At the same time I could distinguish the heads of some of the men through the boughs of some peach-trees, and could hear their screams. It was then, for the first time, the awful conviction seized upon our minds that treachery and murder had begun their work ! Shortly afterward, Colonel Guerrier appeared at the mouth of the tent. I asked him if it could be possible they were murdering our men. He replied that ' it was so ; but he had not given the order, neither had he executed it.' "
In about an hour more, the wounded were dragged out and butchered. Colonel Fannin was the last to suffer. When informed of his fate, he met it like a soldier. He handed his watch to the officer whose business it was to murder him, and requested him to have him shot in the breast and not in the head, and likewise to see that his remains should be decently buried. These natural and proper requirements the officer promised should be fulfilled, but, with that perfidy which is so prominent a characteristic of the Mexican race, he failed to do either ! Fannin seated himself in a chair, tied the hand-kerchief over his eyes, and bared his bosom to receive the fire of the soldiers.
As the different divisions were brought to the place of execution, they were ordered to sit down with their backs to the guard. In one instance, " young Fenner rose on his feet, and exclaimed, ' Boys, they are going to kill us—die with your faces to them, like men !' At same moment, two other young men, flourishing their caps over their heads, shouted at the top of their voices, ' Hurrah for Texas !' "
Many attempted to escape ; but the most of those who survived the first fire were cut down by the pursuing cavalry, or afterward shot. It is believed that, in all, twenty-seven of those who were marched out to be slaughtered made their escape ; leaving three hundred and thirty who suffered death on that Sunday morning.*
* Number of prisoners at Goliad, on the 27th of March, according to Portilla 445
Major Miller's command (80)
Physicians and attendants (8)
Escaped from the slaughter (27)= 115 total spared/escaped
Number who suffered death 330
Names of those who escaped, according to Dr. Shackleford : —
New Orleans Grays : William L. Hunter, William Brannon, John Reese, David Jones, B. H. Holland.
Huntsville Volunteers : Bennett Butler, Milton Irish.
Mustangs : William Morer, John C. Duval, William Mason, John Holliday, John Van Bibber, Charles Spain, Sharpe.
Burke's Company: Herman Eremby, Thomas Kemp, N. J. Devany. Horton's Company : Daniel Martindale, William Hadden, Charles Smith. Red Rovers : Isaac D. Hamilton, D. Cooper, L. M. Brooks, William Simpson. Company not recollected : N. Rosen, William Murphy, John Williams.
Foote, vol. ii., p. 244.
The dead were then stripped, and their naked bodies thrown into piles. A few brush were placed over them, and an attempt made to burn them up, but with such poor success, that their hands and feet, and much of their flesh, were left a prey to dogs and vultures! Texas has erected no monument to perpetuate the memory of these heroic victims of a cruel barbarism ; yet they have a memorial in the hearts of their countrymen more durable than brass or marble.
REMEMBER THE ALAMO, REMEMBER GOLIAD!
