Battle of San Patricio

Battle of San Patricio
Part of the Texas Revolution
Date February 27, 1836 Location near San Patricio, Texas 27°57′33″N 97°46′23″W / 27.959167°N 97.773056°W / 27.959167; -97.773056 Result Mexican victory
Belligerents
Mexico	Texian rebels
Commanders and leaders
José de Urrea	Frank W. Johnson
Strength
200 men	43 men
Casualties and losses
1 killed 4 wounded	16 killed 21 captured
approximate location of the battle Location within Texas

The Battle of San Patricio was fought on February 27, 1836 between Mexican troops and rebellious immigrants to the Mexican province of Texas, known as Texians. The battle marked the start of the Goliad Campaign, the Mexican offensive to retake the Texas Gulf Coast. It took place in and around San Patricio.

By the end of 1835, all Mexican troops had been driven from Texas. Frank W. Johnson, the commander of the volunteer army in Texas, and James Grant gathered volunteers for a planned invasion of the Mexican port town of Matamoros. After spending several weeks gathering horses for the Matamoros Expedition, in late February Johnson and about 40 men led the herd to San Patricio. Johnson assigned some of his troops to a ranch 4 miles (6.4 km) outside town to guard the horses, while the rest of his men garrisoned in three different locations in town.

Unbeknownst to the Texians, on February 18, Mexican General José de Urrea led a large contingent of troops from Matamoros into Texas. Their goal was to neutralize the Texian soldiers gathered along the coast. Urrea's men easily followed the trail left by Johnson's herd of horses. Mexican soldiers surprised the sleeping Texians in San Patricio in the early hours of February 27. After a fifteen-minute battle, all but six Texians had been killed or imprisoned. One Mexican soldier was killed and four injured.

Under President Antonio López de Santa Anna, the Mexican government began to shift away from a federalist model to a more centralized government. His increasingly dictatorial policies, including the revocation of the Constitution of 1824 in early 1835, incited federalists throughout the nation to revolt. The Mexican army quickly put down revolts in the Mexican interior, including a brutal suppression of militias in Oaxaca and Zacatecas. Unrest continued in the Mexican state Coahuila y Tejas. The area that bordered the United States, known as Texas, was populated primarily by English-speaking settlers, known as Texians. In October, the Texians took up arms in what became known as the Texas Revolution. The following month, Texians declared themselves part of a state independent from Coahuila and created a provisional state government based on the principles of the Constitution of 1824. By the end of the year, all Mexican troops had been expelled from Texas.