Joe: The Slave Who Became an Alamo Legend by Ron J. Jackson Jr. and Lee Spencer White (review)

Joe: The Slave Who Became an Alamo Legend by Ron J. Jackson Jr. and Lee Spencer White is an ambitious work that attempts to provide a fuller biography of William Barret Travis’s servant, Joe. Joe’s survival of the epic battle at the Alamo and his later accounts of the contest not only galvanized support for the Texian cause of independence, but also made him a bona fide Texas hero. Utilizing myriad primary sources, most notably the probate records of Joe’s former master Isaac Mansfield, the authors detail Joe’s tumultuous life from boyhood to legend. Through their investigation of this famous Texas figure, the authors shed light on the complex nature of life in bondage and provide a unique vantage point from which modern readership can view the Texas Revolution.

Over the course of twenty-six chapters, Jackson and White’s sweeping narrative takes Joe from his boyhood in Missouri, to his life as a servant under Travis in Texas. Throughout the early chapters, the authors highlight the hardships faced by Joe, including familial separation, harsh punishments, backbreaking labor, and the inability to control his fate. The complexities of master-slave relations are best seen in the relationship between Travis and Joe. Despite his inferior position to Travis, Joe was given an incredible amount of trust and responsibility. Travis, while at times “forced” to carry out punitive measures with his property, forged a strong relationship with Joe. This is most evident in their time together during the Texas Revolution. As a body servant to Travis at the Alamo, Joe experienced firsthand all the famous moments of the siege. In the fires of war, Joe made the choice to tie his fate to that of his master and the Texas cause, fighting alongside men who viewed him as nothing more than chattel. Joe ironically survived the Mexican onslaught and was allowed to live because he was a slave.

The events following the Alamo cemented Joe’s legacy as a Texas legend. Spreading the word of his master’s gallant stand at the Alamo, Joe rallied the Texans to oust Santa Anna’s regime in their newly minted republic. Joe, however, was still a slave and remained one despite his growing fame. Joe later escaped to the Travis family plantation in Alabama, lived out the remainder of his days under the name “Ben,” eventually gained his freedom, and was forever remembered as an Alamo legend.

This investigation of Joe is a masterpiece of historical research. The discovery of Joe’s relation to the famed frontiersmen Daniel Boone, not to mention that one of Joe’s brothers was famous abolitionist William Wells Brown, further increases the importance of Joe’s footprint in Texas history. At the same time, Joe’s relationship with Travis lends further credence to the idea that master-slave relations were not simple affairs but relationships defined by unpredictable human connections. While at times Jackson and White’s investigation seems too speculative, their abundance of primary sources reassures suspicious readers and delivers a must read for those interested in slavery or the Texas Revolution.