[Texas:]Battle & massacre re-enactments scheduled at Goliad

On March 26-27, an estimated 5,000 visitors will witness re-enactments of one of the bloodiest chapters in Texas’ quest for independence from Mexico – the Battle of Coleto Creek and the ensuing “Goliad Massacre” in 1836 – at the Presidio La Bahia (Fort of the Bay) National Historic Landmark in Goliad.

About 300 members of the Crossroads of Texas Living History Association (COTLHA), highly authentic re-enactors representing Texian colonists and Mexican soldiers, will vividly portray the occupation of the 290-year-old citadel and the subsequent defeat, surrender and massacre of Col. James Fannin and 341 of his men.

The 26th annual Living History event, complete with roaring cannons, musket fire, wounded men, encampments and period songs, is made possible by the combined efforts of the Presidio La Bahia Foundation, its Friends of the Fort, COTLHA and the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.

This year’s events mark the 175th anniversary of Texas Independence. The massacre occurred on Palm Sunday in that fateful year of revolution and “runaway scrape.”

K.R. Wood, singer-songwriter, historian and musician, will reunite with members of the “Gone To Texas Band” for a concert in the 232-year-old Our Lady of Loreto Chapel at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Wood, an acclaimed acoustic guitarist, is highly praised for his landmark “Fathers of Texas” music/history collection at the heart of his current silver anniversary reunion tour to key historic battle sites along the Texas Independence Trail Region.

His CD, “Davy Crockett’s Fiddle Plays On,” was recorded live in the Alamo with the actual Crockett fiddle from the Witte Museum. Wood’s Presidio concert will be part of the new “Talk About Texas” Radio program, hosted by Roy Holly.

Beyond Saturday’s skirmishes on foot and on horseback, beyond the noisy cannon fire, gritos (cries) and black powder smoke, visitors will be able to view up close the camp life of cooking, yarn-spinning, singing and gear maintenance and attend scholarly lectures and a book signing in the chapel.

Seventh generation Texan John Willingham, author of the recently released “Edge of Freedom,” will discuss on Saturday morning his fact-based novel of the Texas Revolution that he completed over a 30-year period. In the emotional story, he focuses on Goliad, Southeast Texas and the conflicts and dilemmas faced by individuals on all sides of the civil war — Tejanos, Mexicans and Anglos — caught up in the terrible and tragic events leading up to the massacre.

Carlos de la Garza, a Tejano rancher, and his neighbor, John Bower, real-life partners on a nearby river ferry who chose opposite sides, are the central characters.

The Candlelight Vigil tours — from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, by reservation only — will be conducted through the barracks, the Mexican officers’ quarters and the impromptu “hospital” in the chapel, where the wounded Texians are suffering. The visitors actually become part of the historic tableau, departing knowing the fate of the Texians is mere hours away.

On Sunday, the death march begins inside the Presidio, proceeding to one of the locations where the massacre actually took place. The program concludes with a memorial service in the chapel followed by a procession to the Fannin Memorial and a 21-musket salute.

Daily admission is $4 for ages 12-59; $3.50 for age 60 and up; $1 for ages 6-11. Children under age five are admitted free. The admission for the Candlelight Tour is $2. For more information, call 361-645-3752.

Several historians have given similar reports on the "Bloody arm flag of Goliad" said to have been made by Captain Phillip Dimmitt. On December 20 1835 the first declaration of Texas independence was signed at Goliad in the chapel of the Presidio by members of Dimmitt's command then stationed at La Bahia. After signing, the group went into the quadrangle and "amidst rapturous hurrahs, the flag of Texas Independence was hoisted and unfurled to the wintry wind".

The flag was described as being made of white domestic, two yards long and one yard wide. "In the center was a sinewy arm and hand, painted red, grasping a drawn sword of crimson." The flag pole was made from a tall sycamore tree found on the banks of the San Antonio River.

Most of the accounts on this flag ceremony quote as their source of information, the memoirs of John James and Nicholas Fagan.

The Dimmitt flag has now become the accepted flag of Goliad and is frequently displayed by business houses around the Goliad Square.

The Goliad Massacre

On Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836, after being held captive for one week, the men were told to gather up their things. They thought that they were going to the port of Copano and then on to New Orleans. They were happy and singing. They knew that Colonel Fannin had returned from the Port of Copano the previous day. What they didn't know was that at 7:00 p.m. the pervious evening, Colonel Portilla had received word directly from Santa Anna to execute the men. About an hour after Portilla received the execution order from Santa Anna, he received another order from General Urrea to "Treat the prisoners with consideration, particularly their leader, Fannin, and to employ them in rebuilding Goliad."

At sunrise the able bodied men were formed in three groups and under very heavy guard taken out of the fort. One group was taken out on the San Antonio road, another on the Victoria road, and the other on the Copano road. The prisoners had little suspicion of their fate because each group had been given a different story as to where they were going. One group told that they were going to gather wood, another to drive up cattle and the they they were going to the port of Copano. At selected spots on each of the three roads from one half to three-fourths of a mile from the fort, the groups were halted. After they halted, the guards on one side stepped through the ranks so that all the guards were on one side, they turned and fired at very close range. Those men where not killed ran and were pursued by the cavalry.

The soldiers then came back to the fort and executed the wounded. There were about forty of them. Colonel Fannin was saved until last. He was taken outside the chapel, blind folded and seated in a chair. He made three requests, not to be shot in the face, his personal possessions sent to his family and that he be given a Christian burial. He was shot in the face, an officer took his personal possessions and his body was burned along with many of the other bodies. Not all bodies were burned, some were left where they died. There were 342 men who died in the Goliad Massacre, which is almost twice the number of men who died at the Alamo and San Jacinto combined. Twenty-eight men did escape from the three massacre sites and seventeen men's lives were spared. It is from the accounts of the men who escaped and were spared that we know what happened at Presidio La Bahia. Francita Alavez, the Angel of Goliad and the wife of General Urrea saved the lives of a number of the men.

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