Surprised by an overwhelming Mexican force, they were chased off and escaped, however 18 of the group were captured and marched back to Goliad. Despite the protests for clemency by General Jos de Urrea, the massacre was reluctantly carried out by Lt. John C. Duval was college-educated, and descended from a distinguished family his father served as the first U.S. territorial governor of Florida, and his family had ties going back to George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. [2] As part of his preparations for marching on Texas, in late December 1835 Santa . General Urrea departed Goliad, leaving command to Colonel Jos Nicols de la Portilla. In some accounts of the Goliad Massacre, a Mexican woman, Francisca (Francita, Panchita or Pancheta) Alavez, sometimes referred to by other names (Alvarez or Alavesco), rescued about 20 Texian soldiers and became known as "The Angel of Goliad. They were advised not to take off the arm band, since Mexican troops were hunting for those few who had escaped from Coleto, Victoria, and the massacre itself. His troops easily defeated Johnson's small force at the Battle of San Patricio on February 26. [citation needed], Amon B. Fannin could have probably cut his way to safety, but he refused to abandon the wounded. 20 killed, est. The Texians were then fired on at point-blank range only a few hundred yards from the fort. The Apache tribes disliked the Mexicans so, that when the United States went to war against Mexico, the Apache promised to provide them with safe passage through their lands. In 1936, in celebration of the Texas Centennial, money was appropriated to build a massive pink granite monument, dedicated on June 4, 1938. He also had a similar order sent directly to the "Officer Commanding the Post of Goliad". The injured Fannin was the last to be slaughtered. Although this was really an attempt by Urrea to commandeer the ship, the vessel had already departed. [4] Colonel Fannin received an order from General Sam Houston to retreat to Victoria just a few weeks later. He sent couriers to Ward, but most of them were intercepted by Urrea's cavalry. According to a Goliad Chamber of Commerce publication, "Goliad's history began at the Presidio La Bahia. Only then were they made aware that Colonel Fannin and his men had already surrendered following the Battle of Coleto. Bounty certificates were issued at the rate of 320 acres for every three months of service. After Santa Anna learned that a force of Texas rebels was heading toward Matamoros, he sent General Urrea to march north along the coast of Texas to stop them. In April 1885 a memorial was finally erected, in the city of Goliad rather than on the site, by the Fannin Monument Association, formed by William L. Hunter, a massacre survivor. At sunrise on Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836, the unwounded Texans were formed into three groups under heavy guard commanded by Capt. [1][5], The next day, Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836, Colonel Portilla had the 303 Texians marched out of Fort Defiance into three columns on the Bexar Road, San Patricio Road, and the Victoria Road, between two rows of Mexican soldiers; they were shot point-blank, and any survivors were clubbed and knifed to death. [5] Urrea had sent 18 of the 24 prisoners to Matamoros, where they were sentenced to death, but later released. Once the columns reached their selected location, the Mexican soldados formed into two ranks on one side of the captives. Fannin's men possessed, besides their rifles, 500 spare muskets and nine brass cannons and, if told that it would mean death to surrender, could sell their lives at fearful cost and might cut their way through Urrea's lines. As bad as it was, that number would have been higher were it not for, as fate would have it, the wife of a Mexican officer. He made three requests: he asked for his personal possessions to be sent to his family, to be shot in his heart and not his face, and to be given a Christian burial. On March 12, they encountered a group of Texian soldiers, under the command of William Ward at Refugio. [11] On March 13, King was surrounded by elements of the Mexican army and sent out a plea for help to Fannin, who sent Lieutenant-Colonel William Ward and the Georgia Battalion to reinforce him. There are over 20 public-school districts and other great public charter school options, like KIPP Texas-Houston and IDEA Public Schools, within Houston's city limits serving our increasing population.We are a rapidly growing organization, committed to creating life-changing. Senator Lloyd M. Bentsen. Another written account can be found in Early Times in Texas (serial form, 186871; book, 1892) by John Crittenden Duval. Morales has long put her heart into the community that raised her. [22], Fannin's retreat and the Battle of Coleto, Harbert Davenport and Craig H. Roell, "GOLIAD CAMPAIGN OF 1836," Handbook of Texas Online, Craig H. Roell, "REFUGIO, BATTLE OF," Handbook of Texas Online, Francisca (Francita, Panchita or Pancheta) Alavez, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Goliad_Campaign&oldid=1075168209, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, est. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. The Texians repulsed Mexican attacks for several days. We are a community-supported, non-profit organization and we humbly ask for your support because the careful and accurate recording of our history has never been more important. "There is a rank due to the United States, among nations, which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness. Here, in 1836, 342 soldiers were shot to death in one day. Whether indecisive, stubborn or loyal to the rebels away on missions whom he did not want to abandon, Fannin remained in Goliad until the morning of March 19. Things to Do Also spared were the 75 soldiers of the Miller and Nashville Battalion, who were given white arm bands. Viola Fletcher was 7 years old when she witnessed one of worst acts of racial violence the US has ever seen. [5] Johnson and four others escaped in the darkness and rejoined Fannin's command at Goliad, where they said that all the prisoners had been executed. Thirty nine were killed inside the fort, under the direction of Captain Carolino Huerta of the Tres Villas battalion, with Colonel Garay saving one. Goliad Tourism Goliad Hotels Goliad Bed and Breakfast Goliad Vacation Packages Flights to Goliad Goliad Restaurants Things to Do in Goliad Goliad Travel Forum Goliad Photos Goliad Map Goliad Travel Guide All Goliad Hotels; Goliad Hotel Deals; accessed January 19, 2023, Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. We need your support because we are a non-profit organization that relies upon contributions from our community in order to record and preserve the history of our state. Believing they were on missions to gather wood, drive cattle or even sail to safety in New Orleans, the rebels joked and swapped stories. Santa Annas ruthless treatment of the captured soldiers had the opposite effect than what he intended. Fannin, who could not have done much else-Urrea had received reinforcements and artillery that would have devastated the Texan position in an open prairie on ground lower than the Mexican lines-accepted Urrea's proposals but did not inform his men of the conditional nature of these terms. The battle and execution, popularly (and controversially) referred to as the "Goliad Massacre," have been recreated each March by costumed members of the Crossroads of Texas Living History. WILLIAM COKNEK. Captain King and all but one man were executed in short order. Urrea's force killed 16 men and took 24 prisoners. In October, the Texians took up arms in what became known as the Texas Revolution. The Texans were imprisoned by the Mexicans at Goliad and subsequently murdered by order of Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna on March 27, 1836. Joseph E. Field, Three Years in Texas (Greenfield and Boston, Massachusetts, 1836; rpt., Austin: Steck, 1935). But Portilla's volleys at Goliad, together with the fall of the Alamo, branded both Santa Anna and the Mexican people with a reputation for cruelty and aroused the fury of the people of Texas, the United States, and even Great Britain and France, thus considerably promoting the success of the Texas Revolution. With hostilities temporarily suspended, Frank W. Johnson and James Grant gathered volunteers for a planned invasion of the Mexican port town of Matamoros. On March 18, Urrea's advance scouts were viewing Goliad. However, the Mexicans would receive overwhelming reinforcements and heavy artillery. They then headed for Lavaca Bay, where they would end up surrounded. The exact fate of others captured at Refugio is not known. You will also note that the name Fannin seems to be misspelled in both inscriptions. Santa Anna's Mexican army killed virtually all of the roughly 200 Texans (or Texians) defending the Alamo, including their leaders, Colonels William B. Travis and James Bowie, and the legendary. Save up to 30% when you upgrade to an image pack. The Goliad Massacre, the tragic termination of the Goliad Campaign of 1836, is of all the episodes of the Texas Revolution the most infamous. At around 8 a.m. on Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836, Colonel Portilla had the able bodied of 342 Texians marched out of Fort Defiance into three columns on the Bexar Road, San Patricio Road, and the Victoria Road. [10] Jay A. Stout, Massacre at Goliad, Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 2008, p. 212. On March 22 William Ward, who with Amon B. Determined to quash the rebellion, Santa Anna began assembling a large force to restore order; by the end of 1835 his army numbered 6,019 soldiers. Background and events. Time Period: Texas Revolution 1835-36. The Mexican soldiers at La Bahia returned to the funeral pyres and gathered up any visible remains of the Texians and re-burned any evidence of the bodies. The two sides clashed and fought until dark with Urrea's soldiers suffering heavy casualties,[12] when Colonel Ward received word from Fannin to rendezvous at Victoria. The Goliad Massacre, set in the town of Goliad on March 27, 1836, was an execution of Republic of Texas soldier-prisoners and their commander, James Fannin, by the Mexican Army. In Goliad. In this critical predicament, Colonel James Fannin and his staff had voted to surrender the Texian forces on the 20th. Twenty year old John Crittenden Duval and his older brother Burr were members of the large Kentucky contingent that answered the Texans' appeal in the early stage of the Revolution. The town is the county seat of Goliad County, one of the oldest counties of Texas and is located about 100 miles southeast of San Antonio, 80 miles northeast of Corpus Christi on U.S. 183-77A. [citation needed]. [1] The execution of the Texan soldiers, however horrific, was not without precedent. He served with Bigfoot Wallace and Jack Hays in the Texas Rangers and was a veteran of the Mexican-American War and the Civil War. One week later, under the orders of Mexican General Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna, the Texians were marched outside the fort and shot. This galvanized Texians and led to victory in their war for independence. Instead of taking cover in the nearby woods, Fannin ordered his men to form a square on an open prairie near Coleto Creek. [They were] to be liberated on parole, and that arrangements had been made to send [them] to New Orleans on board of vessels then at Copano.[6] Duval joined the division that was marched northwest along the road leading to San Antonio. Upon hearing heavy firing of musketry in the directions taken by the other two divisions, [one of the men] exclaimed Boys! The Mexicans received overwhelming reinforcements and heavy artillery. Urrea wrote in his diary that he "wished to elude these orders as far as possible without compromising my personal responsibility." For information about how to add references, see Template:Citation. Thirty-nine were killed inside the fort under the direction of Captain Carolino Huerta of the Tres Villas battalion, with Colonel Garay saving one, Jack Shackelford. Incidentally, Jack County, Texas, was named in honor of William Houston Jack and his brother Patrick. Fannin's men delivered up their arms, and some 230 or 240 uninjured or slightly wounded men were marched back to Goliad and imprisoned in the chapel of Nuestra Seora de Loreto Presidio at La Baha, the fort they had previously occupied (see FORT DEFIANCE). Follow in their footsteps and peek into Texas' past. The soldiers took his belongings, shot him in the face, and burned Fannin's body along with the other Texians who died that day. Hurry, Early Registration for the 2023 Annual Meeting in El Paso ends soon. While Texans were fighting the final battle for their independence on April 21, 1836, a survivor of the Goliad Massacre was spending his 21st day on the run. Even on the move, Fannins long-delayed retreat advanced at a sluggish pace. Fannin and some forty (Pea estimated eighty or ninety) wounded Texans unable to march were put to death within the presidio under the direction of Capt. CNN . Carolino Huerta of the Tres Villas battalion. Many Cultures, One Texas Native Americans, Spanish explorers and missionaries, Texian soldiers and early settlers walked the land of what is now Goliad State Park and Historic Site in southeast Texas. The gist of these was that Fannin and his men, including his officers and the wounded, should be treated as prisoners of war according to the usages of civilized nations and, as soon as possible, paroled and returned to the United States. His literary contributions, including Early Times in Texas, were said to have inspired the famous short story writer (and one-time GLO employee) O. Henry. Until this episode Santa Anna's reputation had been that of a cunning and crafty man, rather than a cruel one. Victoria Advocate, January 3, 1932, 88th Anniversary Number, September 28, 1934. King's company, the others "one by one" (see REFUGIO, BATTLE OF). [15] After several hours of fighting, the Mexicans had suffered an estimated 200 casualties and the Texians nine killed and about sixty wounded. ASIN, Articles with unsourced statements from November 2014, Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fho62, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/qeg02, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fmi30, Urrea's right wing consisted of about 1000 soldiers; unknown number of executioners, 28 escaped, 20 spared as workers, 75 spared as unarmed captives. [9] On February 26, 1836, he attempted to march to San Antonio but turned back at the San Antonio River because of the inability to travel with the artillery and arms. Therefore, the massacre cannot be considered isolated from the events and legislation preceding it. Before his execution he made three requests. The Alamo! Hobart Huson, El Copano: Ancient Port of Bexar and La Bahia (Refugio, Texas: Refugio Timely Remarks, 1935). Colonel Jos Nicols de la Portilla, under orders from General and President of Mexico, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. The Texans thought they would likely be set free in a few weeks. Read More. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/goliad-massacre. Short on munitions and supplies, with no hope of rescue, the majority of Ward's men voted to surrender under good terms. Their charred remains were left in the open, unburied, and exposed to vultures and coyotes. O'Connor (1966), pp. captured in other encounters) were shot on March 27, Palm Sunday. [12] Led to believe that they would be paroled and released into the United States, they were returned to the fort at Goliad, now their prison. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. The remaining survivors joined Fannin's troops and were later killed in the Goliad Massacre. The next month and a half was ultimately spent traveling on foot as he battled the harsh Texas frontier. The survivors reached Goliad on February 29. King evacuate colonists at Refugio, were surrounded by Urrea's force. This has since been preserved and designated as the Fannin Memorial Monument. [citation needed], The 75 soldiers of William Parsons Miller and the Nashville Battalion had been captured on the 20th and marched in on the 23rd. Fannin, because he was wounded, was shot separately at the mission on the same day. However, he had sent most of his carts and horses with Ward to Refugio and had no cavalry. The town was the site of the Battle of Goliad in October 1835 and the Goliad Massacre in March 1836. The Goliad Massacre was an event that occurred on March 27, 1836, during the Texas Revolution, in which nearly 500 prisoners of war from the army of the Republic of Texas were killed by the Mexican Army in the town of Goliad, Texas. Knowing the prisoners' probable fate, General Urrea departed Goliad, leaving command to Colonel Jose Nicolas de la Portilla, and later writing to Santa Anna to ask for clemency for the Texians. thesis, University of Houston, 1941). [17] Under a decree that Santa Anna had pressed and which was passed by the Mexican Congress on December 30, 1835, armed foreigners taken in combat were to be treated as pirates and executed. When dawn broke, however, so did the realization that the arrival of Mexican reinforcements during the night had made their situation hopeless. 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