By Alex N. Murphree.
San Antonio Express newspaper, Aug. 20, 1933, Sunday.
Who is this man?
Did this handsome warrior die as the commander of the brave garrison of the Alamo on that fateful day in 1836? Or was he shot down by a Mexican sniper after he had led the Texans into San Antonio to attack the Mexicans under General de Cos in the early winter of 1835?
Granted that he gave his life for the Republic of Texas, who is this man?
Some of the history books call him Ben Milam; others refer to him as Colonel William Barret Travis. He is a hero, but who is to say with certainty which?
Perhaps, the man with the whimsical smile you see in the picture was smiling thus to the band of Texans camped on the San Antonio River under the command of Burleson when he said to them:
"Who will follow old Ben Milam into San Antonio?"
Perhaps this is not the man who uttered that historical saying. Possibly he it was who, with a smile such as this, turned to the heroes of the Alamo after he had drawn a line with his sword across the floor of the chapel and said:
"If you will stay here and fight to death, step across this line."
And the same smile greeted the grateful compliance of Davy Crockett and the stoical compliance of James Bowie who was ill and had to be carried across. And perhaps another smile greeted the refusal of Rose to cross the line at all.
Be it Milam or be it Travis, this man died a hero's death.
Not quite a century has passed since this man died but the obscurity of many centuries surrounds his picture. Archaeologists can speak with certainty in saying that such and such an old statue is a likeness of King Tutankhamen of Egypt who lived 3,000 years ago, but who is there to say with certainty that this is a likeness of a man who died 100 years ago?
At least two authorities, the authors of "A guide to the Alamo and the Missions" and the Daughters of the Republic who published a "Guide to the Alamo", say that the picture is a likeness of Col. William Barret Travis. At least three others, Charles Merrit Barnes of "Combats and Conquests of Immortal Heroes," Paul Wagner in his "San Antonio Album" and the Texas Field and National Guardsman, maintain that the photograph is of Ben Milam.
It would seem that comparison of pictures known to be authentic would reveal points of similarity which would dictate a choice in one or the other directions. But what are the facts?
The picture in the possession of the descendants of Colonel Travis which they believe to be an authentic likeness of their heroic ancestor is truly similar to this engraving. Mark A. Travis of MeKenzie, Ala., furnished Helen Mixon who wrote a master's thesis of the life of Travis with a copy of the picture which is in the possession of the Travis family. But the original has disappeared. The copy he has is said by expert photographers to be a copy made from a half-toned engraving. In other words it could have been copied from a print of a disputed picture taken from any one of the several books in which this print appears as Travis.
Another picture which resembles this hangs in the Alamo. It was sent East and retouched. The chief change is that the chin has been straightened, possibly to conform to some one's idea of the requisite length of chin necessary in a popular hero. This picture is supposed to be Travis.
A humorous note enters here. The Milam Building in San Antonio, named after the Texas hero, had a copy of the disputed picture with a copper plate which calls him Ben Milam on its walls. And yet that might be a picture of Colonel Travis. The Alamo has a copy of the same picture retouched in the interest of a strong chin, and calls it Colonel Travis. And yet it might be a picture of Ben Milam who was dead before the fall of the Alamo.
How about the McArdle picture of Travis which is hanging in the State Capitol in Austin? Unfortunately, that is of dubious authenticity too. H. A. McArdle, famous painter of Texas historical subjects, including the Fall of the Alamo and the Battle of San Jacinto, was confronted with a dilemma when he sought to paint a portrait of Colonel Travis. No picture of Travis seemed to exist.
McArdle had to paint his portrait from descriptions from the lips and pens of person who had known Travis. One of his sources was Thrall's "Pictorial History of Texas" in which Travis is described as being about six feet high and weighing 170 pounds. He had light hair and blue eyes and a red beard. His complexion was fair. He was well-proportioned and a fine-looking figure of a man. That is a pen portrait of a hero.
But McArdle found he could not paint a likeness from such a description. A photograph of a miniature of Martin D. McHenry of Shelbyville, Ky., was brought to his attention. Friends of Travis had commented on the similarity of the two men. McHenry was said to have resembled Travis so much that they might have been mistaken for each other. This miniature formed the basis for the only authentic portrait of Colonel Travis. It is a painting based on verbal description and the reputed similarities of two men and yet it is strangely like the photograph which heads this article.
But perhaps this picture is a likeness of Ben Milam. What is the evidence there?
Descendants of Ben Milam also possess what they hold to be an authentic picture of their illustrious relative. There is less doubt of its authenticity than there is of the genuineness of the Travis family portrait. But there is little similarity between the Milam family portrait and the picture in question. A faint resemblance exists but it mostly resolves itself in the observation that the men in both pictures apparently combed their hair the same way. The resemblance is nothing to swear by.
The picture in dispute is of a man in uniform, and that is a striking note. Jeff Milam wrote to McArdle when the painter was doing research preparatory to painting portraits of Texas heroes in that letter Jeff Milam, who should know, says that he never "saw a picture of Uncle Ben in a uniform."
And yet, so sure was McArdle that the disputed picture, a picture of a man in uniform, was a likeness of Ben Milam that he ignored the discrepancy and included the disputed portrait in his scrap book, labeling it a picture of Ben Milam.
It all resolves itself into a puzzle and curious fact. From the evidence it is impossible to determine positively which man this picture represnts. A scant hundred yeara and identiy fades. Fame, worldwide fame, is the lot of both men and yet less than 100 years after their death no one is able to point to a picture and say, "That is the way Colonel Travis, or Ben Milam, looked when he gave his life for Texas."
