The Goliad Massacre started on March 27, 1836 in what is now Goliad, Texas. The two Commanders for the Mexican army were José dé Urrea and Frank W. Johnson and the Commander of Goliad was Martin Perfecto de Cos. Overshadowed by the Alamo fall was an even bloodier battle that took place three weeks later in March of 1836. The massacre claimed the lives of over 350 men but it rallied support Texas's independence and qs the ashes of the Alamo continued to smolder, Sam Houston feared another disaster could come for his Texas Army. Mexican forces under General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna continued to sweep across Texas toward Fort Defiance, the presidio in Goliad that had been seized by the rebels in October 1835 at the onset of the war for independence.