Goliad Massacre James W. Fannin’s men captured at Coleto along with survivors of units commanded by Ward and Grant were returned to Goliad after the battle of Coleto. When Fannin surrendered, he understood that the men would be treated as prisoners of war, and Urrea did request that the prisoners be so regarded. The Mexican government, however, had passed the Black Decrees. Anyone taking up arms against the Mexican government was to be considered a pirate and was subject to immediate execution. Santa Anna wrote back ordering immediate execution, and he backed that order up with a similar one to Nicolas de la Portilla, the commander at Goliad. On Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836 unwounded Texans were divided into three columns and were marched down three roads to points about a half mile outside Goliad. Ordered to halt, the men were cut down by firing squads. Men from two of the columns, halted near wooded areas, were able to make an escape and to carry the news of the slaughter. Fannin, who had been wounded at Coleto, and about 40 men were killed at the fort. Gonzales, Battle of An engagement fought four miles above Gonzales, the battle took place on October 2, 1835. When, in the latter part of September, Domingo de Ugartechea demanded the city surrender its cannon, the colonists refused. They buried the cannon in George W. Davis’s peach orchard on September 29. When the men under Francisco Castaneda marched on the town, the colonists dug up the cannon, mounted it, and fired the first shot of the Revolution. When the Mexican army learned that the unit sent to capture the cannon was taken prisoner, it stopped west of the Guadalupe. Gonzales, Jose Maria A federalist colonel, Gonzales escorted former governor Agustin Viesca in his flight to Texas. In San Antonio, Gonzales issued a proclamation calling on Mexicans to support the Texan cause and to restore the Constitution of 1824. In January, he led a force against the Mexican town of Mier. Urrea marched to intercept the army, and, although he captured 24 federalist rebels on January 22, Gonzales and the rest made their escape. The captives were used as guides and scouts for Urrea’s army as they marched through Texas. Grant, James Dr. Grant joined the siege of Bexar. He was elected the Goliad representative to the consultation, but remained in the field during that body’s deliberations. In early spring 1836, Grant and F. W. Johnson organized a Matamoros Expedition and proceeded as far as San Patricio. Grant and a party of 15 volunteers were attacked at Agua Dulce Creek on March 2. Grant was killed, and most of his men who escaped were taken prisoner and marched to Goliad where they were executed on March 27.