DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to give it its due. The fall of the Alamo on March 6, 1836, cast a long shadow across Texas — and that shadow fell hardest on Colonel James Walker Fannin and roughly 400 soldiers, most of them volunteers who'd come down from the United States to fight in the Texas War for Independence. General Sam Houston ordered Fannin to retreat from Goliad to Victoria, and on March 19, Fannin's men were withdrawing — moving toward safety, or so they hoped.
But General Urrea and a heavy Mexican force had other plans. They surrounded that Texas contingent near Coleto Creek, and what followed was bitter. Bitter is the word.
Fannin's volunteers hurled back the assaults of the Mexican force — held their ground against a force that vastly outnumbered them. Then came the following day, and the weight of that arithmetic pressed down hard. Faced with several times their own number, the Texans surrendered.
They surrendered in the belief — a reasonable belief, a human belief — that they would be treated as prisoners of war of a civilized nation. They were wrong. After being removed to Goliad, the Fannin men were marched out on Palm Sunday and massacred, under orders of Santa Anna, general of the Mexican armies.
Palm Sunday. Let that sit with you a moment. Dictator Santa Anna had already given Texas one infamy at the Alamo.
Now he added another. And in doing so, he handed the men who would save Texas at San Jacinto the words they needed — a battle cry that rang across that battlefield and echoes still: Remember the Alamo. Remember Goliad.
The memorial to Fannin and his men stands near Goliad today, and this marker makes sure nobody passing through forgets why it's there.
What the marker says
After the fall of the Alamo, March 6, 1836, Colonel James Walker Fannin, with about 400 soldiers, mostly volunteers from the United States in the Texas War for Independence, was ordered by Texas General Sam Houston to retreat from Goliad to Victoria. March 19, the heavy Mexican force of General Urrea surrounded the withdrawing Texas contingent near Coleto Creek, and bitter fighting ensued. Fannin's volunteers hurled back the assaults of the Mexican force. On the following day, faced with several times their number, the Texans surrendered in the belief they would be treated as prisoners of war of a civilized nation. After removal to Goliad, the Fannin men were marched out and massacred on Palm Sunday under orders of Santa Anna, the general of the Mexican armies. Thus dictator Santa Anna added another infamy to that of the Alamo and gave to the men who saved Texas at San Jacinto their battle cry, "Remember the Alamo, Remember Goliad". The memorial to Fannin and his men is near Goliad. (1974)