This Is Why You Never Surrender to Dishonorable Foes
Remembering Goliad and The Price of Surrender
(TNM) – The words echo through time — “Remember Goliad!” Less known than its counterpart “Remember the Alamo!” but just as powerful in its impact on the Texas Revolution and our collective identity as Texans. As we mark another anniversary of the Goliad Massacre on March 27, we are reminded of one of the harshest lessons in Texas history: surrender often comes with a terrible cost.
In that spring of 1836, Colonel James Fannin and nearly 350 Texian soldiers found themselves surrounded by Mexican General José Urrea’s forces at Coleto Creek. After a valiant fight and believing they could secure favorable treatment as prisoners of war, Fannin negotiated what he thought was an honorable surrender. The Mexican forces, however, had other plans.
On Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836, on direct orders from General Santa Anna, the Mexican soldiers marched the Texian prisoners out of Goliad in three columns. In the fields around Presidio La Bahía, without warning, they opened fire at point-blank range. Those who survived the initial volley were clubbed or stabbed to death. Over 340 Texians were executed that day in cold blood, their bodies left unburied.
The contrast between Goliad and the Alamo remains stark in our history. While the defenders of the Alamo chose to fight to the last man, Fannin believed that surrender would spare his men. In both cases, the end was tragic, but Fannin’s decision haunts us most because it reminds us of something fundamental about liberty that our forebears understood all too well.
To be clear — I don’t fault Fannin for his choice. War forces impossible decisions on honorable men. But history demands we learn from these moments, especially as we…
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