Goliad Massacre

The Goliad Massacre is the most infamous of all the episodes of the Texas Revolution. The Mexican army at Coleto Creek promised prisoner of war status. Because General Santa Anna was acting under Mexican law, he overturned that promise and ultimately ordered the execution of 342 Texans at Goliad on March 27, 1836. The murdered soldiers' bodies were stripped and left unburied. While General Tomas Rusk and his soldiers were passing through on June 3, 1836, they gathered the remains and gave them all a proper military burial. The Massacre of Goliad, together with the fall of the Alamo, branded Santa Anna and the Mexican army with a reputation for cruelty and invoked the fury of the people of Texas, the United States and even some European countries, which considerably attributed to the success of the Texas Revolution.

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