The Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record, Volume 21, Number 1, November 1985 Page: 80
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80 THE TEXAS GULF HISTORICAL & BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD
to his own judgment, but in obedience to positive instructions from Gen.
Houston, blew up the fort and commenced a retreat to the main army. His
force amounted to about three hundred and fifty men, and seven pieces
of artillery. They had proceeded about eight miles to the eastward of the
fort, when they were surrounded in a large prairie by two thousand Mex-
icans, consisting of infantry and cavalry. The advance guard of twenty-five
men under Col. Wharton were, by this movement, cut off from the main
force; and believing it to be a mere waste of life to return, they continued
on, and escaped.
Col. Fanning evacuated the fort on the nineteenth of March; and it was
about four o'clock, in the afternoon of the same day, that the attack com-
menced, and lasted until sometime into night. The cavalry made many charges
upon them in rapid succession, but were repulsed with great slaughter. Col.
Fanning continued fighting and retreating, until he gained a small grove
of post-oaks in the midst of the prairie. This afforded him a sufficient pro-
tection from the charges of the cavalry, and the battle ceased. Col. Fan-
ning's loss was inconsiderable, but one hundred and ninety of the enemy
were ascertained to have been slain, and as many more wounded.
This grove was immediately surrounded by the enemy, and a renewal
of the battle was expected in the morning. Col. Fanning, well knowing escape
to be impossible, entrenched himself during the night and was resolved not
to die unavenged. In the morning, however, the enemy showed a white flag,
and Col. Fanning went out to meet the Mexican General. A capitulation
was made with the usual forms of honorable warfare; Col. Fanning was
to lay down his arms, and march back to Goliad, where they were to
remain six or eight days as prisoners of war, to be shipped to New-Orleans
from Copano. They surrendered on these conditions; on the sixth day after
their arrival at Goliad, they were assured that a vessel was ready to receive
them at Copano, to embark for New-Orleans, and Col. Fanning marched
out in file, the Mexicans each side of him. They were marched down about
five miles, when the order was given to fire upon them. At the first fire,
nearly every man fell - a Mr. Haddin of Texas and three others succeeded
in reaching some bushes about one hundred yards distant. They were pur-
sued by the enemy into the high grass, where they lost sight of them.
Haddin remained in the grass all night; in the morning he succeeded in making
his escape.
It is difficult to speak of such cowardly and more than savage massacres,
with any tolerable degree of composure. The deeds of Santa Anna are writ-
ten in blood, and every triumph but deepens the stain.
If the first campaign was all victory, the second has hitherto been all[Vol. XXI, No. I
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Texas Gulf Historical Society. The Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record, Volume 21, Number 1, November 1985, periodical, November 1985; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1433656/m1/82/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Gulf Historical Society.