Seeing the gravesite of Moses Rose, tucked away in Logansport, Lousiana, was truly fascinating. The legend of Moses Rose is full of intrigue, mystery, and rushes to judgment. Often called the Coward of the Alamo, to know his story is to know this title is unfitting and unfair.
It is he who tells the story of William Travis drawing the line in the sand at The Alamo for anyone who wanted to cross and thereby declare their intentions to enter battle… to fight a fight which pretty much promised the fate of death to all who took him up on his challenge. Rose did not cross the sand and because of that… He lived to tell about it. He simply wanted to live… That was his admitted reason for not staying and fighting to his certain death.
Besides… He had already lived a pretty heroic life according to history accounts. Born in 1785 in Laferée, Ardennes, France, Moses Rose was a member of Napoleon’s 101st Regiment in 1806. In service to France, he was courageous enough to earn the French Legion of Honor, which is no small feat. In campaigns in Naples, Portugal, Spain, and Russia he must have seen enough bloodshed and needless death to last a lifetime.
By 1827, he had settled in Nacogdoches, Texas. When the Texian Revolution began, he dedicated himself to the cause. He sold or mortgaged all his possessions to fight in the Fredonian Rebellion and the Battle of Nacogdoches. He fought in the siege of Bexar and he followed his friend Jim Bowie to the Alamo.
After quietly escaping the nightmarish situation in San Antonio, Moses Rose lived out his last years in East Texas and along the Sabine River. Such an interesting character.