II
O"r Catllolic Heritage in Texas
to stay. Upon the appearance of the enemy the next day, King, after dispatching a messenger to Goliad for aid, locked himself in the mission. Fannin further weakened his force by sending Colonel Ward on March 13 with 100 men to rescue King. Hardly had Ward left than a messenger from Houston handed Fannin strict orders to abandon Goliad immediately. There was still time on March 14 to escape without loss of men. Fannin felt he could not leave, however, without King and Ward. A fast rider, sent towards Refugio to urge them forward, failed to come back. It was now March 16. Captain Fraser, of Refugio, who was with Fannin's forces, volun- teered to obtain exact information. True to his word, he was back in twenty-four hours. He reported that Colonel Ward had succeeded in eluding the enemy and had retreated towards Victoria, but that King and his men had been captured on March 14 and shot. It appears that Colonel Ward had reached Refugio safely, found King was threatened by the advance guard of Urrea's army, and urged him to return with him to Goliad. But King was unwilling to place his small, independent command under Ward. The main force of Urrea had arrived meanwhile, and Ward and his men withdrew towards Victoria. It is not clear why he did not move towards Goliad. King and his little band were captured and ordered shot by Urrea. Anxious to surprise the Texans at Goliad and to cut off reinforcements from the coast, Urrea hurried on. "I authorized the ex~tion," he wrote in his Diary, "after my departure, of thirty adventurers taken prisoners during the previous engagements, setting free those who were colonists or Mexicans." 55 In the meantime, Fannin, with characteristic indecision, ordered the guns buried before abandoning Goliad. Then he instructed his men to dig up the guns and open a trench around the fort. Late on March 17 Colonel A. C. Horton had a skirmish with the advance guard of Urrea's army a few miles from Goliad. The next morning Fannin finally decided to abandon Goliad under the protection of a heavy fog. Hurriedly 270 men left by the lower river crossing with nine cannon and several wagons loaded with ammunition, baggage, and supplies. For two hours they struggled at the crossing before they took up the old Spanish trail to Manahuila Creek, which they reached by noon without molestation. Fully aware that Urrea would take up pursuit the moment he entered Goliad, Fannin kept a sharp lookout. ssurrea, Diar,y, In Mex;ca,s Sule of the Texan Revolution, 222. See also Wharton, o;. cit., 39-41; Johnson, Texas and Texans, I, 427-433.
Powered by FlippingBook