Untitled - the Digital Library of Georgia

592 GEORGIA AND GEORGIANS
were ordered to sit down with their backs to the guard. But a young
man by the name of Fenner, in one of the squads, rose to his feet and
exclaimed: 'Boys,' they are going to kill us—die with your faces to
them, like men!' At the same time, two other young Texans, nourish
ing their caps over their heads, shouted at the top of their voices, ' Hur
rah for Texas!'"
"Many attempted to escape; but the most of those who survived the
first fire were cut down by the pursuing cavalry, or afterwards shot.
It is believed that in all twenty-seven of those who were marched out
to be slaughtered eventually escaped, leaving three hundred who suf
fered death on that Sunday morning. The dead were then stripped
and .the naked bodies thrown into piles. A few brushes were placed
over them, and an attempt made to burn the bodies up, but with such
poor success that the hands and feet, and much of the flesh, were left
a prey to dogs and vultures!
"Colonel Pannin doubtless erred in postponing for four days his
obedience to the order of the Commander-in-Chief to retreat with all
possible dispatch to Victoria, on the Guadalupe; and also in sending
out Lieutenant-Colonel Ward in search of Captain King. But these
errors sprang from the noblest feelings of humanity; first, in an attempt
to save from the approaching enemy some Texan settlers at the mis
sion of Refugio; again, in an endeavor to rescue King and his men
at the same place; and finally to save Ward and his command—until
all was lost save honor. The public vengeance of the Mexican tyrant,
however, was satisfied. Deliberately and in cold blood he had caused
three hundred and thirty of the sternest friends of TJ1 exas—her friends
while living and dying—to tread the wine-press for her redemption.
He chose the Lord's Day for this sacrifice. It was accepted; and God
waited his own time for retribution—a retribution which brought Santa
Anna a trembling coward to the feet of the Texan victors, whose mag
nanimity prolonged his wretched life to waste the land of his birth
with anarchy and civil war." *
It is a well authenticated fact that the famous "Lone Star" flag of
Texan independence was born on the soil of Georgia; and the beautiful
emblem which was destined to win historic immortality at Goliad was
designed by a young lady of Crawford county, Miss Joanna E. Trout-
man. The following account has been condensed from a brief history
* During the session of 1883, the Legislature of Texas appropriated the sum of
$1,500 for a monument at Goliad to the victims of the brutal massacre of 1836. The
citizens of Goliad raised an additional $1,700, and the City of Goliad donated a lot
for the monument. The handsome shaft was unveiled in 1885. It is built of Italian
marble, standing thirty-three feet in height, upon a base of granite, and contains the
following brief inscriptions: On the north, the famous battle cry of San Jacintp,
'' Eemember the Alamo! BeinembeJ1 Goliad! " On the west, '' Independence declared,
March 2nd, A. D. 1836, consummated April 21st, A. D. 1836." On the south, at the
bottom of the first section, "Fannin" is chiseled in raised letters, while higher up on
the monument appear these words: '' Erected in Memory of Fannin and his Com
rades. '' On the east, '' Massacred March 27th, A. D. 1836.'' There were a number
of Georgians in Fannin's command, among them a distinguished young officer of
Lawrenceville, Capt. James 0. Winn.