Battle of Goliad

The Battle of Goliad was a conflict in late 1835 during the Texas Revolution. In a battle that lasted just half an hour, English-speaking residents of Texas—known as Texians—used borrowed axes to hack their way into a Mexican fort at Presidio La Bahía, near the town of Goliad. They overran the undermanned fort with minimal casualties, forcing the Mexicans to surrender and leave the area. The Texians took the garrison and about $10,000 worth of provisions and weapons, which were used for the Texians’ own war effort. In addition to diminishing the Mexican presence in the area, the Texians’ takeover of the fort meant that Mexican forces needed to travel a greater distance for provisions and reinforcements.

Background

The Texas Revolution, or the Texas War for Independence, was an armed conflict fought between October 1835 and April 1836. At the time, the land that came to be the American state of Texas was a Mexican territory. The Mexican government offered large tracts of land there to Americans willing to move and settle in the territory. Over time, as the leadership of the area became corrupt and many of the American settlers became increasingly unhappy with their treatment. These Anglo-Texans became known as Texians; most sources use this term to differentiate the American residents of Mexican Texas from the Texans who later became residents of the American state.

Following a decade of growing unrest, war broke out between the Mexican government and the American settlers. The main reason for the conflict was the growing authoritarianism of Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna. The American Texians and the Tejanos—Mexican residents of the Texas territory—rebelled, and on October 2, 1835, a conflict known as the Battle of Gonzales took place.

The battle was the result of an attempt by Mexican forces led by Francisco de Castañeda to retake a small cannon that had been given to the Texians at Gonzales years earlier for self-defense. Concerned about growing unrest among the Texians and Tejanos, the Mexicans wanted to reclaim the cannon. The battle was little more than a small skirmish, but it marked the clear beginning of the end in the relationship between the Mexicans and the Texians. It was the first in a series of conflicts that would culminate with the defeat of Santa Anna’s troops at the Battle of San Jacinto River in April 1836. In a short, eighteen-minute conflict, the Mexican army was all but wiped out and Santa Anna was captured. Texas gained its independence from Mexico, which ultimately led to it becoming part of the United States in 1845.

Overview

The Battle of Goliad was the second skirmish in the Texas War of Independence. It took place near Presidio La Bahía, the second of the two largest Mexican garrisons in the territory occupied by the American Texian settlers. The largest garrison was the well-known Alamo fort at San Antonio de Béxar. The Alamo was closer to the political center point of the Texas territory. La Bahía was half-way between this important Mexican stronghold and the port city at Copano Bay, making it an important stop on the Mexican supply chain.

In response to the growing unrest amongst the Texians, Santa Anna ordered his brother-in-law, General Martín Perfecto de Cos to sail into Copano Bay in September 1835 and move overland to quell any insurrection. For their part, the Texians, led by James Walker Fannin, Jr., were forming a plot to kidnap Cos. The plan did not happen, because the Battle of Gonzales unfolded first. When the Texians held off the forces attempting to take over their cannon, Cos moved quickly toward San Antonio de Béxar and the Alamo, leaving on October 5. However, most of the supplies he was transporting were left behind at La Bahía.

The Texians were still interested in kidnapping Cos and possibly also gaining control of the $50,000 worth of money and supplies he was thought to be transporting. On October 6, a group of Texians began marching towards La Bahía, gathering more men until they had a force of about 125 revolutionaries. While they were underway, the learned that Cos and the cash had already left La Bahía for the Alamo. They decided to proceed to the town anyway.

The Texians attempted to get the townsfolk at La Bahía to surrender but learned that they had chosen to remain neutral. A few agreed to help only by providing axes for the incoming rebels. When the Texians arrived at the undermanned garrison at Goliad, they used the axes to chop their way in through a wooden gate in the early morning hours of October 10, 1835, and killed the Mexican sentinel. When they ran into the town threatening to kill everyone, the Mexicans quickly surrendered. The entire conflict lasted only about half an hour. Casualty numbers are uncertain, with reports varying between one and three Mexican deaths; several other Mexicans were wounded along with one Texian, a free black soldier named Samuel McCulloch Jr., who became known as the first Texian casualty of the Texas Revolution.

While a number of the Mexican soldiers escaped from the fort and went off to rejoin the Mexican forces, the Texians benefitted greatly from the short skirmish at Goliad. They captured about $10,000 worth of food and weapons that helped to provision the Texans for several months in the short war. They also established a base at Goliad. Stephen F. Austin, the commander of the Texian army, ordered about one hundred men to stay behind and defend Goliad. This prevented the strategic location from being used as part of the supply route for the Mexican army, hampering their efforts to get men, food, and armaments from Copano Bay to the forces further inland. Although the battle at Goliad was short and there were few casualties, the victory gave the Texians a strategic advantage for the remainder of the conflict.

Bibliography

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Hardin, Stephen L. “Gonzales, Battle of.” Texas State Historical Association, 2 Aug. 2020, www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/gonzales-battle-of. Accessed 20 July 2022.

Highland, Brittany. “Reenacting the Battle of Goliad, Texas and Goliad Massacre.” Austinot, 3 Apr. 2012, austinot.com/reenacting-the-battle-of-goliad-texas-and-goliad-massacre. Accessed 20 July 2022.

Klein, Christopher. “The Goliad Massacre—The Other Alamo.” History.com, 1 Sept. 2018, www.history.com/news/the-goliad-massacre-the-other-alamo. Accessed 20 July 2022.

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