Urrea Oaks
Refugio, Refugio County, Texas
Marker Inscription
By tradition, camping place in March 1836, during Texas War for Independence, of Gen. Jose Urrea of Mexico. Strategically located, this was Urrea's staging area. Capt. Amon B. King came form Goliad with his Texas volunteers to support the Refugio townsmen, who were taken into the safety of Mission Nuestra Senora Del Refugio. Then Lt. Col. William also arrived on March 13, and the "Battle of Refugio" began. Both King and Ward left protection of the mission, and Urrea won final victories over them, capturing King's command on March 15 and Ward's on March 22. (1973)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In March 1836, as the Texas Revolution raged, Mexican General José Urrea used this strategically placed site as a staging area during his campaign up the coast. Nearby, Texian volunteers under Captain Amon B. King and Lieutenant Colonel William Ward sheltered Refugio's townspeople in the old mission before venturing out to fight. In the resulting Battle of Refugio, Urrea defeated both commands, capturing King's men on March 15 and Ward's on March 22—grim prelude to the Goliad massacre.
Why it matters
The Refugio fighting was part of the desperate Texian struggle for independence in 1836, a conflict whose outcome reshaped the map of North America and set Texas on the road to U.S. statehood.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In early 1836, Texas was in open revolt against the government of Mexico. What had begun as disputes over political rights and the centralist direction of the Mexican government had become a full-scale war. While General Antonio López de Santa Anna led the main Mexican army toward San Antonio and the Alamo, a second force under General José Urrea marched up the Gulf Coast from the south.
Urrea's campaign was fast and effective. His troops moved through the coastal prairies toward the old Spanish mission towns of Refugio and Goliad, where Texian forces had gathered. These were small, isolated settlements, and the civilians living there faced a terrible question: stay and risk being caught in the fighting, or flee across open country with whatever they could carry.
According to tradition, this grove near Refugio was where Urrea camped in March 1836. The location was strategic, and it became his staging area for the fighting that followed. It is a place where you can stand at the hinge of one of the most dramatic months in Texas history.
People & events
The drama at Refugio began as a rescue. Captain Amon B. King marched from Goliad with a company of Texas volunteers to help the townspeople of Refugio, who took shelter inside the thick walls of Mission Nuestra Señora del Refugio. Soon afterward, on March 13, Lieutenant Colonel William Ward arrived with more men, and what became known as the Battle of Refugio was underway.
The mission offered real protection, but neither King nor Ward stayed behind its walls. Both commanders left the mission, and that decision proved fatal. Urrea's forces, experienced and well-led, defeated them in turn. King's command was captured on March 15. Ward's men held out longer, but they too were taken, on March 22.
The aftermath was grim. Most of King's men were executed soon after their capture, and many of Ward's men later died in the mass execution of Texian prisoners at Goliad. Historians still debate the decisions that scattered these small Texian forces across the coastal plain, but there is no doubt about the human cost.
Its place in the American story
The Refugio fighting was one link in a chain of events that shaped the outcome of the Texas Revolution. Urrea's victories along the coast, combined with the fall of the Alamo, left the Texian cause in crisis in March 1836. The executions of prisoners that followed became a rallying cry, and "Remember Goliad!" was shouted alongside "Remember the Alamo!" at San Jacinto, where Texian forces won the decisive victory in April.
That victory led to the Republic of Texas, which was annexed by the United States in 1845. Annexation in turn helped bring on the U.S.-Mexican War, whose outcome transferred a vast territory in the Southwest to the United States. Few regional conflicts reshaped the map of North America so dramatically.
Places like the Urrea Oaks remind us that this sweeping story was made of individual decisions, small companies of men, and frightened families sheltering in a mission church. The fate of a continent turned, in part, on choices made in a grove like this one.
If you visit
Refugio is a small town on the coastal plain of South Texas, and the landscape helps you understand the fighting. The country is flat and open, which made it hard for small groups of soldiers to hide and easy for a well-organized army to track them. Imagine the spring of 1836 here: the heavy trees, the campfires of Urrea's troops, and the tension in the town.
The mission that sheltered the townspeople is an essential part of this story, so look for it as you explore Refugio. Standing between the grove and the mission, you can picture the fateful choice King and Ward made to leave its protection.
Refugio fits naturally into a Texas Revolution road trip. Goliad, with its own historic sites tied to the same campaign, is nearby, and the region is full of markers connected to 1836. Take your time, read widely, and remember that this is a place of both courage and loss.
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
- · José Urrea
- · Amon B. King
- · William Ward
Related events
- · Battle of Refugio
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Yucatan Soldiers' Burial Site
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During the Texas Revolution in early 1836, General José Urrea drove northeast on Santa Anna's orders, winning quick victories before meeting fierce resistance at Mission Nuestra Señora del Refugio. His army—largely Yucatán men pressed into service who spoke little Spanish—suffered heavy losses in the fighting. After the town was taken and looted, the many Mexican dead were dragged into a small ditch that had served as a colonist's fence, and it became their mass grave.
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