The Goliad Massacre occurred March 27, 1836 and is considered to be one of the pivotal events in the Texas Revolution. After the battle at the Alamo, Colonel James W. Fannin and around 350 men were surrounded by Mexican forces under Santa Anna at the presidio at Goliad. One week earlier, after the battle at Coleto Creek, Colonel Fannin had surrendered to General José de Urrea of the Mexican Army with the understanding that they would eventually be released.
On the morning of Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836, Lt. Colonel José Nicolás de la Portilla pursuant to orders from Santa Anna, directed that the prisoners be marched out and executed by firing squads. They had been roused at daylight and told that they were going to be sent to gather wood, help move some cattle or be marched to Copano. The prisoners were split up into three companies and led out in different directions by armed Mexican soldiers. At some point, the soldiers opened fire on each group of prisoners. Almost all were killed. Some escaped, some pretended to be dead and some were spared to serve the Mexican Army in selected capacities, such as Dr. John “Jack” Shackelford of Alabama who was allowed to live so that he could minister to the Mexican wounded.
There are several differing views about the terms of Fannin’s surrender after the Battle of Coleto Creek. Survivors maintained that the Texans had drafted terms of their surrender and that they were read aloud at the head of each company as they laid down their arms. It was decided at a time when the choice for Fannin and his men was either to surrender or face certain death against the somewhat larger but much better equipped Mexican Army under General Urrea. Another view is that perhaps Fannin misrepresented the actual terms of the surrender and that there had been no definitive agreement on the part of the Mexican Army for clemency nor to allow for the Texans’ eventual parole and release. This view can be discounted because it would have required a conspiracy on the part of Fannin and others under him to achieve. No doubt there were among the prisoners some who would have elected to fight to the death as opposed to surrendering under any terms. It does appear that in reality, any such arrangement between General Urrea and Colonel Fannin would have been subject to Santa Anna’s final approval. Yet another view is that there was no agreement at all. To the best of our knowledge, no surrender document written in English has survived. Santa Anna showed little clemency in other situations about that time having killed numerous combatants at Refugio a few days earlier.
Dr. John Lawson “Jack” Shackelford had come to Texas from Alabama with a contingent of men that he recruited. He was born in Richmond, Virginia in 1790 and received his education as a medical doctor, with training in surgery. Around 1811 he moved to South Carolina where he met and married his wife Maria Young. He had served in the War of 1812 as he served as a staff officer under Andrew Jackson. Dr. Shackelford had returned to his home in South Carolina after the conflict ended. The family relocated to Shelby County, Alabama around 1818. He bought a plantation there and operated it for a few years before having to liquidate it to satisfy a guaranty to which he had agreed in connection with the failure of a cousin’s business. He served in the Alabama state senate representing Shelby and Bibb counties from about 1822 to 1824. He was appointed as receiver for the land office at Courtland, Alabama in 1829 when the United States was selling land to finance a building of a canal near Muscle Shoals.
News of the Texas Revolution reached Alabama inspiring him to create a military group to assist the Texans in their efforts to throw off the Mexican government. The Alabama volunteers raised their own money for weapons and called themselves the “Red Rovers” as part of their uniforms included red pants. Shackelford served as Captain of the group.
Shackelford’s company, which included his son and two nephews, arrived at Matagorda Bay in late January, 1836 and were directed to Guadalupe Victoria and then on to Goliad, under the command of Colonel Fannin. The Red Rovers had not been in Texas but a few weeks when they were captured at Goliad, along with a contingent of Louisiana men called the New Orleans Greys. Most of the men in his Alabama company were executed on March 27, 1836, including his oldest son Fortunatus and two nephews.
Shackelford and at least one other medical doctor, Joseph Henry Barnard, who was able to escape with assistance from Francita Alavez, called the “Angel of Goliad.” The two physicians were allowed to live so that they could treat wounded Mexican soldiers. Other selected individuals were spared to serve the Mexican Army in other capacities, such as interpreters. After about a month in Goliad, both doctors were transported to Béxar to treat those Mexican soldiers wounded at the Alamo. The pair remained at Béxar until after the Mexican Army’s defeat in Battle of San Jacinto the following month. The Mexican Army then left the area to return home. After San Jacinto, Dr. Shackelford returned to Goliad for a while before rejoining his family in Alabama. He had apparently been presumed killed at Goliad and his fellow Masons had arranged a grave for him in his honor.
Dr. Barnard remained in Texas, married and lived in Goliad for a while before resettling in Fort Bend County. Dr. Barnard died in 1861 while on a trip to Canada. His remains were returned to Texas and he is buried in the Texas State Cemetery in Austin.
Dr. Shackelford practiced medicine in Alabama until he died in January, 1857. His first wife Maria had predeceased him in 1842 and the following year, he married a widow by the name of Martha Watkins Chardavoyne. They were married until his death. She survived him another eighteen years. Dr. Shackelford is buried in Courtland, Alabama. In 1858, Shackelford County in Texas was named in his honor.
There were at least about two dozen accounts of the massacre including those of Dr. Shackelford, Dr. Barnard, John C. Duval (the last surviving former prisoner), Herman Ehrenberg and others. Fortunately many accounts were preserved and may still be found.
The dates below are usually considered to be key dates associated with the Texas Revolution:
- October 2, 1835 – Battle of Gonzales.
- December 5, 1835 – Siege of Béxar.
- Feb. 23, 1836 – Battle of the Alamo begins.
- March 2, 1836 – Convention of 1836.
- March 6, 1836 – Fall of the Alamo.
- March 27, 1836 – Goliad Massacre.
- April 21, 1836 – Battle of San Jacinto.
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