In Memory of Captain Thomas K. Pearson
San Patricio, San Patricio County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In Memory of Captain Thomas K. Pearson, Lieutenant Henry Cooney, Dr. William W. Hoit, Dr. Gustav Bunsen, Joseph Carpenter, Benjamin Dale, William Williams and two or three other Texan volunteers killed in action at and near San Patricio February 27, 1836 who were buried here next day by Rev. Father Thomas K. Malloy and of Sergeant John McGloin, Mathew Byrne, John Fadden, Edward Garner, Dennis McGowan, Patrick Niven, Edward Ryan, sons of San Patricio who perished at Goliad March 27, 1836 and of Sergeant George Pettuck and Andrew M. O'Boyle who were spared at Goliad through the intervention of Colonel Francisco Garay. Erected by the State of Texas 1936
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This monument names the Texan volunteers cut down at and near San Patricio on February 27, 1836, buried the next day by Father Thomas Malloy, along with local sons of San Patricio who perished in the Goliad massacre that March. Among them were Irish-Catholic colonists of the San Patricio settlement caught up in the violent birth of the Texas Republic. A pair of survivors, spared at Goliad through a Mexican colonel's intervention, are remembered here as well.
Why it matters
It honors the immigrant colonists and volunteers whose deaths in the 1836 campaigns—including the infamous Goliad executions—became rallying cries in the Texas Revolution.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
San Patricio was one of the most unusual settlements in Mexican Texas. It was founded in the late 1820s and early 1830s as a colony of Irish Catholic immigrants under the Mexican government's empresario system. The colony was organized by the empresarios James McMullen and James McGloin. Its full name, San Patricio de Hibernia, honored St. Patrick and Ireland, and it sat on the Nueces River in the brush country of South Texas.
When revolution broke out in 1835, the Irish colonists were caught in a hard position. They were Catholic, like the Mexican nation, and many had built new lives under Mexican law. But the region was also in the path of the fighting, and many colonists joined the Texan cause.
In early 1836, Mexican forces under General José de Urrea moved up the coast. South Texas became a battlefield, and the small Texan detachments scattered across the region were very exposed.
People & events
On February 27, 1836, Urrea's troops struck Texan volunteers at and near San Patricio. Captain Thomas K. Pearson, Lieutenant Henry Cooney, Dr. William W. Hoit, Dr. Gustav Bunsen, Joseph Carpenter, Benjamin Dale, William Williams and a few others were killed. They were buried here the next day by the parish priest, Father Thomas K. Malloy. It was an act of care for the dead in the middle of a war.
One month later, on March 27, the war struck the colony again. Several sons of San Patricio were among the Texan prisoners executed at Goliad: Sergeant John McGloin, Mathew Byrne, John Fadden, Edward Garner, Dennis McGowan, Patrick Niven and Edward Ryan. Their names reflect the colony's Irish roots.
The monument also records two men who survived Goliad. Sergeant George Pettuck and Andrew M. O'Boyle were spared through the intervention of Colonel Francisco Garay, a Mexican officer. Including his name here is a small act of fairness: even in a massacre, some individuals acted to save lives.
Its place in the American story
The Goliad executions became a rallying cry. Along with the Alamo, "Remember Goliad!" drove the Texan army at San Jacinto, and the memory has shaped how Texans understand their revolution ever since. This monument makes the tragedy personal, turning a famous event into a list of neighbors and sons.
It is also a reminder that the Texas Revolution was not simply Anglo-Americans against Mexico. Irish Catholic immigrants, Mexican Texans and settlers from many backgrounds were drawn in, sometimes on different sides and sometimes torn between them. The story of San Patricio shows how complicated and many-sided the fight really was.
The State of Texas put up this monument in 1936, the centennial of independence. That year Texas marked many sites of the revolution, and the markers themselves are now a record of how the state chose to remember its founding a century later.
If you visit
San Patricio is a quiet place today, far smaller than its history would suggest. Standing at a burial site where volunteers were laid to rest by their priest in 1836 is a sobering experience, and it's worth giving it a moment of quiet.
Read the names slowly. They include Irish surnames, a German-born doctor, local sons and one Mexican colonel. Together they tell you who was here and how widely the war reached. For families, it's a meaningful way to talk about the human cost of a war that is often told as a story of heroes.
The monument pairs naturally with a visit to Goliad, where the execution of the prisoners took place and where the historic presidio still stands. A drive through the Coastal Bend between the two lets you follow the path of the 1836 campaign across the South Texas landscape.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Thomas K. Pearson
- · Henry Cooney
- · Thomas Malloy
- · Francisco Garay
Related events
- · Battle of San Patricio
- · Goliad Massacre
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Old Cemetery on the Hill
San Patricio, TX
On a rise above San Patricio lies a burial ground older than the Anglo town, used by Indian peoples and Mexican settlers before empresarios John McMullen and James McGloin planted their Irish colony of San Patricio de Hibernia in 1830. The colonists kept using the old cemetery, and its graves record the turbulence of the Texas Revolution — Lt. Marcelino Garcia, killed at Lipantitlan in 1835, and soldiers who fell in the Battle of San Patricio in 1836. Empresario McGloin himself lies here in an unmarked grave, alongside settlers lost to scarlet fever, duels, and the ordinary attrition of frontier life.
Old Cemetery on the Hill
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This hilltop cemetery is believed to have served Native peoples and Mexican settlers long before Anglo colonization reached the area. After Irish empresarios John McMullen and James McGloin founded San Patricio de Hibernia in 1830, the colonists kept burying their dead here, beneath wooden crosses and stones inscribed in Spanish and English. Among those laid to rest are Lt. Marcelino García, killed at the 1835 battle of Lipantitlán, and soldiers who fell at the battle of San Patricio in 1836.
San Patricio de Hibernia
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Founded in 1830 by empresarios John McMullen and James McGloin as the capital of their Irish colony, San Patricio de Hibernia—named for the patron saint of Ireland—stood as a lonely frontier outpost when the Texas Revolution erupted. On February 27, 1836, General José Urrea's division of Santa Anna's army surprised and overwhelmed a small Texan party under Johnson, killing several and marching the survivors to Matamoros as prisoners. After the Texan victory at San Jacinto the town was destroyed and its people scattered, and this 1936 monument names its early settlers, soldiers, and notable descendants.
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