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. 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.
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