DUANE
Duane's take
This one comes straight off the historical marker, and it's my job to do it justice — the story of Captain Ira Westover, and the site where his home once stood. Now, before we get to the end of this story — and I'm going to ask you to hold on, because the end matters — let's start with what kind of man Captain Ira Westover was. October 9, 1835.
Westover is part of the force that captures Goliad. That's his introduction to the Texas fight, and he doesn't slow down. Not even close.
Because less than a month later, November 4, 1835, Westover is leading fourteen Texans — fourteen — against sixty-five Mexicans at Fort Lipantitlan. You heard that right. Fourteen against sixty-five, and they took it.
Now, the marker doesn't tell us it was easy, and I won't tell you it was easy, but it tells us they captured that fort, and that's the kind of arithmetic that makes a man a captain worth remembering. Between those fights, Westover was also serving as a member of the General Council of Texas in 1835, representing Goliad municipality. So this is a man fighting on one front and governing on another.
He raised his company right here in Refugio — this ground, or near enough to it — and those men rode out with him. And that brings us to the end I asked you to hold on for. Westover and his company, raised in Refugio, became part of Fannin's troops at Goliad.
And on March 27, 1836, they were massacred. Fourteen against sixty-five, and he won that day. But March 27 didn't give him a soldier's odds or a soldier's chance.
His home stood here. The man who once stood in it took fourteen men against sixty-five and came out the other side — right up until the day he didn't. That's the story the marker tells, and it deserves to be told straight.
What the marker says
Participator in the capture of Goliad, October 9, 1835. With 14 Texans under his command, he captured Fort Lipantitlan from 65 Mexicans, November 4, 1835. Member of the General Council of Texas, 1835, from Goliad municipality. With his company, raised in Refugio, a part of Fannin's troops at Goliad, he was massacred, March 27, 1836.