Goliad massacre

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. Despite the protests for clemency by General José de Urrea, the massacre was reluctantly carried out by Lt. Colonel José Nicolás de la Portilla under orders of the President of Mexico, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.

Background
Santa Anna sent General José Urrea marching into Texas from Matamoros, to make his way north along the coast of Texas. On March 19, General Urrea had quickly advanced and surrounded 300 men in the Texian Army on the open prairie, near La Bahia (Goliad). A two day Battle of Coleto ensued with the Texians holding their own on the first day. However, the Mexicans would receive overwhelming reinforcements and heavy artillery. In this critical predicament, Colonel James Fannin and his staff had voted to surrender the Texian forces on the 20th. Led to believe that they would be released into the United States, they returned to their former fort in Goliad, now their prison.

Albert Clinton Horton and his company had been acting as the advance and rear guards for Fannin's company. Surprised by an overwhelming Mexican force, they were chased off and escaped, however 18 of the group were captured and marched back to Goliad.

On February 27, 1836, Urrea's advance patrol surprised Frank W. Johnson and about 34 men, initiating the Battle of San Patricio, where they killed about 10 and took 18 prisoners. Johnson and five others had also been captured but escaped and rejoined James Fannin's command at Goliad.

On March 2, at the Battle of Agua Dulce, James Grant was killed, as were 11 other men under his command. Six Texians were taken prisoners and were marched to prison in Matamoros. Six Texians escaped, five were recaptured and marched to Goliad.

Amon B. King and a group of men had been executed on March 16 at Refugio, but some 15 to 18 prisoners were marched to Goliad to serve as blacksmiths or mechanics.

The 75 soldiers of William Parsons Miller and the Nashville Battalion had been captured on the 20th and marched in on the 23rd. They were kept separate from the other prisoners, as they had been unarmed and surrendered without a fight.

On March 22, William Ward and the Georgia Battalion (80 men plus Ward) surrendered after escaping from the Battle of Refugio. About 26 men were retained at Victoria as laborers, but 55 of the prisoners were marched into Goliad, on March 25.

Massacre
The Mexicans took the Texians back to Goliad, where they were held as prisoners at Fort Defiance (Presidio La Bahia). The Texans thought they would likely be set free in a few weeks. General Urrea departed Goliad, leaving command to Colonel José Nicolás de la Portilla. Urrea wrote to Santa Anna to ask for clemency for the Texians. Under a decree passed by the Mexican Congress on December 30 of the previous year, armed foreigners taken in combat were to be treated as pirates and executed. Urrea wrote in his diary that he "...wished to elude these orders as far as possible without compromising my personal responsibility." Santa Anna responded to this entreaty by repeatedly ordering Urrea to comply with the law and execute the prisoners. He also had a similar order sent directly to the "Officer Commanding the Post of Goliad". This order was received by Portilla on March 26, who decided it was his duty to comply despite receiving a countermanding order from Urrea later that same day.

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.

Forty Texians were unable to walk. Thirty nine were killed inside the fort, under the direction of Captain Carolino Huerta of the Tres Villas battalion, with Colonel Garay saving one. Colonel Fannin was the last to be executed, after seeing his men executed. Age 32, he was taken by Mexican soldiers to the courtyard in front of the chapel, blindfolded, and seated in a chair (due to his leg wound from the battle). 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. The soldiers took his belongings, shot him in the face, and burned Fannin's body along with the other Texians who died that day.

The entire Texian force was killed except for twenty-eight men who feigned death and escaped. Among these was Herman Ehrenberg, who later wrote an account of the massacre.

Fortunately, due to the intervention of the "Angel of Goliad" (Francita Alavez) and the courageous effort of Colonel Francisco Garay, twenty more men were held and spared as doctors, interpreters, or workers.

Also spared were the 75 soldiers of William Parsons Miller and the Nashville Battalion, who had surrendered while still unarmed. They were later marched to Matamoros.

Spared men were given white arm bands, and while wearing them could walk about freely. 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.

Aftermath
After the executions, the Texians' bodies were piled and burned. Their charred remains were left in the open, unburied, and exposed to vultures and coyotes. Nearly one month later, word reached La Bahia (Goliad) that General Lopez de Santa Anna had been defeated and surrendered. 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 massive number of Texian prisoner-of-war casualties throughout the Goliad Campaign led to Goliad being called a "Massacre" by Texas-American forces and fueled the frenzy of the Runaway Scrape.

The site of the massacre is now topped by a large monument containing the names of the victims.