A Man on a Mission—La Bahía’s Newton Warzecha

By John Dryden

A mile south of the small town of Goliad sits the Presidio La Bahía. Today, along with the Alamo and San Jacinto sites, it stands as a shrine to those who fought and died for the Texas Revolution. The fort’s history, however, far predates the tumultuous years of 1835 and 1836.

It was the beginning of the 18th century, and Texas, a neglected frontier possession of the Spanish Crown, had suddenly become of strategic importance to that nation’s hold on the New World. Thanks to the mistaken-landing at Matagorda Bay instead of the mouth of the Mississippi by the explorer René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, the French had planted their flag and a small colony along the Texas Gulf Coast in 1685. By Christmas of 1688, disease, in-fighting, and hostile Indians had destroyed the French presence, but deteriorating Franco-Spanish relations, along with continued French activity along the Gulf of Mexico, led Spanish officials to reinforce the Texas province as a buffer to the valuable silver mines in northern Mexico.

One of the results of the renewed Spanish interest in Texas was the mission-presidio complex of La Bahía. La Bahía, founded on the ruins of La Salle’s doomed Fort St. Louis in 1721 near present-day Port Lavaca, was forced to move 26 miles inland in 1726 due to troubles with the local Karankawas. Following the recommendation of the military commander and settler Jose de Escandon, the presidio and its related mission, Espíritu Santo, were relocated a second and final time to their present location near what is now Goliad in 1749. After the abandonment of the presidios at Los Adaes and Orcoquisac, La Bahía became the only defensive position for eastern Texas and the Gulf Coast. As a result, when the Spanish fought the British along the Gulf of Mexico during the American Revolution, troops from the garrison at La Bahía saw action, making Goliad one of the few communities west of the Mississippi to have participated in the American Revolution.

Due to the key strategic value of the Gulf Coast, the Presidio became a key target in military expeditions and revolutions conducted in Texas. The fort boasts that every attempt at a military change of government involved its capture and that while Texas has seen six different flags, La Bahía can claim nine. Even before the Texas Revolution, filibustering expeditions meant bloodshed in the region.

From 1812 to 1813, Jose Bernardo Gutierrez de Lara and Augustus W. Magee occupied Texas in what was known as the Gutierrez-Magee Expedition or the First Republic of Texas. Gutierrez, a revolutionary leader in Mexico, and Magee, a West Point graduate, both wanted to liberate Texas from the Spanish and establish an independent Republic. With a force of some 300 French, Spanish, and American adventurers, they set out for and captured La Bahía in November 1812. Royalist forces, headquartered at the nearby Mission Espíritu Santo, surrounded the fort in what became the longest siege in Texas military history. After the Royalist victory at the Battle of Medina in 1813, the fort fell back into the hands of Spanish loyalists. Upwards of 1,000 American and Mexican republicans were killed or executed at the battle, one in which future Mexican leader Antonio López de Santa Anna participated.

Another filibuster expedition occurred in 1821, shortly after Mexico gained its independence. The American James Long led the Long Expedition into Texas, successfully capturing and holding La Bahía for three days before being captured by Mexican forces. The fort remained in Mexican hands until the stirring of revolution in the 1830s brought about by President Santa Anna’s annulment of the Mexican Constitution of 1824.

During the intermittent years, several changes occurred in Texas. Foreigners, especially Anglo-Americans, began to settle under the direction of government-approved land agents called empresarios. In 1829, the name of the community surrounding La Bahía was officially changed to Goliad, an anagram for Hidalgo, in honor of the Mexican Revolutionary Father Miguel Hidalgo. The town prospered and developed into the second largest population center in Texas.
As the rumblings of revolt amongst Anglo Texians and Tejanos grew, the first action against a Mexican military garrison occurred at Presidio La Bahía on October 9, 1835, resulting in the capture of the force by Texian rebels. A few months later, on December 20, 92 men gathered at the Presidio’s chapel and signed the first Texas Declaration of Independence. They also raised what has become known as the Goliad Flag, which depicts a severed arm holding a bloody saber on a white field.

On March 19, 1836, one of the most significant battles of the Texas Revolution took place between the Texian forces under James W. Fannin and a division of the Mexican Army under José de Urrea. By order of Sam Houston, the Texians were in retreat to Victoria from the Presidio La Bahía, which they had renamed Fort Defiance. A series of costly delays allowed a Mexican detachment to catch the Texians in the open without adequate supplies. Short on water and unable to rendezvous with reinforcements, the Texians were forced to capitulate and were led back to Goliad. General Urrea requested clemency for the captives, but Santa Anna refused, ordering all the prisoners executed. The men were put to death in what became known as the Goliad Massacre on March 27, 1836, Palm Sunday.

More Texians were killed at Goliad than all of the other revolutionary battles combined, and the massacre, along with the defeat at the Alamo, created a rallying cry for the Texian forces under Sam Houston at San Jacinto: “Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!”
Fast forward to the present where for almost two decades the Presidio complex has been overseen by Newton Warzecha. Appointed director of the historic site in 1991, Warzecha has focused on making the compound self-supporting. The Cuero native’s soft Southeast Texas accent became animated when asked about the site.
“The Presidio La Bahía has been critical to the history of Texas,” said Warzecha. “Along with its rich history as a Spanish fort, this was the site of the first action against a Mexican military force during the Texas Revolution, the place where the first Texas Declaration of Independence was signed, and the site of the infamous Goliad Massacre.”

For his efforts to protect the Presidio’s historical integrity, Warzecha was recently honored by the Sons of the Republic of Texas. He is one of fewer than 230 men to become a Knight of the Order of San Jacinto, founded by Sam Houston during the Republic of Texas.

“A number of years ago the Sons of the Republic of Texas made me an honorary member, though I was not entitled by lineage,” explained Warzecha. “About 10 years ago, controversy arose as to whether the Goliad Massacre was in fact a massacre. I held the line on the matter and took quite a bit of heat. At one time you could search my name on the Internet and find some interesting comments. The SRT chose to honor me because of my fight against re-writing the history books, but that is all in the past now.”
Though Warzecha has worked diligently to maintain the Presidio’s historical identity, there are other aspects that he is eager to see updated, namely the museum.

“We have been planning a renovation of the exhibits at the museum,” said Warzecha. “A comprehensive and compelling interpretation of the Presidio’s story will focus on La Bahía’s importance to the settling and development of Texas.”

Several men also involved with the redesign of the Alamo’s exhibits, including exhibit designer Drew Patterson and curator Dr. Richard Bruce Winders, will be pivotal in the telling of the Presidio’s rich history.
The goals of the project are multi-faceted and include providing an elegant state-of-the art exhibit, linking the Presidio with other Revolutionary sites, and emphasizing La Bahía’s prominence as the only major Revolutionary location that is still intact and complete. Additionally, a redesign of the entryway by architect Jim McBride, of Katy, is planned to enhance impressions of visitors and add handicap access. Along with a history of the church, Our Lady of Loreto, which has served the surrounding community since its founding more than 250 years ago, an interpretive history of the compound’s last renovation will also be highlighted.

“The last renovation project occurred between 1963 and 1967, during which the fort was restored to its 1836 appearance. The architect, Raiford L. Stripling, did a superb job, and the Presidio is considered the world’s best existing example of a Spanish frontier fort.”

As if the redesign, with its $650,000 price tag were not enough, Warzecha has also undertaken the ambitious project of cataloguing and digitizing the Presidio’s vast artifact collection, said to be one of the most outstanding examples of cultural material in Texas.

“The artifacts will be catalogued and organized this May and will then head to Texas A&M for preservation,” said Warzecha. “After that we hope to move forward with digitization. The objective is to make information available on the Internet. We expect to move forward on both the digitization and museum redesign programs simultaneously, which will be a tremendous undertaking.”
In many ways, the goal of Warzecha seems to be the same as when he started work at the Presidio almost two decades ago: to tell the story of the fort to as many people as possible in the most accurate way.
“We want to both inform and excite visitors. This site has a lot of history, and though it has been overlooked in the past, it is time that everyone recognized the Presidio’s importance.”

John Dryden is a recent graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.