| She
was known, by the Texans, as a "high bred beauty" and the "Angel of Goliad." A
tenderhearted Mexican lady who will forever be remembered for her many acts of
kindness during those dismal days of the Texas Revolution.
Although
there is some doubt as to her real name, she is commonly identified as Francita
Alavez and history records that she was a compassionate and beautiful woman.
She acquired the name, Angel of Goliad,
because of her efforts to help Texas soldiers who had been captured at the Battle
of Coleto.
After that battle, in March of 1836, Texas troops under
the command of Col. James W. Fannin, Jr. surrendered to Mexican forces. Information
found in The New Handbook of Texas states that: "Fannin's men had agreed
upon and reduced to writing the terms upon which they proposed to capitulate."
It was the custom in those days that men taken as prisoners of war would
eventually be paroled and returned to their country. This is what Fannin had expected
would happen to his men. The Mexican commander, Gen. Jose de Urrea, had told him
that they would be treated honorably and not be harmed. But as was his habit,
Gen. Santa Anna overruled Urrea and ordered all the prisoners to be executed.
At sunrise on Palm Sunday, March 27, 1836, 342 men including Col. Fannin were
put to death. (See Goliad
Massacre)
After
this horrible chain of events, stories began to surface about the exploits of
Francita Alavez. Some of the survivors of the massacre told of the kindness they
were shown by the wife of a Mexican officer known as Captain Telesforo Alavez.
She was credited with persuading one Mexican officer not to carry out his orders
to execute Texas soldiers who had been part of Maj. William P. Miller's command.
These men had been held as prisoners at Copano Bay and then taken to Goliad
to be murdered with all the rest.
Other stories indicate that Francita
slipped into the fort at Goliad
the evening before the massacre and brought out several of the men and hid them.
If she had been caught saving these men, the "Angel of Goliad" would have probably
been executed.
Francita Alavez, when at Copano Bay, noticed that the
Texas prisoners there were being badly treated. She observed that the men were
tightly bound with rope that was restricting the circulation of blood to their
arms. Survivors reported that she convinced the Mexican soldiers to loosen the
ropes and to feed the prisoners. Following the defeat of Gen. Santa Anna at the
Battle
of San Jacinto, Capt. Alavez took Francita and returned to Matamoros, Mexico.
While in that city, she aided Texas soldiers who were held prisoner there.
Capt.
Alavez moved on to Mexico City and there he abandoned Francita and left her penniless.
This seemed to be a habit of Alavez - he also abandoned another woman, considered
his legal wife, before he came to Texas with Francita. According to The New
Handbook of Texas, later research indicates that Francita was probably his
mistress.
When the "Angel of Goliad"
returned to Matamoros she was without food or shelter. But the Texans there remembered
her acts of kindness towards them and they came to her rescue. There seems to
be little else known about Francita Alavez from the time she returned to Matamoros.
I was unable to find any record of when or where she died. Information about her
is so vague, that historians really don't know what name she was known by. Her
first name has been given as Francita, Francisca, Panchita, or Pancheta, and her
surname as Alavez, Alvarez, or Alevesco.
Several years after the Texas
Revolution, two doctors who were prisoners at Goliad
and spared by the Mexicans, told of the humanitarian acts of Francita Alavez on
behalf of the Texans. These eyewitness accounts, by Dr. Joseph Barnard and Dr.
John Shackelford, caused the deeds of this compassionate woman to become widely
known.
Because of her many acts of kindness toward men considered to
be her enemy, Francita Alavez will forever be remembered as a heroine of the Texas
Revolution and the "Angel of Goliad."
The Lavaca County, Texas, area
has ties to the Angel of Goliad.
One of the survivors of the Goliad
Massacre, Isaac D. Hamilton, escaped and was recaptured at Dimmitt's Point.
He was sent to Victoria and was again scheduled to be executed.
But while
Hamilton was awaiting his fate, word came that Sam
Houston's army had defeated Santa Anna at San
Jacinto. While the Mexicans were in a state of confusion, Hamilton escaped
once again. He was aided by none other than Francita Alavez.
According
to The New Handbook of Texas, Isaac Hamilton died at Moulton,
Texas in 1859 and was buried in the Old Moulton Cemetery. ©
Murray
Montgomery April 20, 2004 column
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