‘Remember Goliad!’ Presidio officials cry as they hope tourists will flock to remote site

Presidio folks hope Texana will ‘Remember Goliad’

GOLIAD, Texas — “Remember Goliad!” joined “Remember the Alamo!” as the battle cries of Gen. Sam Houston’s men in their rout of the Mexican army to form the short-lived Republic of Texas.

But few people do remember Goliad, outshined by the Alamo, Texas’s most famous tourist attraction in downtown San Antonio. And the caretakers of Presidio La Bahia, site of the Goliad Massacre 174 years ago this weekend, hope their recently completed renovation will allow Goliad to share some of the Alamo’s glory.

It was before dawn on Palm Sunday during the Texas Revolution when some 400 men rounded up days earlier were split into groups and marched away from the half-century-old Catholic Spanish church on a hill above the San Antonio River.

Before the end of that day, 342 of them were killed, either shot, bayonetted or lanced. Their bodies were set on fire, left for wild animals and to decay under the South Texas sun near the Presidio La Bahia.

The slaughter at Goliad had a death toll nearly twice that of the Alamo three weeks earlier and word of the Goliad Massacre provided the second rallying cry for the revolutionaries.

“Remember Goliad!” and “Remember the Alamo!” shouted Houston’s men in one of history’s shortest and most decisive battles. In just 18 minutes, more than 600 soldiers commanded by Mexican Gen. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna were killed and another 700 were captured at San Jacinto. From that victory came the Republic of Texas.

Today, folks at the Presidio La Bahia are hoping a recently completed 3½-year, $500,000 renovation of the historic site will lure people there to get a glimpse of Texas life almost two centuries ago.

“We need to realize what other people have done to make our lives what they are today,” said Newton Warzecha, director of the Presidio. “On top of that, it’s very interesting.”

The just-completed facelift makes the place more accessible to the disabled, reorganized exhibits to better display some of its 54,694 artifacts, repainted or refreshed murals and decorations and added a working cannon from the early 1800s for battle re-enactments.

The fort, about 90 miles southeast of San Antonio, is considered the most fought-over fort in Texas, changing hands in at least six revolutions or wars and over the years home to Spanish, Mexican and Texian soldiers.

Its anchor is the chapel Our Lady of Loreto, which was used as the lockup for the captured Texians commanded by Col. James Walker Fannin before they were marched off to their deaths.

Fannin had agreed to surrender a week earlier after losing a battle to the Mexicans at nearby Coleto Creek. Santa Anna then ordered the massacre.

Over the years, Goliad faded from the public consciousness as the glory of Houston’s victory at San Jacinto and the Alamo’s glorification and its location in vibrant downtown San Antonio captured the limelight.

“We are out here by ourselves,” Warzecha acknowledged. “That’s a negative.”

And in contrast to Sam Houston’s larger-than-life legacy and the heroic siege of the Alamo, it was Fannin’s surrender that led to the Goliad loss of life.

“Historians have not treated Goliad very well, because of Fannin,” Warzecha said.

While the chapel continued to serve Catholic worshippers through the decades, the surrounding fort fell into ruin.

It wasn’t until the 1960s when Kathryn O’Connor, a local rancher, philanthropist and historian, spearheaded an estimated $1 million reconstruction of the fort’s 8-foot-tall and 3-foot-thick stone walls and parapets that visitors see today.

“Not to speak poorly of the Alamo, but this is far superior as a destination,” said Rick Peters, a Houston physician who recently was visiting the fort with his family. “It’s beautifully restored and really nice grounds.”

Unlike the carnival-like atmosphere outside the Alamo, Peters’ father, Frank said he appreciated the solitude.

“Nobody was selling me anything,” he said.

About 28,000 people visited last year, before the improvements were finished. Some 5,000 were expected this weekend to mark the anniversary. Among events planned was a service and memorial death march from the chapel to one of the three massacre sites.

“I am so pleased,” said Warzecha, who’s been at the Presidio 19 years and is the only full-time employee. “Since the work has been done, people are spending more time here. I hope they take back a sense of the rich Spanish and Texas history we have here.”