In Mexico in 1835 there were rebellions against General Antonio López de Santa Anna's usurpation of dictatorial powers and his abrogation of the Mexican Constitution of 1824. The rebellion in Zacateca was quickly put down but in Tejas the rebels captured the city which is now San Antonio, Texas. When word came of Santa Anna's army approaching San Antonio most of the hundreds of rebels there realized the city could not be held against San Anna's thousands and they marched to join rebels elsewhere. About one hundred fifty decided to try to defend the Alamo and they were joined by about thirty others newly arrived in San Antonio. About four hundred of the rebels under Colonel James Fannin marched to the southeast to the little town of Goliad. After the Alamo was captured Santa Anna sent about a thousand of his troops to capture Fannin's unit at Goliad. Fannin led his troops in retreat from Goliad. Santa Anna's troops under the command of General José Urrea pursued. When Urrea's troops caught up with the rebels, Fannin ordered the formation of a defensive square. Unfortunately the site chosen was in open space without access to water. After battling for a few days, on March 20, 1836, as ammunition, food and water were running out, Fannin surrendered to General Urrea. General Urrea gave assurances that the rebels would be treated humanely. The prisoners were marched back to Goliad where they were held for a week. On March 27th General Santa Anna abrogated the agreement and ordered the execution of the prisoners. In that act of brutality Santa Anna not only lost Texas but ultimately lost for Mexico half of its territory. It took more than a decade for the full retribution to occur, but the massacre at Goliad was still fresh in the minds of Americans at the time of the War Between the U.S. and Mexico. Not all of the prisoners at Goliad died. About thirty survived their attempted execution. The execution site was at the river and some of the wounded were able to make their way down stream to tell the story of the massacre to the world.

Walt Whitman in his Song of Myself tells the story of the massacre at Goliad. While Whitman's story may not be accurate in all the details, it is significant for it indicates what Americans believed happened. And those beliefs became significant in the execution of the hostilities in the war between the United States and Mexico.

I tell not the fall of Alamo....not one escaped to tell he fall of Alamo,
The hundred and fifty are dumb yet at Alamo.

Hear now the tale of a jetblack sunrise,
Hear of the murder in cold blood of four hundred and twelve young men.

Retreating they had formed in a hollow square with their baggage as breastworks,
Nine hundred lives out of the surrounding enemy's nine times their number was the price they took in advance,
The colonel was wounded and their ammunition gone,

They treated for an honorable capitulation, received writing and seal, gave up their arms, and marched back prisoners of war.

They were the glory of the race of rangers,
Matchless with a horse, a rifle, a song, a supper or a courtship,
Large, turbulent, brave, handsome, generous, proud and affectionate, Bearded, sunburnt, dressed in the free costume of hunters,
Not a single one over thirty years of age.

The second Sunday they were brought out in squads and massacred....it was beautiful early summer
The work commenced about five o'clock and was over by eight.

None obeyed the command to kneel,
Some made a mad and helpless rush....some stood stark and straight
A few fell at once, shot in the temple or heart....the living and dead lay together,
The maimed and mangled dug in the dirt....the newcomers saw them there;
Some half-killed atempted to to crawl away,
They were dispatched with bayonets or battered with the blunts of muskets;
A youth not seventeen years old siezed his assassin till two more came to release him,
The three were all torn, and covered with the boy's blood.

At eleven o'clock began the burning of the bodies;
And that is the tale of the murder of the four hundred and twelve young men,
And that was a jetblack sunrise.