America’s Alamo Lives Thanks To Slave Joe

Slave Joe fought aside Alamo Cdr Travis, like many slaves & slave owners did elsewhere in our oft contradictory history. A rare massacre survivor, Joe inspired us to “REMEMBER” not just the Alamo but who we AMERICANS are …

As the Fox article related: “Alamo commander Lt. Col. William Barrett Travis … was savagely killed at the Alamo, along with 188 other patriots in the cause of Texas Independence. General Santa Anna’s vastly superior force overran the fort on March 6, 1836. Americans remember the horrifying tale of Travis & the Alamo defenders today largely because of one man. His name is Joe. He was a slave … who fought & bled & nearly died with Travis, Jim Bowie & Davy Crockett inside the walls of the Alamo.” Bayoneted, Joe, was dragged before Mexico’s Gen. Santa Anna for questioning, then, temporarily reprieved as other wounded defenders still alive were summarily executed. Joe would escape during the ensuing confusion & alert rescue forces that would crush the Mexican army just weeks later at San Jacinto shouting “Remember the Alamo”.

Yet, as Ernesto Rodriguez, Alamo curator & historian, told Fox, Joe’s bravery is one of the many largely forgotten facts of the traditional story of the Alamo we all have learned in the 200 years since.” Thankfully, in 2015 & after decades of looking for the historical Joe, Lee Spencer White & Ron Jackson authored “Joe, the Slave Who Became an Alamo Legend.” Joe’s resurfaced story, they wrote, is one for the ages. Owned by 4 masters, he came into the possession of Col Travis & as a 20 yr old would find himself serendipitously at the Alamo fighting alongside “mostly common men … “an incredible diversity of the American people … haberdashers, shopkeepers & teamsters” with an average age of 26 … They hailed from 18 states & 6 nations … the heroes of the Alamo were German, Irish, English, Mexican, Mestizo, Native American, European & African.” The common bond: They were AMERICAN.

Davd Soul