The Goliad Massacre, was a battle fought by the Republic of Texas and Mexico. The Mexicans, led by Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, quickly routed and crushed the Texan volunteer army, and Texan Colonel James Fannin was captured and executed. The entire Texan force was killed except for twenty-eight men who feigned death and escaped. The massive number of Texan casualties and the "take-no-prisoners" attitude of the Mexican army led to Goliad to be called a "Massacre" by Texas-American forces.
The Mexicans took the Texans back to Goliad, where they were held as prisoners at Fort Defiance. The Texans thought they would likely be set free in a few weeks. General Urrea departed Goliad, leaving command to Colonel Jose Nicolas de la Portilla. Urrea wrote to Santa Anna to ask for clemency for the Texians. Urrea wrote in his diary that he "...wished to elude these orders as far as possible without compromising my personal responsibility." On March 26, 1836, 19:00, Santa Anna ordered Portilla to execute the prisoners.
The next day, Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836, Colonel Portilla had the 342 Texians marched out of Fort Defiance into three columns on the Bexar Road, San Patricio Road, and the Victoria Road, between two rows of Mexican soldiers; they were shot pointblank, and any survivors were clubbed and knifed to death.
Colonel Fannin was the last to be executed, after seeing his men executed. Age 32, he was taken by Mexican soldiers to the courtyard in front of the chapel, blindfolded, and seated in a chair (due to his leg wound from the battle). He made three requests: he asked for his personal possessions to be sent to his family, to be shot in his heart and not his face, and to be given a Christian burial. The soldiers took his belongings,shot his face, spit on his face, and burned Fannin's body along with the other Texans who died that day.
This loss helped give the Texans the passion to continue its fight over Mexican tyranny.
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