William Barret Travis
Once again a Texas media outlet has mangled the spelling of one of the state’s most celebrated historic figures, who partly shares my name. A story last week in The Highlander, a twice-weekly newspaper published in Marble Falls, Texas, invited the public to the dedication of a plaque commemorating the famous 1836 “Victory or Death ” letter written by William Barret Travis, commander of the Alamo.
Except that the story in several places incorrectly spelled Barret with two Ts.
The Highlander thus joined an impressive roster of prominent Texas media, politicians and organizations that over the decades have gotten the storied man’s name wrong in print–scores of times. The list includes–repeatedly and too numerous to cite individually–the state’s largest newspapers: The Dallas Morning News, Houston Chronicle, Fort Worth Star-Telegram and even the Alamo’s hometown San Antonio Express-News. Texas Monthly, the state’s most prominent magazine (which once declined to publish my letter of correction). Written statements from elected officials, including both of Texas’s sitting Republican U.S. senators, Ted Cruz and John Cornyn. Even, amazingly, the web page right now of something called the Alamo Letter Society, apparently based in the Dallas suburb of University Park, and the list of inductees into another something called the Texas Trail of Fame in Fort Worth.
Okay, I admit this is a rant. My grievance dates back to when I lived in Texas decades before becoming New To Las Vegas. I used to get asked a lot if I am kin to Travis or named for him (no and no). It was annoying because, as I will explain presently, I don’t consider Travis all that much of a role model.
But I think this repeated blunder by the powers-that-be says a lot about the shallowness of hero-worshipping in the Great State of Texas, if not elsewhere.
