"To the people of Texas and all Americans in the World: I shall never surrender or retreat ... I Am determined to sustain myself as long as possible and die like a soldier who never forgets what it is due to his honor and that of his country-VICTORY OR DEATH." This was a letter sent by William Barret Travis during the siege of the Alamo on February 24, 1836. It was a cry for help to anybody and everybody willing to listen. It all started in 1830 with Stephen Austin, a leader of American pioneers in the wild, living in Texas, under the rule of ....