Three Roads to the Alamo: The Lives and Fortunes of David Crockett, James Bowie, and William Barret Travis

I'm not sure if William C. Davis' "Three Roads to the Alamo" is a reinterpretation of the 1836 Alamo siege more than it is a truly exhaustive study of the three men who define that battle. A detailed and fascinating examination of the lives of David Crockett, James Bowie and William Barret Travis, "Three Roads to the Alamo" cuts through the myth and legend, revealing the dirt and substance of these men's lives en route to their eventual deaths in San Antonio.
Certainly the myth of Crockett is dented somewhat, as we see that he is a man clumsy in politics, impatient with family life, seeking the next adventure. Bowie also comes across as a rather scandalous man, involved in shady land and slave dealings which would have most certainly placed him in jail today. And finally Travis, whose life has never before been examined with such detail, comes across as a rather poor businessman, constantly in debt and a obsessive womanizer to boot.
Like all great historical figures shrouded in myth, it was only a matter of time before modern-day historians placed these Texas revolutionary heroes beneath a very un-romantic, yet 21st century microscope. So it comes as a rather stunning surprise that after these three statue-like figures are dressed down in human fashion, by battle's end they still, somehow, manage to put their past behind them and become heroes in spite of their many flaws.
I'm not sure if Mr. Davis did this intentionally, just as I'm not sure if you could truly draw a portrait of these men and this battle and not find shades of extraordinary heroism within the walls of that mission fortress. Certainly, John Wayne's infamous 1960 film "The Alamo" is anything but the truth, but the great unvarnished fact about this story is that even with the bones revealed, these men still come across as noble and heroic, having seized an incredible moment in time, thus surviving for all eternity.
And that, undoubtedly, is what continues to fascinate Americans, if not world citizens, about this battle. These men, while holding out for the hope of reinforcements, chose to stay, eventually sealing their doom. Yes, the line may not have been drawn in the sand, but in "Three Roads to the Alamo," that obvious fact becomes surprisingly irrelevant. Warts and all, these men's lives serve as the proper contrast to their eventual final deeds, making their decisions in 1836 all the more unforgettable.
"Three Roads to the Alamo" is a intimately detailed historic work, which will fascinate all readers interested in this legendary battle. Arguably, it is one of the finest books yet written about this 13-day siege.

An endlessly fascinating account of the lives of Travis, Bowie, and Crockett, the three most familiar names from among all the Alamo heroes. Meticulous research shows the dark side as well as the heroic side of their characters,and one is struck by the impression of an inexorable force drawing these three disparate personalities from widely separate backgrounds to stand together and take their place in history. A "must read" for anyone interested in how Texas got that way. (Warning for Sam Houston devotees: be prepared to deal with a distinctly unflattering impression of this Texas icon.)

I am a native Texan, approaching my 70th birthday, with two degrees in U.S. history, who through both choice and the circumstances of my birth has been reading Alamo related material since elementary school. I looked forward to the perspective Mr. Davis gave this story, taking the three best known American protagonists from their beginnings in the trans-Appalachian frontier to their deaths together only a couple of weeks after meeting each other. The portions on Crockett and Travis are interesting and read smoothly. As numerous other reviews of the book have stated, the portions on Bowie are far too detailed. I appreciate Mr. Davis's research, but there is too much information on the assorted convoluted schemes Bowie concocted. It was nearly impossible to keep track of all of the people involved in these schemes. As at least one reviewer has stated, it could all have been summarized in about fifty pages. I don't like to skip portions of books, but I had to do it in this case.

The settlement of new territory comes in three phases. The first are the trailblazers, like Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. Then come the speculators seeking to make a quick profit (like James Bowie) and then come the "nesters," the teachers, lawyers (like William Travis), homesteaders who make a community. William O. Davis' fascinating book offers three short biographies of three very different men and how they all came to meet their fate at the Alamo. Crockett is the most endearing. He comes across as a very sweet-natured and good-hearted person who strives very hard to improve himself. Bowie was an out-and-out crook and con-man. (His story is really pretty shocking to someone who grew up with the hagiography of Texian heroes!) Travis also had a few skeletons in his closet, in that he came to Texas to escape an unpleasant personal situation elsewhere. But people like these men were the founders of The Republic of Texas. It's my observation that some of the most successful Texans have combined aspects of all these men. (Lyndon Johnson and Ross Perot immediately come to mind.) Even though I'm a native Texan (some my ancestors came to Texas with the Robertson colony and another fought at San Jacinto), there were a lot of things that were new to me in this book. This is insightful and incisive writing. I recommend it to all lovers of Texas history. It has deepened my understanding of everything else I have read on the subject.

OK, that is a bit of a negative title, so I want to start off saying that I really enjoyed this book. One of the problems with the story of the Alamo is that it all too often is isolated in the time during the battle and not much of the events and lives of the participants are ever explored. This leaves a story disconnected from all that ran up to it, all that caused it.

William C. Davis does an admirable job assembling the lives of three people who are somewhat elusive in the historical record until their "big day" at the Alamo (even Crocket has his blank spots in his history). It is important info that informs us all why these men were "that" Travis, Crocket and Bowie.

He gives them life in a narrative that quickly moves in a conversational style. Further, he does an admirable job not judging these men on today's more "civilized" standards, allowing us to come to know the men as they were, in their day, without being weighed down by modern approbations and regrettable "social" historical analysis so popular with too many historians.

Now the criticism: As my little review title suggests I feel that there was one road, one equally important, not explored that led to the Alamo. It is a road that is just as important as the other roads Davis explores; that of Travis, Crocket, and Bowie.

It is a road without which the Alamo would not have occurred, propelling the three heroes into American mythology. It is the road traveled by Santa Anna.

Of course, at 587 pages, this tome is already a bit larger than the average popular treatment of any particular historical event and it is probable that Davis struggled to keep the story under one thousand! Still, Santa Anna's journey was just as tumultuous, interesting and central to the story as Travis, Crocket, and Bowie's, and just as important.

Davis admits that he started with the idea of a Bowie bio, so it isn't surprising that he dwelled on Bowie more so than the other two. But, given the re-direction he took with his story a little less on Bowie could have sufficed as the story of Santa Anna was included.

After reading the book, I felt a hole in the story. Why, exactly, did the Mexicans do all they did? Not just during the months preceding the Alamo, but for the decade before. How did Santa Anna get to his position? What drove him to lay siege to the Alamo and that small band of Norteamericanos? I know Santa Anna is not the American hero that the other three are, but where is the hero without the villain?

In any case. This book is highly recommended for anyone wanting a well researched story of the actions and personalities that led up to the Alamo. Even with that one small detraction, I say read it!

By Warner Todd Huston

I have worked at the Alamo in San Antonio for seven years. Having read numerous books of Alamo history, I recommend this book to those who want a detailed history of each of the key figures, Travis, Crockett, and Bowie. None of them were saints but common people who dealt with life in different ways. Their glory was in making a stand at the last days of their lives. Excellent material for an ordent history buff.

Quick! Name the three most famous battles fought on what is now US soil! Well, there may be some room for discussion but I would go with (in no particular order) The Battle of the Little Big Horn, Gettysburg, and The Battle of the Alamo. Two of these have their stature largely established on legend more than fact since there were few, if any, surviving witnesses from the side that most of us focus on. Indeed, little use has been made of the observations of the winning sides. Most references I've read discount most of the eyewitness accounts. This leaves two of the three battles with a limited availability of historical sources (while books on Gettysburg continue to emerge with new sources, interpretations and perspectives). In view of the apparent limitations he had to work with, what William C. Davis has done for the Battle of the Alamo is a truly impressive work of research, organization and perspective.

Be forewarned; this book of 587 pages of text and roughly 160 pages of footnotes uses merely 4 or 5 pages to tell of the Battle itself. Davis relies almost exclusively on Sutherland's "Fall of the Alamo" which is rather less extravagant than popular legend. While this book limited its' account of the actual battle, it gives, perhaps, the best written account of the events leading up to the Battle. It does so, as its' title implies, by focussing on the lives of Davy Crockett, James Bowies and William Barret Travis.

The threee men's lives display three seperate directions and give us three seperate understandings of the motivations of men in that time and place. Crockett was the explorer who became restless each time civilization moved into the neighborhood. He was the most famous of the three both in his time and in History and his was the life we enjoyed reading the most. His political career was "interesting" but not worthy of any more impressive adjective. His demise was the event that elevated his life but he would have been remembered even without the Alamo (albeit by far fewer people).

James Bowie was the wheeler dealer whose land-grabbing schemes were so boldly and so crudely illegal that most readers will find themselves having to make excuses to keep plodding through the morass of thievery. In time his exploits become more engrossing to the reader but there was always a new angle to twist in order to create a new fortune on paper. Bowie's bravery in Texas might have elevated his name higher than it was had he not already been half-dead with Typhoid Fever before the Battle even began. As it was, his name would have been obscure in modern times had it not been for the Alamo. His knife and his legal trail of fraudulent claims would have been all that was left to his fame (and it was his brother who invented that famous knife).

William Barret Travis was the least know of the three and the least acclaimed. As a kid I often wondered who this Travis character was and why was his name mentioned with Davy Crockett and Jim Bowie. Travis was a lawyer of limited ability until he fled to Texas to escape his debts back home. There he eventiually found his abilities in the legal profession and he represents that stabelizing effect that professionals bring when they arrive at the frontier settlements. Travis might possibly have exceeded the fame of his two counterparts had it not been for his death at the Alamo. That is because Davis portrays his legal mind as one of a man with great political promise. (Or he could have drifted deeply into obscurity).

The details that the author gives us is an excellent study of the emerging American Nation. The explorer, the fortune hunter, and the civilizer were a sort of system that led to the development of the great American continent. Reading the stories of these men gets confusing at times. (I often had trouble figuring out if I was reading about Bowie or Travis since their financial lives were so similar). However, the details leading up to the Alamo gave me a much better appreciation of the actual events. I may not have been as excited about reading of the Battle (as I was in reading Jeff Long's "Duel of Eagles") but I realized at the end of the book that I had gotten more out of it than any other account of the Alamo. These men (and others such as Sam Houston) were fatally flawed but they were also very interesting. Kudos to Willam C. Davis for putting together such a well-conceived and well-written account.

I have always suspected that the events I "know" about the Alamo were not entirely accurate, and now, from reading Three Roads to the Alamo, I find that most of what I knew was myth or outright fabrication. But the really interesting discovery is that the truth is much more evocative than the myth.

A biography of any one of these men would be a quite a job by itself, but William Davis has written three meticulously researched biographies and has combined them into the definitive history of the Alamo. Don't be deterred by the length of this book; serious researchers will appreciate the detail, but for the rest of us Davis writes in a smooth and satisfying style. Once their mythology is stripped away, Bowie, Crockett and Travis come to life as real men, and we follow their fascinating lives as their paths lead them toward their fate. We become immersed in their stories, as if they were characters in literature.

If you could only read one book about the Alamo, Three Roads to the Alamo would be your best choice.

This is a well reserached and well organized book. The Chapter notes are as good as the main text. Bravo!

An excellent read. I would highly recommend this book. While this book demonstrates the faults of the three famous men who died in defense of the Alamo, one will conclude that they were heroic. It also makes one have a lower opinion of Sam Houston.