page_title: Battle of Lipantitlán
section_title: Prelude
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Lipantitlán / Prelude
caption_attribution_description: This is a map showing some cities in Texas
context_page_description: The Battle of Lipantitlán, also known as the Battle of Nueces Crossing, was fought along the Nueces River on November 4, 1835 between the Mexican Army and Texian insurgents, as part of the Texas Revolution. After the Texian victory at the Battle of Goliad, only two Mexican garrisons remained in Texas, Fort Lipantitlán near San Patricio and the Alamo Mission at San Antonio de Béxar. Fearing that Lipantitlán could be used as a base for the Mexican army to retake Goliad and angry that two of his men were imprisoned there, Texian commander Philip Dimmitt ordered his adjutant, Captain Ira Westover, to capture the fort.
  The commander of Fort Lipantitlán, Nicolás Rodríguez, had been ordered to harass the Texian troops at Goliad. Rodríguez took the bulk of his men on an expedition; while they were gone, Westover's force arrived in San Patricio. On November 3, a local man persuaded the Mexican garrison to surrender, and the following day the Texians dismantled the fort. Rodríguez returned as the Texians were crossing the swollen Nueces River to return to Goliad. The Mexican soldiers attacked, but the longer range of the Texians rifles soon forced them to retreat.
context_section_description: The furor over the removal of Williams and Toole likely led Dimmitt to take matters into his own hands.  On October 31 he sent a member of his staff, Adjutant Ira Westover, to take 35 men to attack Fort Lipantitlán.  A self-appointed advisory committee—John J. Linn, Major James Kerr and Power—rode along.  The three advisors had been elected to the Consultation but delayed their departure so that they could participate in the fighting.
  Rather than riding directly southwest to the fort, Westover travelled southeast to Refugio.  This alternative route was likely intended to suggest that the expedition was headed for Copano Bay.   An unknown number of men joined the expedition in Refugio; historian Craig Roell believes that the expedition grew by at least 20 men, and historian Bill Groneman estimated that Westover's force numbered 60–70 men when it reached San Patricio.
  Meanwhile, the commander of the garrison at Fort Lipantitlán, Captain Nicolás Rodríguez, received orders to harass the Texians at Presidio La Bahía. On October 31, as Rodríguez and his men neared Goliad, they learned that a Texian force had left the fort earlier that day.  The Mexican soldiers immediately retraced their route.  They did not encounter any Texian soldiers during their march and arrived on November 1 to find the fort unmolested.  Uncertain as to what the Texians intended to do, Rodríguez and the bulk of his garrison (almost 80 men) turned back towards Goliad to attempt to intercept the Texians. Between 21 and 27 soldiers, armed with two cannon, remained to defend the fort.
caption: The Texan garrison at Goliad was about 60 miles (97 km) from San Patricio.  Fort Lipantitlán was located across the Nueces River from San Patricio.  The Mexican interior lay south of the Rio Grande, about 130 miles (210 km) from San Patricio.
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