Goliad massacre The Goliad Massacre , set in the town of Goliad on March 27 , 1836 , was an execution of Republic of Texas soldier - prisoners and their commander , James Fannin , by the Mexican Army . Despite the protests for clemency by General José de Urrea , the massacre was reluctantly carried out by Lt . Colonel José Nicolás de la Portilla under orders of the President of Mexico , Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna . Background . Santa Anna sent General José Urrea marching into Texas from Matamoros , to make his way north along the coast of Texas . On March 19 , General Urrea had quickly advanced and surrounded 300 men in the Texian Army on the open prairie , near La Bahia ( Goliad ) . A two day Battle of Coleto ensued with the Texians holding their own on the first day . However , the Mexicans would receive overwhelming reinforcements and heavy artillery . In this critical predicament , Colonel James Fannin and his staff had voted to surrender the Texian forces on the 20th . Led to believe that they would be released into the United States , they returned to their former fort in Goliad , now their prison . Albert Clinton Horton and his company had been acting as the advance and rear guards for Fannin ' s company . Surprised by an overwhelming Mexican force , they were chased off and escaped , however 18 of the group were captured and marched back to Goliad . On February 27 , 1836 , Urrea ' s advance patrol surprised Frank W . Johnson and about 34 men , initiating the Battle of San Patricio , where they killed about 10 and took 18 prisoners . Johnson and five others had also been captured but escaped and rejoined James Fannin ' s command at Goliad . On March 2 , at the Battle of Agua Dulce , James Grant was killed , as were 11 other men under his command . Six Texians were taken prisoners and were marched to prison in Matamoros . Six Texians escaped , five were recaptured and marched to Goliad . Amon B . King and a group of men had been executed on March 16 at Refugio , but some 15 to 18 prisoners were marched to Goliad to serve as blacksmiths or mechanics . The 75 soldiers of William Parsons Miller and the Nashville Battalion had been captured on the 20th and marched in on the 23rd . They were kept separate from the other prisoners , as they had been unarmed and surrendered without a fight . On March 22 , William Ward and the Georgia Battalion ( 80 men plus Ward ) surrendered after escaping from the Battle of Refugio . About 26 men were retained at Victoria as laborers , but 55 of the prisoners were marched into Goliad , on March 25 . Massacre . The Mexicans took the Texian s back to Goliad , where they were held as prisoners at Fort Defiance ( Presidio La Bahia ) . The Texans thought they would likely be set free in a few weeks . General Urrea departed Goliad , leaving command to Colonel José Nicolás de la Portilla . Urrea wrote to Santa Anna to ask for clemency for the Texians . Under a decree passed by the Mexican Congress on December 30 of the previous year , armed foreigners taken in combat were to be treated as pirates and executed . Urrea wrote in his diary that he " . . . wished to elude these orders as far as possible without compromising my personal responsibility . " Santa Anna responded to this entreaty by repeatedly ordering Urrea to comply with the law and execute the prisoners . He also had a similar order sent directly to the " Officer Commanding the Post of Goliad " . This order was received by Portilla on March 26 , who decided it was his duty to comply despite receiving a countermanding order from Urrea later that same day . The next day , Palm Sunday , March 27 , 1836 , Colonel Portilla had the 303 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 point - blank , and any survivors were clubbed and knifed to death . Forty Texians were unable to walk . Thirty nine were killed inside the fort , under the direction of Captain Carolino Huerta of the Tres Villas battalion , with Colonel Garay saving one . 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 him in the face , and burned Fannin ' s body along with the other Texians who died that day . The entire Texian force was killed except for twenty - eight men who feigned death and escaped . Among these was Herman Ehrenberg , who later wrote an account of the massacre . Fortunately , due to the intervention of the " Angel of Goliad " ( Francita Alavez ) and the courageous effort of Colonel Francisco Garay , twenty more men were held and spared as doctors , interpreters , or workers . Also spared were the 75 soldiers of William Parsons Miller and the Nashville Battalion , who had surrendered while still unarmed . They were later marched to Matamoros . Spared men were given white arm bands , and while wearing them could walk about freely . They were advised not to take off the arm band , since Mexican troops were hunting for those few who had escaped from Coleto , Victoria , and the massacre itself . Aftermath . After the executions , the Texians ' bodies were piled and burned . Their charred remains were left in the open , unburied , and exposed to vultures and coyotes . Nearly one month later , word reached La Bahia ( Goliad ) that General Lopez de Santa Anna had been defeated and surrendered . The Mexican soldiers at La Bahia returned to the funeral pyres and gathered up any visible remains of the Texians and re - burned any evidence of the bodies . The massive number of Texian prisoner - of - war casualties throughout the Goliad Campaign led to Goliad being called a " Massacre " by Texas - American forces and fueled the frenzy of the Runaway Scrape . The site of the massacre is now topped by a large monument containing the names of the victims .