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"T" is for Travis, William Barret [1809-1836]

South Carolina From A to Z
SC Public Radio

"T" is for Travis, William Barret [1809-1836]. Soldier. Travis was born in Edgefield District, but in 1818 his family moved to Alabama. He studied law, and published a small newspaper, the Claiborne Herald. In debt, he abandoned his pregnant wife and infant son and fled to Texas. Travis set up a law practice and began a life of drinking, gambling, and womanizing—all of which he carefully recorded in his diary. When the Texas Revolution broke out in 1835, he was commissioned a major and later promoted to lieutenant colonel. In January 1836 the Governor of Texas ordered Travis and a detachment of thirty men to reinforce the garrison at San Antonio. On the morning of March 6, 1836, William Barrett Travis was killed as the Mexican Army began its final assault on the Alamo.

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Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.