Every native Texan is raised on stories about the heroes of the Alamo. I am no different. And those stories have been told gloriously by authors many times over since that fateful day in 1836. Few, though, have examined the life of Joe, William Barret Travis’s slave, the only known man to survive Santa Anna’s attack.
In researching Joe’s story, it was only natural to study the exploits of several of the Alamo’s most famous residents, including the legendary Jim Bowie. While the Bowie name is steeped in the lore of Texas—and is perhaps known more for the knife that bears the name than for the warrior’s defiant death at the Alamo—Jim Bowie remains something of an enigma. Hero, scoundrel, leader, drunk: There is no one consistent character who survives in the pages of history.
But there are two things most scholars agree on—Bowie held an intense hatred for the Mexicans and was relentless in his pursuit of gold and silver. The signpost Bowie Mine 1832 still exists in San Saba, Texas, and bears witness to the adventurer’s lifelong passion for treasure. It was the intersection of the lives of these two men—Bowie and Joe the slave—at the Alamo that led to this novel.
ABOUT THE BOOK
In the early morning of March 6, 1836, the Mexican army storms the Alamo and kills every one of the defenders except William Barret Travis’s young black slave named Joe. Although General Santa Anna vows to keep him alive, a fearful Joe escapes away in the night carrying a prize far more valuable than anything inside the creaky Spanish mission. Fast forward to September 2013. Joe’s modern descendant, a 93-year-old World War II veteran living alone in Brewton, Alabama is dying after being attacked by intruders. With his last breath, the old man defiantly shouts, “Come and take it!” And with his death, the last living person who knows about Joe’s prize is gone forever. While investigating the old man’s death, grandson Nat uncovers clues about a long-hidden secret dating back to the Alamo. With the help of a beautiful history professor named Renee, Nat begins to unravel the mystery of his grandfather’s murder, and in the process discovers another mystery of far greater scale—the long lost treasure of the Alamo.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Landon Wallace is a native Texan and has worked for over twenty-five-years with a major law firm in the North Texas area. He’s active in and out of the courtroom, and has been recognized as a leader in the legal community by his peers. Mr. Wallace has maintained a full law practice while completing his debut novel. COME AND TAKE IT is Mr. Wallace’s first public release but he anticipates his second novel in the near future. Mr. Wallace lives in North Texas with his wife and family.
“Every native Texan is raised on stories about the heroes of the Alamo. I am no different. And those stories have been told gloriously by authors many times over since that fateful day in 1836. Few, though, have examined the life of Joe, William Barret Travis’s slave, the only known man to survive Santa Anna’s attack. In researching Joe’s story, it was only natural to study the exploits of several of the Alamo’s most famous residents, including the legendary Jim Bowie. While the Bowie name is steeped in the lore of Texas—and is perhaps known more for the knife that bears the name than for the warrior’s defiant death at the Alamo—Jim Bowie remains something of an enigma. Hero, scoundrel, leader, drunk: There is no one consistent character who survives in the pages of history. But there are two things most scholars agree on—Bowie held an intense hatred for the Mexicans and was relentless in his pursuit of gold and silver. The signpost Bowie’s Mine 1832 still exists in San Saba, Texas, and bears witness to the adventurer’s lifelong passion for treasure. It was the intersection of the lives of these two men—Bowie and Joe the slave—at the Alamo that led to this novel.Much of the historical information contained in these pages is accurate. From the DRT’s battle with the State of Texas to the life of Adina de Zavala, there is truth in all of the historical accounts in this work. When dealing with the events at the Alamo, I relied heavily on The Alamo Reader, a wonderful compilation of historical materials edited by Todd Hansen, and Walter Lord’s classic account of the Alamo battle, titled A Time to Stand. Researching Jim Bowie and his search for treasure in the hills of Central Texas was made easier by the excellent accounts by J. Frank Dobie and other writers who’ve devoted many pages to the lost San Saba mine. Old press articles about Joe the slave’s movements after the Texas Revolution also provided historical context for this novel.” ~ Landon Wallace
Visit Landon Wallace at authorlandonwallace.com.
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