Birdwatcher
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Just heard about this recent (2015) book in Wild West magazine.
Fer those out of the loop, Joe was William Barret Travis's personal slave who by his own account witnessed Travis die at the Alamo and is one of the few survivors of that fight. He is THE main source of first-person accounts we have of that battle from the Texian side.
http://www.amazon.com/Joe-Slave-Became-Alamo-Legend/dp/0806147032
First off, the critics are probably right on the money; there really ain't enough new stuff solidly backed by evidence here to fill a 300 page book, the rests is speculation, either the authors' or contemporary sources.
But what they DID dig up is pretty cool. OK without having read the book...
Joe was either born in or owned as a small child by a guy in New Orleans, along with his mom and siblings. The family was split up through sale.
One of Joe's brothers later escaped North and became a noted speaker for abolition, there is no evidence that Joe was ever aware of this or vice versa. Joe's brother was literate, contemporary accounts note how well-spoken Joe was too. He might have been able to read and write.
After the death of Travis, ownership of Joe was transferred to one Jones family in East Texas. Joe ran away from this family twice, the first time in company with a Mexican prisoner after the Texas Revolution was over.
Turns out the Travis family oral history has always had it that Joe returned to their homestead/plantation in Alabama where he described the fall of WB Travis at the Alamo to his brother. The authors found documentation that this was correct.
Worth noting that the usual destination for runaway slaves in Texas was Mexico, where they could live as free men and marry into the local society. Says a lot about the complexity of slave/master relationships that Joe opted to return to his prior home in Alabama. To pull this off he had to cross 600 miles of the Deep South undetected, including swimming across the Mississippi.
Speaking of complex slave/master relationships; the book also points out that one of the Alamo defenders had skipped out to Texas in company with a mulatto slave girl and was wanted back home for stealing her. Seems like such things happened, especially involving mixed-blood women. Noah Smithwick hisself, not an Alamo defender but one of our primary sources from early Texas, partnered with a guy who had likewise married such a woman and who had moved to the far Frontier to escape the condemnation of society. Anyways, we know that there was a slave woman who died at the Alamo, fallen by the wall.
Point of interest; in the book it says oral tradition also had it that Joe was a grandson by blood of Daniel Boone.
Joe is probably buried in an unmarked grave somewhere on the site of the old Travis homestead in Alabama. Joe's account of his own actions at the Alamo, given soon after that fight, are credible because he makes no claims of unusual heroism and are about like what we know of the actions of others on the Texas side who fought there.
By his own account Joe was armed and saw Travis fall early in the action, hit in the head by a bullet as he was leaning over the wall to fire down upon the Mexicans below. Joe then retreated to the cover of a room, firing out into the smoke and confusion at the Mexican soldiers.
If he accepted quarter at the end of it, he did no less than a handful of other Alamo defenders did who were given the opportunity, including probably David Crockett. Then too from credible Mexican accounts, we get that as many as one hundred defenders bailed over the east and west walls towards the end of it in a bid to escape. A logical response once the compound was overrun by overwhelming numbers.
Another must-read book fer me :thumbsup:
Birdwatcher
Fer those out of the loop, Joe was William Barret Travis's personal slave who by his own account witnessed Travis die at the Alamo and is one of the few survivors of that fight. He is THE main source of first-person accounts we have of that battle from the Texian side.
http://www.amazon.com/Joe-Slave-Became-Alamo-Legend/dp/0806147032
First off, the critics are probably right on the money; there really ain't enough new stuff solidly backed by evidence here to fill a 300 page book, the rests is speculation, either the authors' or contemporary sources.
But what they DID dig up is pretty cool. OK without having read the book...
Joe was either born in or owned as a small child by a guy in New Orleans, along with his mom and siblings. The family was split up through sale.
One of Joe's brothers later escaped North and became a noted speaker for abolition, there is no evidence that Joe was ever aware of this or vice versa. Joe's brother was literate, contemporary accounts note how well-spoken Joe was too. He might have been able to read and write.
After the death of Travis, ownership of Joe was transferred to one Jones family in East Texas. Joe ran away from this family twice, the first time in company with a Mexican prisoner after the Texas Revolution was over.
Turns out the Travis family oral history has always had it that Joe returned to their homestead/plantation in Alabama where he described the fall of WB Travis at the Alamo to his brother. The authors found documentation that this was correct.
Worth noting that the usual destination for runaway slaves in Texas was Mexico, where they could live as free men and marry into the local society. Says a lot about the complexity of slave/master relationships that Joe opted to return to his prior home in Alabama. To pull this off he had to cross 600 miles of the Deep South undetected, including swimming across the Mississippi.
Speaking of complex slave/master relationships; the book also points out that one of the Alamo defenders had skipped out to Texas in company with a mulatto slave girl and was wanted back home for stealing her. Seems like such things happened, especially involving mixed-blood women. Noah Smithwick hisself, not an Alamo defender but one of our primary sources from early Texas, partnered with a guy who had likewise married such a woman and who had moved to the far Frontier to escape the condemnation of society. Anyways, we know that there was a slave woman who died at the Alamo, fallen by the wall.
Point of interest; in the book it says oral tradition also had it that Joe was a grandson by blood of Daniel Boone.
Joe is probably buried in an unmarked grave somewhere on the site of the old Travis homestead in Alabama. Joe's account of his own actions at the Alamo, given soon after that fight, are credible because he makes no claims of unusual heroism and are about like what we know of the actions of others on the Texas side who fought there.
By his own account Joe was armed and saw Travis fall early in the action, hit in the head by a bullet as he was leaning over the wall to fire down upon the Mexicans below. Joe then retreated to the cover of a room, firing out into the smoke and confusion at the Mexican soldiers.
If he accepted quarter at the end of it, he did no less than a handful of other Alamo defenders did who were given the opportunity, including probably David Crockett. Then too from credible Mexican accounts, we get that as many as one hundred defenders bailed over the east and west walls towards the end of it in a bid to escape. A logical response once the compound was overrun by overwhelming numbers.
Another must-read book fer me :thumbsup:
Birdwatcher
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