Goliad County Texas map
28.66° N · 97.43° W · County seat: Goliad · 859 sq mi
Goliad is one of the three oldest European settlements in Texas, older than the county, older than the state and older than the republic. The county around it was one of the original 23 created in 1836, and the events of March that year — the surrender at Coleto Creek and the executions that followed — are why the name is on the state seal of memory alongside the Alamo.
The town of Goliad sits where US-59 and US-183 cross the San Antonio River, which runs diagonally across the county from northwest to southeast.
Where Goliad County is
The county is inland from the coast on the lower San Antonio River, between the Victoria and Corpus Christi areas. DeWitt County is north, Victoria County northeast, Refugio County southeast, Bee County southwest and Karnes County northwest.
It was one of the original 23 counties of the Republic of Texas, created in March 1836 and organized the following year. The name is an anagram: Spanish authorities renamed the settlement of La Bahía in 1829 for Miguel Hidalgo, the priest who launched the Mexican war of independence, rearranging the letters of Hidalgo with the silent H dropped. Victoria is 28 miles east, Corpus Christi 59 miles south and San Antonio 83 miles northwest. Goliad County is counted in the Victoria metropolitan area.
Cities and towns
| Place | Type | Population (2020) |
|---|---|---|
| Goliad (county seat) | City — the only incorporated place | 1,617 |
Berclair, Charco, Fannin, Weesatche and Schroeder are unincorporated communities on the farm roads; Fannin, on US-59 east of town, is named for the commander who surrendered near it.
Roads
- US-59 – the main diagonal, from Victoria in the northeast through Fannin and Goliad and on southwest toward Beeville. Interstate 69W is planned to follow this corridor.
- US-183 / US-77 Alternate – north–south through Goliad, north to Cuero and Gonzales, south to Refugio and the coast. It shares pavement with US-59 through the town.
- SH-239 – west from Goliad to Berclair and on toward Karnes City.
- SH-119 – northeast toward Nursery and Victoria.
- FM-622, FM-81 and FM-883 – the ranch and farm network across the rest of the county.
Presidio La Bahía and the missions
The Spanish moved Presidio Nuestra Señora de Loreto de la Bahía and its companion Mission Nuestra Señora del Espíritu Santo de Zúñiga to this site on the San Antonio River in 1749, their third location. The presidio's chapel, Our Lady of Loreto, has been in continuous use since the 1770s and is one of the oldest churches in the United States still holding services. The fort was restored in the 1960s and is owned by the Catholic Diocese of Victoria; it is a mile south of the courthouse square on US-183.
Mission Espíritu Santo stands across the river inside Goliad State Park and Historic Site, reconstructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s on the original foundations. The mission ran cattle on the surrounding range, which makes this stretch of river one of the starting points of the Texas ranching industry. A third site, Mission Rosario, sits four miles west of town on US-59.
General Ignacio Zaragoza, who commanded the Mexican army that defeated the French at Puebla on 5 May 1862, was born at La Bahía in 1829. A state historic site marks the birthplace next to the presidio.
Coleto Creek and 1836
In March 1836 Colonel James Fannin withdrew his garrison from Goliad toward Victoria and was overtaken in open prairie at Coleto Creek, about nine miles east of town. After a day and a night surrounded, his force surrendered on 20 March and was marched back to the presidio. On Palm Sunday, 27 March, on orders from Santa Anna, roughly 340 of the prisoners were taken out in columns and shot; Fannin was executed inside the fort. A number escaped or were spared, and the survivors' accounts are the source of most of what is known. "Remember Goliad" joined "Remember the Alamo" as the cry at San Jacinto three weeks later.
The battlefield is preserved as Fannin Battleground State Historic Site on US-59. A monument over the burial place of the executed men stands below the presidio walls. On the courthouse square in Goliad, the 1894 courthouse is shaded by the Hanging Tree, an oak used for court sentences in the years after the republic.