At that time, Texas was part of Mexico. Slavery was against the law in Mexican territories in the 1830s. So, Joe and others were brought in as "indentured servants." This meant they were supposed to work for a certain time to pay off a debt, but it was often just a way to get around the law against slavery. Joe was considered an indentured servant until Mansfield died in 1834. Sadly, Joe was not given his freedom when Mansfield died. He and his family were sold to pay Mansfield's debts, and Joe never saw his family again.
Life with William B. Travis
After Isaac Mansfield died, Joe was sold to William Barrett Travis. Travis was a lawyer and soldier in the United States military. Joe was moved to Travis's property in Texas. Travis owned or rented several enslaved people, including a young boy named Jared and a man named Peter. He also bought and sold other enslaved people to make money.
Joe became Travis's personal helper. He would get Travis's clothes ready in the morning, prepare his mule, and drive Travis around in his carriage.
In 1835, Travis became a leader in the military, a Lieutenant Colonel. He was ordered to go to the frontier (the edge of settled land) with his troops. Joe went with Travis on this journey.
The Alamo Battle
Joe and Travis arrived in San Antonio de Béxar on February 5, 1836. They knew that Antonio López de Santa Anna, a Mexican general, was coming with a large army. The Alamo Mission in San Antonio had been damaged in a previous battle, and there weren't many troops there. The commander at the Alamo, Colonel Neill, had to leave because his family was sick. This left William B. Travis in charge. Soon after, Travis learned that Santa Anna's army was arriving much sooner than expected.
On February 23, 1836, Mexican troops began to enter San Antonio to stop the rebellion. Santa Anna raised a red flag, which meant "surrender, or no mercy will be given." Travis responded by firing a single cannon shot, showing they would not give up. For the next thirteen days, Travis and his volunteers, including famous figures like Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie, stayed inside the Alamo mission. During this time, Joe and Travis were very close. On March 6, they were woken up by yelling. They quickly grabbed their guns and took their places at the mission wall.
Santa Anna's buglers (musicians who play a bugle) began to play a tune called "El Degüello". This was a cavalry call that meant "cutthroat" or "behead," signaling that no prisoners would be taken. Joe, Travis, and the other volunteers started shooting at Mexican soldiers who were climbing the north wall. During this intense fight, Travis was shot in the head. Joe quickly moved into a nearby house. From a small crack in the door, he watched his master die. Even from the house, Joe continued to fire shots at the Mexican soldiers.
After the battle ended, Mexican soldiers came to the house and asked, "Are there any Black people here?" Joe came out. Two Mexican soldiers tried to kill him right away, but Miguel Barragán, a Mexican army officer, stopped them. Joe was then asked to identify the bodies of Travis and Bowie. He was taken to Santa Anna, where Susanna Dickinson, another survivor of the Alamo, was also present. Since Joe spoke Spanish, Santa Anna questioned him about the rebel army. After that, Joe was released.
After the Alamo Battle
Joe knew he needed to leave San Antonio quickly. He left the city and caught up with Susanna Dickinson. She was on her way to Gonzales, Texas, to tell Sam Houston about what happened at the Alamo. When Houston heard the news and that Santa Anna was approaching, he ordered Gonzales to be burned to the ground. Everyone in the town then left and headed east.
Joe was seen as a hero because he was the only known male to survive the battle. He went to Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas, to tell Charles Travis, William B. Travis's son, what had happened at the Alamo. Even with his new fame as a hero, Joe was sadly taken back to Travis's property and forced back into slavery by his new owner, John Rice Jones.
One year after the Battle of the Alamo, Joe escaped. He took two horses and made his way to a farm owned by William B. Travis's brother, Nicholas Travis, near Sparta, Alabama. There, he was able to share the story of the battle with the rest of Travis's family. It is believed that Joe stayed on their farm for at least 15 years. He might have been renamed "Ben" in the 1850s because Nicholas Travis's wife, Elizabeth, had a child named Joseph Mark Travis. "Ben" was the name of Joe's oldest brother, who had died when he was a child.
Joe was last seen in San Antonio in 1877. Not much is known about his life after that time.
Joe's Legacy
Joe was recognized as a hero for his actions at the Battle of the Alamo. However, he was never given a military pension (money paid regularly for service) by the nation of Texas. In 2015, a book called Joe, The Slave Who Became an Alamo Legend was published by Ron J. Jackson and Lee Spencer White. This book shared a lot about Joe's life and his important contributions to the Alamo mission.
Joe's personal story of what happened at the Alamo helps us understand an event where most people lost their lives.
