Goliad massacre
The Goliad Massacre, occurring on March 27, 1836, during the Texas Revolution, involved the execution of approximately 425 to 450 Texian soldiers by Mexican forces. After surrendering, these prisoners were assured they would be treated humanely; however, they were instead marched out and shot, with many killed on the spot and others bayoneted or executed inside the fort. This brutal treatment, which included the burning of the bodies, galvanized Texian forces, paralleling the earlier tragedy at the Alamo, and helped unify them in their quest for independence from Mexico. The massacre took place in Goliad, Texas, where the remains of the victims were initially left unburied until a proper military funeral was conducted months later. The event became a symbol of resistance and sacrifice, ultimately contributing to the Texian victory in the revolution. The memory of those lost in the massacre is honored in monuments and cultural references, highlighting its significance in Texan history.
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Goliad massacre
The Goliad Massacre occurred on March 27, 1836, during the Texas Revolution. Between 425 and 450 members of the Texian Army of the Republic of Texas were executed by Mexican forces despite assurances the men would be held as prisoners if they surrendered. The execution took place in the town of Goliad after the battles at Refugio and Coleto.
Mexican forces burned the bodies in piles, then left them unburied and exposed to weather and scavenger animals. They were not accorded funeral rites until June, when other Texian forces arrived and conducted a military funeral. The remains were interred near the Presidio la Bahia, the fort near Goliad. The way the Texian prisoners were treated became a rallying point for Texian forces, much like the slaughter at the Battle of the Alamo, and helped inspire the forces in their successful bid for independence.
Background
In the first half of the nineteenth century, the land that is now the American state of Texas was a Mexican territory. The Mexican government invited Americans to move into the area, offering them land as an incentive to settle in the territory. The English-speaking settlers were known as Texians. The term is used to differentiate the Anglo-American residents of Mexican-held Texas from the Tejanos, or Mexican residents. The name Texans refers to the residents of the state of Texas.
The period leading up to the 1830s was a time of growing unrest in Texas. The Mexican leadership in the territory was increasingly corrupt, and the Texians were very unhappy with how they were treated by the government. One of the key factors was the growing power of the ruthless Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna. By October 1835, tensions had reached a boiling point.
In an effort to quell thoughts of insurrection from the Texians, the Mexican government sent troops to retake a small cannon that had been given to the Texians years before for self-defense. Led by Francisco de Castañeda, the Mexican forces marched on the town of Gonzales to retake the cannon. The small skirmish, which the Mexicans lost on October 2, 1835, is considered the first fighting in the Texas War for Independence, or the Texas Revolution.
The Battle of Gonzales was the opening battle in a series of conflicts that continued through April 1836. The revolution ended with the near complete destruction of Santa Anna’s troops in an eighteen-minute conflict at the Battle of San Jacinto River. The Texas Territory gained its independence, which was the first step in becoming part of the United States in 1845.
Overview
Between February 23 and March 6, 1836, Santa Anna’s troops laid siege to a garrison of Texians and Tejanos at the Alamo mission. In the early morning of March 6, hundreds of Mexican troops launched a final battle against the fort, overtaking it and killing all 189 listed defenders. Colonel James Walker Fannin, a West Point-trained officer in the Army of the Texas Republic, was supposed to have been at the Alamo with his men. However, due to a delay caused by uncertainty among the officers leading the Texian troops, he and his men were at Presidio La Bahía at Goliad. Fanning had renamed the Goliad fortification Fort Defiance, and he waited there with his troops for Santa Anna’s advancing attack.
The month of March 1836 was not kind to the Texians. In addition to the crushing defeat at the Alamo, other units were overtaken by a Mexican force led by General José de Urrea. Just over a week after the siege of the Alamo, Urrea’s forces overtook a unit of two hundred men led by Colonel William Ward as well as the troops at Refugio, led by Captain Amon B. King. King, a number of his men, and several troops from Ward’s unit were killed by Urrea on March 16. During these skirmishes, Urrea also managed to capture a messenger sent from Fort Defiance by Fannin, which gave the Mexicans valuable intel on Fannin’s plan to remain at the fort for a time.
Seizing this advantage, Urrea launched an attack on the men left from Ward and King’s units, fighting them in the open prairie near Goliad. The battle raged for two days. At first, the Texians withstood the Mexican surge. However, when Mexican reinforcements arrived, it became clear that the Texian forces would be overrun. Fannin and the men under his command held a vote and decided to surrender in the hopes of going home to their families. They announced their surrender on March 20, 1836.
The Mexican forces rounded up groups of Texians from various units and marched them back to Fort Defiance, where they were held as prisoners of war. Urrea moved on to another area of combat, leaving the garrison in the hands of Colonel José Nicolás de la Portilla. Urrea wrote to Santa Anna and requested clemency for the captured Texians, and they remained imprisoned under the expectation that they would be paroled to return to the United States within a few weeks.
The hoped-for clemency never arrived. Instead, Portilla received orders from Santa Anna to execute the Texians as enemy combatants. On March 27, 1836, between 425 and 445 Texians were marched out of Fort Defiance in three columns, many thinking they were being led out to be freed. Instead, they were marched between rows of Mexican soldiers and shot to death. Those who did not die immediately were clubbed or bayoneted. Men who were too wounded to leave the fort were killed inside. A handful of prisoners managed to escape. The last man killed was Fannin, who, despite his requests to the contrary, was shot in the face, and his body burned with those of his men.
The massacre inspired the remaining Texian troops; within a month, Santa Anna had been defeated, and the Texas Revolution was over. The men lost in the massacre were commemorated by a monument erected near Fort Defiance at Goliad. Their loss was also remembered in the Walt Whitman poem, "Song of Myself" (1855).
Bibliography
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“The Goliad Massacre.” Texas State Library and Archives Commission, 5 Dec. 2017, www.tsl.texas.gov/treasures/republic/goliad/goliad.html. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Johnson, Brad. “Today in History: Massacre at Goliad.” The Texan, 27 Mar. 2020, thetexan.news/today-in-texas-history-massacre-at-goliad. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
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