The Raven Wins Texas

Originally Aired: March 12, 1940 Cavalcade of America #178, "The Raven Wins Texas," follows Sam Houston as he accepts President Andrew Jackson's challenge to bring Texas into the Union. When the idealistic Stephen Austin ignores Houston's warnings and travels to Mexico City to negotiate with General Santa Anna, he finds himself imprisoned for six months in a dungeon instead of receiving an audience. Meanwhile, Houston works to organize a government and army for Texas, knowing Santa Anna will seek revenge for earlier skirmishes. The situation grows desperate when word arrives that Santa Anna is attacking the Alamo, where Colonel Travis and David Crockett are defending the garrison. Despite urgent calls to march immediately, Houston insists on building a proper army first. When a survivor, Mrs. Dickerson, brings news that the Alamo has fallen after a brutal thirteen-day siege with all 180 defenders massacred by Santa Anna's 4,000 troops, Houston faces the grim reality of leading an unprepared Texas against a merciless enemy determined to crush the American settlers' dream of liberty.