Presidio de Bahai
Goliad, Texas
October 19, 2019
The Presidio is another landmark that we would have cycled past had the route not been changed due to road construction. The Presidio played a big role in the Texas Independence battles. Throughout history, the Presidio changed hands multiple times. However, in October 1835, Texas volunteers swarmed the garrison and Colonel Sandoval surrendered.
Colonel James Fannin became commander of the troops at La Bahia and renamed the presidio Fort Defiance. Fannin attempted to send help to the Alamo but trouble with a supply wagon along with reports of General Urrea's army marching towards Goliad halted the effort.
After the fall of the Alamo, General Sam Houston ordered Fannin to fall back to Victoria. However, at the banks of Coleto Creek, General Urrea and his men attacked; Fannin surrendered. The surrender terms were not honored by General Santa Anna, and the prisoners were executed in an event known as the Goliad Massacre.
Partial text of massacre marker:
"After battle of Coleto (March
19-20, 1836), where a Texas Army under Col. James Walker Fannin met defeat by
Mexicans in superiour numbers, the Texas soldiers were held in Presidio La
Bahia, supposedly as war prisoners. However, by order of Mexican Gen. Antonio
Lopez De Santa Anna, approximately 400 of Fannin’s men were marched out and
massacred on Palm Sunday, March 27,
1836. The wounded were shot one by one in the Fort compound. Col. Fannin
was the last to die…This atrocity three weeks after the fall of the Alamo gave
Texans part of the battle cry—'Remember the Alamo! Remember La Bahia!' (added
by me, some reports state 'Remember Goliad')—under which decisive victory was
won at San Jacinto on April, 1836.
Col. Fannin and his men's grave site.
Francisca Alavez, Angel of Goliad.
Statue of honor triangulating the Presidio and Fannin grave.
Historical marker. Presidio in background. Marker text: "Amid the cruelties of
the Texas War for Independence, one notable woman committed acts of bravery and
compassion. Francisca Alavez (also known by similar names) accompanied Mexican
Army Capt. Telesporo Alavez to Texas in March 1836. In seven incidents between
March and April. She intervened with Mexican troops under command of Gen. Jose
De Urrea to help captured Texian prisoners at Agua Dulce, Copano, La Bahia, Victoria, and Matamoros.
Statue with Fannin's grave in background:
On Mar. 20, Maj.
William P. Miller and 75 of his Nashville Battalion were captured as the
unloaded their ship a t Copano Bay. Alavez insisted that binding cords which
cut off circulation be removed and food and water provided. The men were moved
to Presidio La Bahia at Goliad, where hundreds of Col. James Fannin’s troops
were already held after their capture at Coleto Creek. Al least 342 men were
taken out of the fort on Mar. 27 and shot under order of Gen. Santa Anna in
what was termed the Goliad Massacre. Alavez helped save the lives of men
including 16-year-old Benjamin Hughes. Another survivor, Dr. J. H. Barnard,
recalled that she pleaded for the lives of many men, helped sneak out some
troops at night and hid some of the men. Her humanitarian acts included tending
to wounds and sending messages and provisions to those still imprisoned.
The Texas Centennial
of 1936 revived interest in Alavez with articles, a play, and a bronze bust and
historical commemorations, such as a resolution from the Texas Legislature in
2001, have helped confirm Dr. Barnard’s assertion that 'Her name deserves to be
recorded in letters of gold among those angels who have from time to time been
commissioned by an overruling and beneficent power to relieve the sorrows and
cheer the hearts of men.' ”
End of tour, time to head home and await the next Mission Tour de Goliad.
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