Gaines, Edmund Pendleton At Stephen F. Austin’s invitation, General Gaines led a troop of United States soldiers into east Texas to quell a threatened Indian uprising. They remained in the Nacogdoches area until the Texan government had been organized after the end of the war. Galveston Members of the _ad interim_ government fled to Galveston in April 1836. It became the temporary capital of the Republic, until the government was sworn in at Columbia in October 1836. Gaona, Antonio Gaona was a general in the Mexican army. Santa Anna ordered him to march to Nacogdoches by way of Bastrop. These orders were changed on April 15. Gaona was to proceed from Bastrop to San Felipe to join Santa Anna’s forces. Gaona’s men became lost in the “desert” around Bastrop, causing them to miss their rendezvous with Santa Anna and participation in the battle of San Jacinto. Goliad Formerly called La Bahia, Goliad was a major point of military operations in both 1835 and 1836. Texans captured Goliad on October 9, 1835. Supplies captured in this battle allowed Stephen F. Austin and his men to carry on the siege of Bexar. James W. Fannin marched his command to Goliad and set up headquarters near the presidio. He remained committed to the defense of Goliad, seeing it as the most suitable location for a supply depot for the Texan forces in the field. James B. Bonham’s arrival from the Alamo, requesting men and supplies to relieve William B. Travis, caused Fannin to attempt a rescue mission. The effort failed, and Fannin remained at Goliad until March 19. As Urrea’s forces neared Goliad, they fought a number of skirmishes with troops under the command of Johnson, Ward, King, and Grant. The survivors of these conflicts—when there were any—rallied to Goliad, only to be captured at Coleto, marched back to Goliad and executed. Goliad Declaration of Independence A document drafted by Philip Dimmitt and Ira Ingram, the Declaration was read to the citizens of Goliad on December 20, 1835. 91 signatures were attached, and the document was sent to the General Council. It arrived just as the government was deep in negotiations with sympathetic Federalists. The Declaration did not have any immediate effect on the Texan’s conduct of the war or their reasons for fighting. It did, however, alienate popular Mexican support for the Texan cause.