who was leading the mexican army at goliad in 1836?

The battalion took no part in any major engagement of the revolution, however. . Captain Phillip Dimmitt's Commandancy of Goliad 1835–1836: an Episode of the Mexican Federalist War in Texas. During the Battle of the Alamo, he was sent as a courier to Goliad to ask Colonel Fannin for assistance. Urrea marched from the Aransas River at midnight with 180 infantry, 100 cavalry, and an artillery piece, leaving the rest of the army, under Col. Francisco Garay, to follow. A swift retreat to Victoria was in Fannin's best interest not only because the Guadalupe River made for a more defensible line and the citizens of Victoria, unlike those of Goliad, were friendly; but the village afforded some provisions, and needed reinforcements were already there or nearby. Some were regular troops; most were in the volunteer force (see REVOLUTIONARY ARMY). Hobart Huson (Refugio?, Texas, 1949). The Mexican forces continued dominating the Texan rebels. Austin, TX: Von Boeckmann-Jones Co., 1974. Our 125th Annual Meeting will be held online this year, and it will include informative sessions featuring the research of Texas history scholars, a presentation of awards and fellowships, a silent auction, and special events. Of all of this the Goliad commander was quite aware. Texan forces were defeated at the old Alamo mission near San Antonio on March 6, 1836, and again at Goliad on March 22, but rallied to defeat Santa Anna’s army at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21. Fannin, having no mounted men and watched on all sides by Mexican cavalry and rancheros, was virtually blind. reset. [16] Fannin was unaware General Santa Anna had decreed execution for all rebels. On February 9 Cooke, at San Patricio, told Fannin of the departure of Johnson and Grant with their sixty men on a foray into Tamaulipas. The Texians were marched back to Goliad and held as prisoners at Fort Defiance,[17] each believing that they were going to be set free in a matter of weeks. On March 14, while Ward and King were fighting the battle of Refugio, Fannin dispatched successive couriers to them and to Horton and White at Victoria. Though the defeat of Texas forces led to the execution of James W. Fannin's command in the Goliad Massacre, the campaign helped inspire ultimate victory over the Mexicans at the battle of San Jacinto. Henderson K. Yoakum, History of Texas from Its First Settlement in 1685 to Its Annexation to the United States in 1846 (2 vols., New York: Redfield, 1855). General Urrea negotiated surrender "at the disposal of the Supreme Mexican Government", falsely stating that no prisoner taken on those terms had lost his life. King managed to gather the scattered families and, pursued by a Mexican force of about fifty or sixty men, retreated with the families into Nuestra Señora del Refugio Mission, from where he sent word to Fannin for help. "Texas forever!" In February, Mexican General Jose de Urrea led a branch of the Mexican army up the Gulf Coast of Mexican Texas toward Goliad, where a large contingent of soldiers from the Texian Army were garrisoned under Colonel James W. Fannin.. After halting on March 22 within two miles of that place to kill a beef for food, he was surrounded by Urrea's cavalry and forced to surrender on the terms accorded Fannin. But I say to you, candidly . Colonel Fannin landed at Copano on February 2, 1836, with about 200 men—the four companies of the Georgia Battalion and the two small companies of captains Burr H. Duval and Luis Guerra, the latter the commander of a Mexican artillery company that had joined José Antonio Mexía at Tampico but left him at Velasco (see MEXÍA'S EXPEDITION). Amasa Turner, were at the mouth of the Brazos under orders to report to Fannin at Copano; and Edwin Morehouse's New York Battalion had, on January 20, renewed its voyage to Texas from Nassau. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. Ward and his command retreated in the riverbottom swamps toward Guadalupe Victoria, where Ward logically assumed Fannin now would be, since the Goliad commander had ordered him to rendezvous there in the event that his retreat to Goliad was cut off (see REFUGIO, BATTLE OF). This work was still unfinished when Travis's call for help reached Goliad on February 25. Horton could see no useful purpose in adding his men to the general sacrifice. Both Miller and Allen were acting under orders issued by General Houston in December 1835, which were, in effect, that they should recruit their respective companies as soon as practicable and report with them to Copano. King's mission was particularly shortsighted on Fannin's part, since King was sent directly into Urrea's known path with enough men to attract attention but too few to repel attack by the Mexican army. I have orders from you not to make a retrograde movement, but to await orders and reinforcements. Fannin was ordered by General Sam Houston on March 11, 1836, to abandon Goliad and retreat to the Guadalupe River near Victoria. Urrea wrote in his diary that he "...wished to elude these orders as far as possible without compromising my personal responsibility." The wounded were taken out and laid in front of the chapel doors. On March 27, 1836, by Sam A. Horton had discovered Morales's battalions during a scouting mission on March 17, at which time a council among Fannin and his officers determined to retreat the next morning. The events at Goliad on March 27, 1836 were gruesome — nearly 350 Texan soldiers executed by the Mexican Army at sunrise on Palm Sunday. King, whom he had sent with his available carts and teams and some thirty men to Refugio on March 11 to remove some families stranded there. Harbert Davenport and Craig H. Roell, Which military leader was so indecisive about whether or not he should go to help defend the Alamo that he and his men ended up getting caught by the Mexican army and had to surrender at Coleto Creek? His comrades did expect that he would bring reinforcements the next morning, but finding Victoria virtually deserted—Dimmitt, Linn, and White had since departed—Horton continued on to Gonzales, though he made no attempt to hold that place and await Ward's men, who were thought to be retreating from Refugio. Hobart Huson, El Copano: Ancient Port of Bexar and La Bahia (Refugio, Texas: Refugio Timely Remarks, 1935). José Enrique de la Peña, With Santa Anna in Texas (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1975). His resting the teams beyond Manahuilla Creek allowed Urrea to overtake the Texans on the open prairie, and the breakdown of the overloaded ammunition cart then prevented Fannin's little army from reaching the shelter of Encinal del Perdido, a closer, smaller wood toward the north. Unbeknownst to the Texians, on February 18 Urrea led a large contingent of troops from Matamoros into Texas to neutralize the rebels gathered along the coast. Even so, the retreat might have been accomplished had Fannin listened to the urgings of Duval, Westover, and Shackelford and pushed his march to the shelter of the woods bordering Coleto Creek. He and his men surrendered and were imprisoned inside the presidio at Goliad. Travis's calls went largely unanswered as the Texans lacked the strength to fight Santa Anna's larger army. The Mexican army now totaled at least 1,400 men, excluding the 200 rancheros. When Mexico transitioned to a centralized government in 1835, supporters of federalism took up arms. That afternoon, Urrea's cavalry encircled the Texians. [1] The Mexican army quickly put down revolts in the Mexican interior, including a brutal suppression of militias in Oaxaca and Zacatecas. It had concentrated at Matamoros late in January and waited there, collecting provisions and reinforcements, until Urrea began his march toward San Patricio on February 13, en route ultimately to Goliad, Victoria, and Brazoria, to command access to the Gulf of Mexico. The "Goliad Massacre" became a rallying cry for other Texans, who shouted "Remember the Alamo!" 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. Had this halt been made in the Coleto woods, water, forage for the teams, a defensible position, and superior marksmanship would have multiplied Texan strength. John E. Roller, "Capt. Once the columns reached their selected location, the Mexican soldados formed into two ranks on one side of the captives. Fannin dispatched Duval with teams and carts to take this artillery and ammunition and ordered Cooke to return with them to Goliad, where Cooke arrived about February 19. Twenty-eight Texians managed to escape by feigning death and other means. Ward left Goliad at 3:00 A.M. on March 13, force-marched twenty-seven miles across rain-soaked prairie, and relieved the besieged King at about three that afternoon. Miller and his men, heading for Copano, were, unknown to Fannin, somewhere off Aransas Pass. The Mattawamkeag, with Morehouse's New York Battalion, waited for convoy in the Mississippi from February 12 until March 3, when it sailed for Matagorda Bay; it touched at the mouth of the Brazos en route. Fannin hoped to retreat to Victoria, but he hesitated for several days. On March 26, 1836, 19:00, Portilla received orders from Santa Anna in triplicate to execute the prisoners. That afternoon, Urrea's troops surrounded the Texians on an open prairie. ed., Salisbury, North Carolina: Documentary, ca. His personal possessions were taken by Mexican soldiers, he was shot in the face, and Fannin's body was burned along with the many other Texians who died that day.[19]. Mexican forces under General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna continued to sweep across Texas toward Fort Defiance, the presidio in Goliad that had been seized by the rebels in October 1835 at the onset of the war for independence. By so doing, Linn deprived his own citizens of a means of escape, but he directed them to Cox's Point. [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=993300926, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 9 December 2020, at 22:21. 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. March 27, 1836: Texans rally for independence after the Goliad Massacre. Fannin might have held the line of the Guadalupe River if that had been his object. On March 12, they encountered a group of Texian soldiers, under the command of William Ward at Refugio. Mexican scouts are encamped within three miles of Goliad, awaiting Urrea's arrival. The retreat, started at midmorning during a heavy fog on March 19, was late and much confused. Joseph H. Barnard, Dr. J. H. Barnard's Journal: A Composite of Known Versions, ed. After wandering on the coastal prairie for several days, the Georgia Battalion reached Victoria, only to find it in the possession of the Mexican army. The William and Francis, with William P. Miller and seventy-five recruits for the Legion of Texas Cavalry, sailed from the mouth of the Mississippi on March 5 under John M. Allen, who had recruited a company of regulars in New Orleans, intended to sail on the Equity at about the same time. [6] In late December, at his behest, the Mexican Congress passed the Tornel Decree, declaring that any foreigners fighting against Mexican troops "will be deemed pirates and dealt with as such, being citizens of no nation presently at war with the Republic and fighting under no recognized flag". But he declined to fall back to where the provisions were located, even though his command seriously needed them. Withdrawal to Goliad was Fannin's own idea, and it proved to be a tragic mistake. ... Goliad Massacre (1836) Texas History Series by Texas Historian, Len Kubiak of Rockdale, Texas. I am resolved to await your orders, let the consequence be what it may. Carlos E. Castañeda (Dallas: Turner, 1928; 2d ed., Austin: Graphic Ideas, 1970). Indeed, by late February Fannin had lost confidence in the Texas colonists; their refusal to reinforce his army angered him. Antonio López de Santa Anna et al., The Mexican Side of the Texan Revolution, trans. Andrew Jackson Houston, Texas Independence (Houston: Anson Jones Press, 1938). Colonel Fannin, however, spent March 15 and 16 "in vain anticipation of Ward's return," though he did plan for the retreat by selecting nine pieces of artillery to take with him and burying seven others. Vicente Filisola, Memorias para la historia de la guerra de Tejas (Mexico City, 1848, etc. Fannin ordered the bulk of his army to retreat from Goliad on March 19, in the hopes of joining the forces of General Sam Houston. The Goliad Massacre: On March 27, 1836, over three hundred rebellious Texan prisoners, most of them captured a few days before while battling the Mexican army, were executed by Mexican forces. On February 26, 1836, he at… King took position in a wood on the bank of the river and resisted all efforts by Col. Gabriel Núñez's cavalry and Colonel Garay's infantry to dislodge him, valiantly inflicting punishing losses on his assailants until darkness ended the fight. Martín Perfecto de Cos had landed at Copano in 1835 and had expected to draw his supplies through that port. Fannin wrote as early as February 7 that "It is useless to controvert the fact that our true strength and geographical situation are well known to Santa Anna." Instead of retreating hastily to Victoria, Fannin spent March 18 taking "the necessary measures for a retreat in accordance with the resolution of the officers in council last evening." [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. The Mexican border region of Texas was largely populated by immigrants from the United States. The Texans had available a considerable number of men to deploy against the advancing Mexican army in early 1836. Amasa Turner's two companies had salvaged the Tamaulipas but were still at the mouth of the Brazos, kept there by local influences that thought only of the defense of local ports. He asked for his personal possessions to be sent to his family, to be shot in his heart and not his face, and that he be given a Christian burial. / Santa Anna's main body, 6,000 effectives (exclusive of new recruits, muleteers, teamsters, and other auxiliaries) was moving through Laredo and San Juan Bautista Presidio against Bexar. The Mexican army then turned northward, headed towards Goliad. He said the Texan prisoners and American volunteers numbered about 400, while the Mexican captors totaled 700, in addition to cavalry and smaller groups of Mexican soldiers he saw gathered on the prairie. I saw nothing more. ; abridged trans. As Urrea's army of some 1,500 men approached, Mitchell's detachment returned to the mission. Two strong companies, 100 men, recruited by Capt. As the days passed the Mexicans slowly worked their lines closer to the Alamo, with their artillery reducing the mission's walls. Fannin realized the need as early as February 28. Support the Handbook today. On March 18, Urrea's advance scouts were viewing Goliad. Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). The Texan army put their predicament to a vote. On February 4 and 5 he marched the companies he had with him at Copano to the Texan camp at Refugio as a step toward the proposed Matamoros campaign, only to learn, on February 7 through Plácido Benavides, that Santa Anna's threatened movement to overwhelm Texas and suppress the rebellion was already under way. The Thrilling Startling and Wonderful Narratlve of Lieutenant Harris on, Who Was Taken Prisoner at Goliad, Texas, in 1836. As the ashes of the Alamo continued to smolder, Sam Houston feared another disaster could befall his Texas Army. Fannin planned to leave the next day with 320 volunteers and four pieces of artillery to join Travis, calling in Chenoweth's mounted men from Copano to hold the Cibolo crossing and Captain King's company from Refugio to strengthen the Goliad garrison, now left under Ira Westover. Thus, rebuilding the fort immobilized the force and compelled it to a defense. [8] Fannin had chosen to keep his troops at Goliad mainly because it had a fort, from which he believed it would be easier to fight than out in the open. The Goliad Massacre, the tragic termination of the Goliad Campaign of 1836, is of all the episodes of the Texas Revolution the most infamous. Ruby C. Smith, "James W. Fannin, Jr., in the Texas Revolution," Southwestern Historical Quarterly 23 (October 1919, January, April 1920). Mexican troops under the command of General José de Urrea defeated rebellious immigrants to the Mexican province of Texas, known as Texians, in a series of clashes in February and March. The remainder will be sunk in the river." Fannin still insisted on bringing nine brass cannons and 500 spare muskets. Fannin received this order either on March 13 or 14; the day is a matter of considerable historical dispute, since he has been charged with disobeying Houston's command by dispatching Ward to Refugio, then remaining at Goliad awaiting Ward's return. The Texians were then fired on at point-blank range only a few hundred yards from the fort. Fannin went to Copano as agent of the provisional government to organize a Matamoros expedition (see MATAMOROS EXPEDITION OF 1835–36)—designed to aid Mexican Federalists against the Centralists led by Antonio López de Santa Anna—after Francis W. Johnson declined the offer following a disagreement with the General Council's provisions. After 400 Texans surrender at the Battle of Goliad, Mexican General Santa Anna orders them executed. The Texas army was unprepared for an advance by the Mexican troops, and Urrea quickly overtook the Texans that were headed to Matamoros. On March 15, as their ammunition ran short, Texians retreated from Refugio. A Fannin's men wounded in the Battle of Coleto were shot or bayoneted where they lay, inside the presidio. The area that bordered the United States, known as Texas, was populated primarily by English-speaking settlers, known as Texians. Hobart Huson, Colonel Fannin's Execution of General Houston's Orders to Evacuate Goliad (MS, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin). Another written account can be found in Early Times in Texas (serial form, 1868–71; book, 1892) by John Crittenden Duval. At 1:00 AM, on March 1, 32 men from Gonzales were able to ride through the Mexican lines to join the defenders. The Texan capture of Goliad in October 1835 intervened between Copano and Cos and starved him into capitulation (see GOLIAD CAMPAIGN OF 1835 and BEXAR, SIEGE OF). [7] Santa Anna personally led the bulk of his troops inland to San Antonio de Béxar and ordered General José de Urrea to lead 550 troops along the Atascocita Road toward Goliad. James Fannin commanded troops stationed at Fort Defiance in Goliad. . King refused to return to Goliad with Ward until he had punished the rancheros on López's lower ranch. [1][2] Unrest continued in the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas. For the Texans, the Battle of the Alamo became a symbol of heroic resistance and a … One survivor of the massacre, a young German named H. Von Ehrenberg, wrote an account of the murders on December 3, 1853. by Wallace Woolsey, Memoirs for the History of the War in Texas, Austin: Eakin Press, 1985). The Mexican soldiers who stood at about three paces from us, leveled their muskets at our breasts. Font size: In mid-February he led a massive Mexican army across the Rio Grande, and after a … With Sam Houston on self-assigned furlough, a move designed to check the dissent generated against him for his opposition to the Matamoros campaign, Fannin was the senior Texas officer in the field. Background . Handbook of Texas Online, Precious time was lost as a cart broke down; the largest artillery piece fell into the San Antonio River and required an hour's labor to retrieve. and "Remember Goliad!" Fannin also believed that by occupying Goliad, he could prevent Mexican commander Antonio López de Santa Anna from drawing supplies from the Gulf of Mexico, but Fannin was called to assist Colonel William Travis at the Alamo. The Texan commander was convinced of the futility of continuing the fight and the necessity of seeking surrender terms, especially since his men were huddled helplessly in improvised trenches, were without food, and had no water for the wounded. 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. The Goliad massacre was an event of the Texas Revolution that occurred on March 27, 1836, following the Battle of Coleto; 425–445 prisoners of war from the Texian Army of the Republic of Texas were killed by the Mexican Army in the town of Goliad, Texas.Among those … Col. Juan José Holsinger of the Mexican army spared and liberated eight of the men, including Refugio colonists Lewis T. Ayers, Francis Dieterich, and Benjamin Odlum. Houston had retired to east Texas and was, until early in March, engaged in treaty making with the Indians there, and in tending to his personal affairs. The increasingly dictatorial policies, including the revocation of the Constitution of 1824 in early 1835, incited many federalists to revolt. The reinforcements Fannin's men so anxiously hoped for were either grouping near Gonzales awaiting Houston's orders or arrived too late to do any good. Fannin had chosen to keep his troops at Goliad mainly because it had a fort, from which he believed it would be easier to fight than out in the open. The next morning, seeing Urrea receive one hundred more men and three more artillery pieces, Fannin agreed to surrender. In January 1836, Mexican president and general Antonio López de Santa Anna led Mexican troops into Texas to put down the rebellion. The "Goliad Massacre" became a rallying cry for other Texans, who shouted "Remember the Alamo!" Miller and his recruits were surprised without arms and taken prisoner without resistance about March 22. Panchita Alvarez, wife of a high-ranking officer in the Mexican army is credited with saving at least 28 lives, by begging the commander there to spare them. By the time William P. Miller's Nashville Battalion landed at Copano, Urrea's forces under Rafael de la Vara had occupied the port. Instead of returning to Goliad, however, Ward and his men, like King's, were eager for a fight, and they found one early the next day, March 14. Indeed, "so great was the reputation he had established during the campaign," wrote a fellow officer, that "he was looked upon as an anchor of salvation." Colonel Fannin was the last to be executed, after seeing his men butchered. Fannin imagined that his letter of February 7 to Robinson, advising him of Benavides's warning about the imminence of Santa Anna's incursion, had aroused Texas colonists and that they would hurry to Goliad as they had hurried to Gonzales in 1835; but it was Travis's ringing calls from the Alamo, and not Fannin's letter, that brought colonists into the field in 1836. Ward, Fannin's second in command, was wholly inexperienced like most of the Goliad garrison, so Fannin then sent John Sowers Brooks and Joseph M. Chadwick to ensure Ward's success; but their guides got lost in the dark and their force returned to Goliad. Portilla carried out the order and executed Fannin's command, including Ward's battalion—more than 400 men—on Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836, in the event known as the Goliad Massacre. Fannin continued at Goliad, keeping his men busy rebuilding the old presidio, which he renamed Fort Defiance. Under President Antonio López de Santa Anna, the Mexican government began to shift away from a federalist model. Led the Texans at the Goliad Massacre Led the Texans at the Battle of San Felipe Led Texans at the Battle of the Alamo Led Texan army in the Battle of San Jacinto
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