The Alamo fell in thirteen days, with all its defenders killed. One hundred miles away, Goliad surrendered after a single day’s battle, with the prisoners then executed by firing squad. Only twenty escaped by flinging themselves into the San Antonio River. Historians note that the Alamo was a fortress that should not have been defended and was, while Goliad was a fortress that could have been defended but was not.
After the fall of Goliad and the Alamo, Sam Houston retreated to east Texas. His army grew, as the struggle was now for independence and survival. Houston caught Santa Anna at San Jacinto, defeating his army in an eighteen-minute battle. The battle cry of the Texans was “Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!” Everyone knows the Alamo, but the story of Goliad has been forgotten, until now. The tragic events at Goliad shaped Texas as much as those at the Alamo, and William Bradle reminds us of the horror, charity, bravery, and mercy endured there.
This fast-moving narrative presents the struggles of the participants, both Texan and Mexican, and reveals the overriding egos and bad planning on both sides of the war. It is historically accurate, based on actual documents and the many books, both scholarly and popular, written on the Texas revolution.