Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick speaks as officials and guests gather for the unveiling of the Alamo's new Palisade Exhibit on Friday, Dec. 17, 2021.

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William Physick Zuber is surely smiling in heaven.

Zuber was the author of the biggest Alamo lie of all. He claimed that my great-great-grandmother’s cousin, Col. William Barrett Travis, drew a line in the sand with his sword and asked the men in the Alamo to cross over if they were ready to die for Texas independence.

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Historians have long questioned the story’s authenticity since Zuber first published his tall tale in the Texas Almanac in 1873, nearly four decades after the battle. He later admitted that he invented some of the story! But Anglo Texans have relied on

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