12-20 Goliad Flag

Today in Texas History On the trail to Texas independence. Dec 20, 1835 - The Goliad Declaration of Independence was signed on December 20, 1835 at Presidio La Bahía in Mexican Texas. The declaration was signed by 91 Texan colonists and Tejanos in the Gulf Coast of Mexico settlements that supported breaking away from Mexico and creating an independent state. While the document drafted by Matagorda alcalde (mayor) Ira Ingram was a precursor to the Texas Declaration of Independence, it was deemed premature when received by the Consultation in San Felipe de Austin. There was not yet a clear consensus among Texians for either declaring outright independence or remaining part of Mexico with the restoration of the 1824 Mexican Constitution. It was effectively quashed by sending it to the Committee on State and Judiciary, and was later just filed away. Georgian volunteers took passage on the Benjamin Franklin, for Mobile. H. A. Slade, captain of the Franklin, referred to the volunteers as "fellow emigrants to Texas" and further described them as "the brave and patriotic band of emigrants from Georgia to Texas in the sacred cause of freedom and the rights of man. They arrived at Velasco, at the mouth of the Brazos, on Sunday, December 20, aboard the schooner Pennsylvania, which they had boarded at New Orleans. They were welcomed there by Austin, Fannin, Wharton, and Archer. Austin, though ill, was then, in company with Wharton and Archer, on his way to the United States for assistance. Photos: Presidio La Bahía, Goliad Battle Flag