Bonham, riding his way through Mexican troops, returns from Goliad and reports that Fannin is not coming. John W. Smith rides out with a message to the President of the Convention. Travis tells Smith he will fire an 18 pounder three times, once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and once in the evening every day for as long as the Alamo stands.
Also on March 3, the Mexicans established an artillery battery north of the fort, within musket-shot. That night the Texans sallied forth to attack it, but the resulting skirmish was inconclusive, and the battery remained.
In his letter to the Texas Convention of 1836, Travis said "With one hundred and forty-five men, I have held this place ten days against a force variously estimated from fifteen hundred to six thousand; and I shall continue to hold it till I get relief from my countrymen, or I will perish in its defence."
In a grim bit of foreshadowing, one of the final paragraphs of the letter included this: "I feel confident that the determined valour and desperate courage, heretofore evinced by my men, will not fail them in the last struggle, and although they may be sacrifieced to the vengeance of a Gothic enemy, the victory will cost the enemy so dear, that it will be worse for him than a defeat."
Travis also sent a personal message to a friend of his: "Take care of my little boy. If the country should be saved, I may make him a splendid fortune ; but if the country should be lost, and I should perish, he will have nothing but the proud recollection that he is the son of a man who died for his country."
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