Stories of Texas Women: The Angel of Goliad By: Amelia White, Alamo Education Development Specialist On the morning of March 27, 1836 the majority of the 400 Texan soldiers who under the command of Colonel James Walker Fannin had surrendered to Mexican forces a week previously were led out the gates of the presidio of La Bahia, a fort originally built by the Spanish that Fannin had rechristened Fort Defiance after he had taken up command of the post. The Texan men were of the belief that they were going home; that the Mexican army was pardoning them in return for their pledge not to take up arms against the Mexican army again. They did not know that they were being marched to their death. Left behind in the fort on that Palm Sunday morning was Col. Fannin and others who had been too badly wounded a week earlier in the Battle of Coleto Creek to walk on their own, as well as Texan surgeons Jack Shackelford, Joseph Henry Barnard and Joseph Field and other Texans like Abel Morgan and Joseph Spohn who were deemed as possessing skills that could be utilized by the ill equipped Mexican Army. While Colonel Fannin and the rest of the wounded would meet the same fate as the men outside the fort, the surgeons and a few others would find their lives spared so they may be of service to the Mexican army, which was seriously deficient of medical resources. Just as the Texan surgeons did not know that their comrades were being marched to their deaths, they also were unaware that it was through the intercession of a Mexican woman Francita Alavez, the consort of a Mexican officer that they were not similarly being marched off to face a firing squad.
Francita Alavez was the consort of Captain Telesforo Alavez, an officer under the command of General Urrea during the Texas Campaign. 1 She is credited with interceding and saving the lives of Texan soldiers on three occasions and offering aid on several others, but it is her actions preceding the Goliad Massacre that earned her the title The Angel of Goliad and her place in history. The exact origin of this moniker is unclear, as several of the Goliad survivors refer to Francita as an angel, but it most likely is derived from the statements of Dr. Jack Shackelford whose account published in 1841 is the earliest to specifically refer to Alavez (who he calls Pacheta Alavesco). He calls her an angel of mercy a second Pocohontas. 2 The account of Dr. Joseph Henry Barnard repeats the heavenly imagery stating, Her name deserves to be recorded in letters of gold among those angels who have from time to time been commissioned here by an overruling and beneficent Power [sic] to relieve the sorrows and cheer the hearts of men. 3 As her title The Angel of Goliad suggests, Francita is most often remembered for her actions during the Massacre at Goliad, but she also helped aid the Texan soldiers both before and after this fateful event. On February 27, 1836 there was a clash between Mexican and Texan forces near the town of San Patricio. All of the Texans who fought there were killed with the exception of Reuben Brown who was kept alive for eight days. On the eighth day he was to be executed, but was spared through the interposition of a priest and a Mexican lady named 1 Survivors and scholars alike refer to The Angel of Goliad by a number of names. This article refers to her as Francita Alavez although references to her also include Franchesa and Panchita as a possible first name and Alvarez and Alavesque as alternative surnames. 2 Jack Shackelford, Some Few Notes Upon a Part of the Texan War, in Texas and the Texans, by Henry Stuart Foote. (Philadelphia: Thomas, Copperthwait & Co., 1841), 245. 3 Joseph H. Barnard, Dr. J. H. Barnard's Journal: A Composite of Known Versions, ed. Hobart Huson (Refugio?, Texas, 1949), 35.
Alvarez. 4 This compassionate Mexican lady is mentioned again in relationship to Major William Miller and his men who had been captured at Copano Bay on May 23 rd. Here it is said that when Francita arrived in Copano, Miller and his men were tightly bound with cords so as to completely check the circulation of blood in their arms, and in this state had been left for several hours. Francita, immediately caused the cords to be removed and refreshments given to them. 5 From Copano Francita traveled to Goliad with the Mexican army entering into the presidio there a few days prior to March 27 th. Upon hearing that the Texans were to be executed here too, she again worked to save what lives she could. Dr. Barnard recounts that she so effectually pleaded with Col. Garey he resolved to save all that he could. 6 In addition to pleading with Col. Garray, Francita also saved by connivance some of the officers gone into the fort at night and taken out some whom she kept concealed until after the massacre. 7 One survivor, Benjamin Hughes was just fifteen at the time of the battle and he writes that I saw quite a number of ladies standing where we had to march by, and two, who afterward proved to be Lady General Urrea and a young lady, Madame Captain Alvarez were evidently ladies of distinction. These, with a little girl ten or eleven years old were standing in a group with Colonel Holsinger, who seemed to be officiating in the execution of the order for execution, and as we stepped off the young lady spoke to her aunt, the general's wife, and then the elder spoke to the Colonel, and a Sergeant or corporal came and took me out of the ranks and stood me between the two ladies with the little girl, and the rest marched off. In the space of maybe five minutes they were halted and the Mexicans were so arranged as to place our men in a cross fire, and the instant of the 4 R.R. Brown, Expedition under Johnson and Grant, in Texas Almanac, 1859. Book, ca. 1859; digital images, (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark/67531/metapath/23765) University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu. Crediting Texas State Historical Association, Denton, Texas, 136. 5 Barnard, Dr. J.H. Barnard s Journal, 34. 6 Ibid. 7 Ibid.
halt the order was given to fire, and then I saw for the first time why I was taken from the ranks 8 Francita s acts of kindness did not end at Goliad. Following Goliad she traveled to Victoria and then Matamoros where she again saves the life of Reuben Brown and other Texan soldiers. 9 What makes the story of Francita interesting is that to the Mexican army she was unimportant she is just another of the many women traveling with the army. General Urrea, the commanding Mexican officer at Coleto Creek and the Goliad Massacre makes no mention of her in his account of the events in and around Goliad. 10 To the Texans, however, she played a central role in the story of Goliad and is mentioned often. The records these soldiers left behind are not perfect; the spelling of her name is not uniform most likely because these soldiers are either spelling her name phonetically from memory, and some of the details are seemingly incorrect most likely because of the time lapse between the events at Goliad and the writing of their narratives which led to incorrect recalls. They are enough, however, to allow us to piece together the story of this remarkable soldadera. 11 There was also a cultural misunderstanding both in 1836 and well into the 1900s as to who Francita was and why she was in Goliad in the first place. Most of the Goliad survivor accounts refer to Francita as the wife of Captain Alavez and as such historians referred to her 8 Philip C. Tucker Papers in the Library of the University of Texas. As quoted in Harbert Davenport, The Angel of Goliad, http://www.tamu.edu/faculty/ccbn/dewitt/goliadangel.htm. 9 Brown, Expedition under Johnson and Grant, 137. 10 José Urrea. Diary of the Military Operations of the Division Which under his Command Campaigned in Texas. in The Mexican Side of the Texas Revolution by the Chief Mexican Participants, ed and translated by Carlos E. Castaňeda. (Washington, DC: Documentary Publications, 1991), 233 235. Urrea notes the decision to spare medical personnel and anyone else useful to the Mexican Army as well as the unarmed men captured at Copano, but gives no indication that this decision was influenced by anyone as it is by Francita in the Texan accounts. Telésforo Alavez, who Francita is said to be traveling with, is referenced in Urrea s March 31 st diary entry as he says, I left Victoria with my escort, leaving at this place a detachment commanded by Capt. Telésforo Alavez, p. 237. 11 It should be noted at this point that not all of the survivor accounts mention Francita Alavez, or any similarly named character. The Prussian Herman Ehrenberg and Dr. Fields make no mention of the angel. Neither does Abel Morgan, which is most interesting as he does mention by name Father John T. Malloy, a priest in San Patricio who is traditionally credited in orchestrating the stay of execution of the Texan men there alongside of Francita.
that way until the 1930s when as part of the wave of scholarship taking place around the centennial celebration of the Texas Revolution researchers tried to find out what had happened to The Angel of Goliad after the war. Samuel Asbury, a chemist employed by Texas A&M University who was also an amateur historian, had great interest in the Texas Revolution and went to great lengths in the 1930s to find out what had happened to her after the Texas Revolution. He corresponded with the United States State Department and Mexican government officials attempting unsuccessfully to find out how she had died and her burial site. 12 The search for Francita was stymied when it was uncovered then that Francita had not in fact been the legal wife of Captain Alavez. He was in fact legally married to Maria Augustina De Pozo who he had abandoned, along with their two children around 1834, in Toluca, Mexico. 13 The mystery of the fate of The Angel of Goliad was solved or further complicated, depending on how you look at it in the most unlikely of manners. In a 1936 article in the Dallas Morning News, Marjorie Rogers related the story of the events of Goliad and Francita s part in the drama. As with the primary accounts of Goliad, Rogers ends the story of Francita with her return to Matamoras without Telesforo. Rogers ends her article stating that her true identity has been lost to posterity, but the publication of Rogers article and the attention it drew to the mystery of the Angel of Goliad provided the catalyst for the final act in her dramatic story. 14 12 Letter from Waldo E. Bailey American Vice Consul, American Consular Service Progress, Yucatan, Mexico To Samuel Asbury October 10, 1932; Letter from E. Wilder Spaulding Assistant to the Historical Adviser Department of State, WDC To Samuel Asbury September 15, 1932; Letter from Addie Worth Bagley Daniels US Embassy in Mexico To Samuel Asbury January 9, 1934. Box 7, Folder 5, Ed Kilman Collection. Houston Metropolitan Research Center, Houston Public Library. 13 This discovery was made by Marjorie Rogers who uncovered military records wherein Telesforo s lawful wife petitioned for support for her and the couple s children 14 Marjorie Rogers, Mystery of Angel of Goliad Has Never Been Solved, Dallas Morning News, February 9, 1936.
About a month after the Rogers article was published, the Dallas Morning News published a letter to the editor from Elena Zamora O Shea under the heading Sequel of Angel of Goliad. In her letter Ms. O Shea relates a story from her time as a teacher on the Kind Ranch in south Texas. She writes that while employed on the ranch she met Matias Alvarez, the son of Francita and Telesforo Alavez who related to her the family history. According to Matias, the two were not legally married as his father came from a wealthy family and was therefore required to marry according to the wishes of his family. Being Catholic Telesforo was unable to divorce his wife, so instead abandoned her in favor of living with his childhood sweetheart Francisca who traveled with him when his military career took him to the Mexican frontier. 15 O Shea writes that according to Matias, the couple settled in Matamoras together following the end of the war in Texas where they and their two children lived until Telesforo died. 16 After Telesforo s death, Matias took work on various ranches ending up on the King ranch in 1884 and bringing his mother and sister with him. The Angel of Goliad lived out the rest of her life in obscurity on the King Ranch and is supposedly buried in an unmarked grave somewhere on the vast ranch. 17 Ms. O Shea s tale is fantastical but in many ways it enhances the mystique of the Angel of Goliad rather than solving the mystery of who the Angel was and what happened to her. In her research for her article, Marjorie Rogers examined the military records of Telesforo Alavez noting that he retires from the Mexican army in the early 1850s. 18 That raises the question of 15 Elena Zamora O Shea, Sequel of Angel of Goliad Letter From Reader, Dallas Morning News, March 15, 1936. 16 This differs from the traditional version of the story based on the account of Dr. Barnard. In the traditional version, Telesforo abandons Francita in Mexico City and she then returns to Matamoras alone. 17 Elena Zamora O Shea, Sequel of Angel of Goliad Letter From Reader, Dallas Morning News, March 15, 1936. 18 Marjorie Rogers, Mystery of Angel of Goliad Has Never Been Solved, Dallas Morning News, February 9, 1936.
when the couple began residing in Matamoras. Was it soon after the end of the Texas Campaign, at the end of Telesforo s military career, or some point in between? The O Shea letter also raises more questions than it answers regarding the name of the mysterious Angel. O Shea uses the surname Alvarez for both Telesforo and Francisca and their progeny. Yet, official records for Telesforo list his surname as Alavez. At what point does the surname change occur and why? Unfortunately, as enthralling as O Shea s story is she offers no evidence to corroborate her memories. Corroboration, however, can be found in the memoirs of Lauro F. Cavazos, United States Secretary of Education under Ronald Reagan and first Hispanic appointed to a US Cabinet position. Cavazos was born on the King Ranch, a fourth generation kineño (term used to describe residents of the ranch, translates as King s People) and possible fifth-generation descendent of Francita and Telesforo Alavez. In his memoirs Cavazos writes that his mother Tomas Álvarez Quintanilla was probably a descendent of the couple and provides a brief synopsis of the little that is known of their lives including the account of Elena Zamora O Shea. 19 Cavazos states that because there were conflicting reports on the life of Francisca, I had some doubt about my relation to her and so sought to verify his relationship with the Matias Alvarez that is central to O Shea s story. 20 Cavazos questioned his octogenarian aunt about the identity of his great-grandfather and she confirmed that his name was Matias, which led Cavazos to conclude that he was in fact a descendent of the Angel of Goliad. 21 The account of Lauro Cavazos of his family history is echoed in the accounts given by members of the Angel of Goliad Descendants Historical Preservation group. Their website 19 Lauro F. Cavazos, A Kineño Remembers: From the King Ranch to the White House, (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2006), 16-19. 20 Ibid, 18. 21 Ibid, 18.
features the stories of the alleged descendants of the Francita and Telesforo, but none of these accounts offer evidence of their relationship with the Angel and her Captain. 22 Indeed, the only vital record present on the site is the baptismal record of Telesforo whose name is given as Jose Maria Telesforo Alavez Albares, which just creates more confusion over the correct surname of the couple. 23 The story of Francita Alavez after the war is reflective of the larger history of the soldaderas. As with the major European armies, the Mexican military eventually modernized its logistical and bureaucratic arms, which resulted in the marginalization of the soldaderas. By the 1930s they had been eliminated from the ranks by a patriarchal nationality and popular culture had distorted their contributions recasting these women in an unflattering light. 24 The memory of the soldaderas faded until the 1960s when a combined interest in Chicano and feminist histories shone light on their story once again as scholars began to trace the roots of the modern Mexican feminist movement to the women of the 1910 revolution. 22 http://www.angelofgoliadhp.com/category/historical-archives/alvarez-family/our-stories/ 23 http://www.angelofgoliadhp.com/historical-archives/francisca-alavez-or-alvarez/ 24 Salas, The Soldadera in the Mexican Revolution, 103.