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03/1/2008 Presidio La Bahia Goliad,Texas |
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03/1/2008 Presidio La Bahia Goliad,Texas
23rd ANNUAL GOLIAD MASSACRE LIVING HISTORY PROGRAM TO BE PRESENTED AT PRESIDIO LA BAHIA
On March 29th and 30th The Crossroads of Texas Living History Association and Presidio La Bahia will stage a reenactment of the occupation of the fort by Col. Fannin and the Goliad Massacre of Col. Fannin and his men at Presidio La Bahia in Goliad, Texas. This annual event has been held for the past 21 years and has been of great interest to the public. Last year's admissions exceeded 4500. Many schools send their students, girl and boy scouts come on field trips and parents bring their children so that all can experience this unique reenactment of Texas history.
During the day Saturday battles will take place around the fort. There will be the sounds of muskets and cannons discharging and the air will be full of black powder smoke. The costumes worn will be those from that period in history. Visitors will have the opportunity to ask the re-enactors about the roles the they are reliving as well as attend lectures in the 228 year old Our Lady of Loreto Chapel.
In the evening candlelight tours will be conducted through the barracks, the Mexican officer's quarters and there will be a hospital scene in the chapel where the Texian prisoners are being held. Sunday the death march will begin inside the presidio and goes to one of the locations where the massacre actually took place. The program will conclude with a Memorial Service that begins in the chapel followed by a procession to the Fannin Memorial.
Daily admission is $3.00 for ages 12 thru 59, $2.50 for 60 and older, and $1.00 for ages 6 thru 11 years old. Five and younger are free. There is an additional $2.00 per person fee for admission to the candlelight tour.
Historical Information
Presidio La Bahia, located 1 1/2 miles south of Goliad on Hwy 183 and designated a National Historic Landmark, is considered the world's finest example of a Spanish frontier fort. This is the most fought over fort in Texas history, having seen participation in six National Revolutions/Wars for independence. Spanish, Mexican and Texan soldiers all garrisoned its fortified walls. Here, at this Crossroads of Revolution, was felt almost every attempt to forcibly change the governmental order of Texas.
The fort is the site where Goliad history began. The location of the fort had been an occupied site long before Spain arrived in the New World. Strategically located on an elevation overlooking the surrounding area, the Spanish arrived here in 1749 and found evidence of an Indian Village in the area they named Santa Dorotea. As permanent settlement by Spain began, the town of LaBahia (The Bay) grew up around the protection of the fort. This town was the original Goliad, the name being changed in 1829 as an anagram for Hidalgo, in honor of the patriot priest of the Mexican Revolution, Father Miguel Hidalgo, who sounded the famous "Grito de Delores" in 1810 for Mexican Independence from Spain. This town became the second largest populated settlement in Spanish Texas.
The establishment of the Royal Presidio La Bahia in the year 1721 was a direct response to encroachment by the French in the Spanish Province of Texas. First founded on the banks of the Garcitas Creek near present day Lavaca Bay, it was erected upon the remains of the ill-fated French Fort St. Louis built by La Salle. This location proved unsuitable and in 1726 it was abandoned and the fort relocated to an inland position near Mission its present location.
The Royal Presidio La Bahia, though an inland frontier fort, became the only fort responsible for the defense of the coastal area and eastern province of Texas after the abandonment of the Presidios at Los Adaes and Orcoquisac.
Soldiers from Presidio LaBahia assisted the Spanish army fighting the British along the Gulf Coast during the American Revolution. This action gives Goliad the distinction of being one of the only communities west of the Mississippi River to have participated in the American Revolution.
On October 9, 1835 a group of Texas citizens, led by Capt. George Colllingsworth, entered Goliad and attacked the Mexican garrison stationed at the Presidio and were successful in taking possession of the fort. This action followed the incident at Gonzales, Texas, one week earlier.
Here at the Presidio was formally declared the first Declaration of Texas Independence on December 20, 1835, signed by 92 citizens and distributed throughout other municipalities in Texas, boldly stating the intentions of these settlers of Texas. Along with it flew the first Flag of Texas Independence. Nothing short of full independence from Mexico would satisfy those who had suffered under the injustices of a dictatorial government let by the self-styled "Napoleon of the West", General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna.
The darkest day in Texas history, the Goliad Massacre, took place here on Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836, when Col. James Walker Fannin and 341 men under his command were executed a week after their capture at the Battle of Coleto, under orders of the Mexican dictator, General Santa Anna. There was twice as much loss of life here at Goliad than at the Alamo. Nothing had touched the raw nerve of the American character as did the news of the large numbers of men who were all slaughtered in one execution. As grim news reached the United States, volunteers streamed forth for the people of Texas who were engaged in a war with a dictator who took no prisoners - a war of extermination. This one single event, the Goliad Massacre, more than any event in the Texas Revolution, proved to the people of the United States what manner of warfare confronted the Texans.
Corpus Christi Spook Central investigation of Presidio La Bahia
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