Episode 27 (Battle of Goliad)

We’re still in 1835 and I’m taking a closer look at each of the early battles skirmishes that took place as the year comes to a close and today it's the Battle of Goliad. In my last episode I discussed what happened in Gonzales, Texas, almost simultaneously trouble was brewing in Goliad. That battle was not limited to one settlement, it encompassed several of the towns in and around the area and it is where we first meet General Cos of the Mexican Army. What could possibly be so important about a settlement, that quite frankly most people have never heard of, that it deserves special mention? Before 1829, Goliad was called La Bahía, and it occupied a place on the main route from the Gulf of Mexico to San Antonio de Béxar. About the same times as San Antonio was established the Mexicans also established Copano (El Cópano), on Aransas Bay and it served as the principal port of entry into Texas. These three points, San Antonio, La Bahia (Goliad), and Copano were the key to control of South Texas. La Bahía had incredible strategic importance since it guarded the supply line from the coast to the principal city of San Antonio. The roots of the Goliad Campaign of 1835 lay in Santa Anna's emergence in 1834 as president of Mexico and leader of the movement to establish the authority of a supreme central government. This clashed with the increasingly independent thinking in Texas arising in part from its distance from the central government in Mexico City and from its proximity to the United States. Santa Anna was determined to suppress any movements that were in favor of maintaining federalism and opposing his presidency. Santa Ana ordered his brother-in-law, General Cos, to Texas in September to investigate the refusal of citizens at Anahuac to pay duties to the central government, I’ve talked about the Anahuac Disturbances in episode 20 and it’s on the website, so I won’t go into detail here. Cos's goal was to proceed to San Antonio and ultimately San Felipe de Austin via Goliad with an army of 500 men. Their purpose was to reinforce Col. Domingo de Ugartechea and chastise the citizens of Texas for their attitude. This plan was well known in Texas, for many citizens had family in the interior and business connections there. The influential John J. Linn of Guadalupe Victoria warned as early as July 1835 that Cos would land at Copano. In July at La Bahía presidio, Col. Nicolás Condelle (or Conde), who had been sent to secure Goliad and Copano for Cos's projected expedition, arrested the alcalde, stripped the town of its arms, pressed citizens into service, and quartered soldiers in their homes. These activities caused several clashes to take place and increased the tension. General Cos landed at Copano about September 20. James Power, empresario of the Power and Hewetson colony and Cos's friend, sought out the general, who cordially informed the empresario of his orders to "repress with strong arm all those who, forgetting their duties to the nation which has adopted them as her children, are pushing forward with a desire to live at their own option without subjection to the laws." Power then warned the inland colonies that Cos had arrived and had marched to reinforce the government garrisons at Refugio, Goliad, and San Antonio, and would ultimately arrive at San Felipe de Austin. Cos left Refugio on October 1 and entered Goliad the next day with an honor guard of thirty, followed, as rapidly as it could be landed, by the infantry battalion which numbered more than 400. Cos dispatched Capt. Manuel Sabriego, a commander of local rancheros, and about twenty-five men to Guadalupe Victoria to seize a cannon and arrest José M. J. Carbajal, though, like the incident at Gonzales, the attempt was unsuccessful. Alcalde Plácido Benavides led the militia of Victoria against surrendering either the cannon or Carbajal. Cos departed from Goliad on October 5 with his honor guard and a  battalion and marched unmolest...