Tag Archives: Stephen Harrigan

Among the few Alamo survivors (yes, there were a few), one claimed to have witnessed the death of Lt. Col. William B. Travis. The witness was Joe, Travis‘ slave and body servant. I mention him because the Texas State Historical Association marks this as the day that Joe escaped from slavery in 1837, one year, five months and twenty days after the fall of the Alamo. He would have been about twenty-four years old. History doesn’t record what happened to him, but Stephen Harrigan’s wonderful novel, The Gates of the Alamo, has him a waiter in a posh restaurant in Mexico City. Texana writer Mike Cox reports on what little is recorded of the details of Joe’s escape, and his burial place.